Dhaval K. Shah named ISSX 2020 North American New Investigator Award winner

The award is presented to an ISSX member who has made significant contributions to their field of study.

"Dr. Shah's cutting‐edge research in protein therapeutics and mechanistic modeling extensively supports advances in drug research and development," says SUNY Distinguished Professor Marilyn Morris, PhD, pharmaceutical sciences department chair. "He has established himself as a 'star' in the field of antibody‐drug conjugates and pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic modeling of protein therapeutics."

Shah’s research relates to the development and evaluation of biologically-based therapies, including monoclonal antibodies, bispecific antibodies and antibody‐drug conjugates (ADCs) for treatment of cancer, metabolic, ocular, and CNS diseases. This research has led to improved discovery and development of ADCs, especially their preclinical‐to‐clinical translation. He has established a platform physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model and quantitative structure‐PK relationships for biologics, including the first ever multi‐scale systems pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (PKPD) model for ADCs, which is widely‐used in academia and the pharmaceutical industry.

His many accomplishments include being the only two-time recipient of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Sciences (AAPS) Outstanding Manuscript Award in Modeling and Simulation. In 2016, he was recognized with a University at Buffalo Exceptional Scholar Young Investigator Award for his high level grantsmanship and research productivity. He is a recipient of several R01 and R21 grants from the National Institutes of Health, and his research is also strongly funded by pharmaceutical industry.

Shah has an h‐index of 17 with more than 1000 citations. His outstanding scholarly work includes more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and six published book chapters. His work has been included in the Journal of Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics, the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, MAbs and Pharmaceutical Research. He is also an executive editor and guest editor the Journal of Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics, British journal of clinical pharmacology, and the AAPS Journal.

He has been a moderator and speaker at many national professional meetings and has been invited to speak at high impact international meetings, including the International Gordon Research Conference, the World Conference on Pharmacometrics, the World ADC Summit, Controlled Release Society, and was the inaugural organizer of the 2019 International Society for the Study of Xenobiotic ADME Workshop on the Disposition of Biologics.

Shah joined the faculty at the University at Buffalo (UB) School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2013. During his tenure at UB, he has been the primary advisor for seven post-doctoral fellows, 11 PhD students, 21 MS students, and numerous PharmD and undergraduate pharmaceutical sciences students.