Special Appointment by Dean Pezzuto
Adjunct Professor of Pharmaceutical Science
Email: jeff.idel@wne.edu
Internationally renowned educator, communicator and researcher in metabolism and mass spectrometry-based metabolomics with a strong background in biochemistry and pharmacology. Proven leadership qualities and robust problem-solving ability. Recognized innovator. Worked in cancer research for over four decades, with a focus on interindividual susceptibility. Discoverer of the first genetic polymorphism in cytochrome P450 with a significant impact on drug metabolism that mandated modification of FDA’s protocols for registering new medicines. Reported the first susceptibility gene (CYP2D6) for lung and liver cancers in 1980, which launched the field of molecular epidemiology. For the past two decades, employed mass spectrometry-based metabolomics to elucidate the role of metabolism in cancer and preneoplastic disease, working closely with collaborators at NIH and clinical colleagues in the US and Europe. Dr. Idle earned a BSc in applied chemistry and a BSc in medicinal chemistry (first class honors) from the University of Hertfordshire, UK and a PhD in biochemistry at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School (SMHMS), University of London with R. Tecwyn Williams, Nobel nominee, considered the “father of drug metabolism.” At SMHMS he was Wellcome Senior Lecturer and Reader in Pharmacogenetics, then appointed to the first chair of pharmacogenetics worldwide at the University of Newcastle, where he was head of the school of clinical medical sciences. He was appointed professor of medicine and molecular biology in Trondheim, Norway, then professor of pharmacology at Charles University, Prague, then at the University of Bern, Switzerland, before moving to the US as endowed professor and director, Arthur G Zupko Institute for systems pharmacology and pharmacogenomics..