Nguyen wins ASCPT Presidential Trainee Award for Research in Personalized Medicine and Immunosuppressive Pharmacology

The poster, titled “Prospective Validation of Maximum A Posteriori-Bayesian Estimation of Tacrolimus Exposure in Stable Kidney Transplant Recipients,” highlighted the use of precision medicine to help optimize knowledge of an individual patient’s unique tacrolimus concentrations, adjust each patient’s tacrolimus doses, and, ultimately, increase the likelihood that an individual will have a long lasting kidney transplant. The poster explained a new approach for monitoring tacrolimus exposure in patients that requires fewer blood samples to measure drug concentrations during the post-transplant period.

“A number of people demonstrated interest in the research during the conference,” explained Nguyen. “The idea of using MAP-Bayesian estimation is innovative and it is being incorporated in newer clinical drug monitoring protocols. Our work supports the utility of using this method in a clinical setting.”

The work is part of Nguyen’s Masters project supervised and co-authored by Kathleen Tornatore, PharmD ’81, professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice, and Nicholas Smith, PharmD ’18, PhD ’21, assistant professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice. The research is funded by Tornatore’s $3.6M National Institutes of Health R01 grant, Age and Race Influences on Immunosuppression after Renal Transplant, and is part of a larger body of work examining the effects of age, race and sex differences on tacrolimus exposures in stable kidney transplant recipients.

“This has been a rewarding experience,” said Nguyen. “This was a great experience at a national conference, and it was a pleasure to represent the UB Transplantation Immunosuppressive Pharmacology Research Program at this meeting.”