Xin Chen, Ph.D., is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Center for Translational Medicine, School of Pharmacy, University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB). He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Basic Pharmacy from China Pharmaceutical University (CPU) in 2019 and his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics from the University of Washington (UW) in 2025. Dr. Chen’s research focuses on pregnancy pharmacology, drug transporters, cannabinoids, and quantitative modeling and simulation. He has authored nine peer-reviewed publications, including five as first author, and has received several fellowships and awards during his graduate training.

Aditya (Adi) R. Kumar, Ph.D., is a Principal Scientist at Genentech. He earned his B.S. in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from the University of Washington in 2017 and his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics from the University of Washington in 2023, under the mentorship of Dr. Jashvant Unadkat. His research expertise lies in DMPK, specifically in leading IND-enabling strategies and translational modeling to inform drug discovery and development. His work focuses on uncovering mechanistic drivers of pharmacokinetic processes, including the use of PBPK modeling to predict human efficacious doses and assess clinical liabilities. He has also conducted extensive research into pregnancy pharmacokinetics, cannabinoid disposition, and tumor microenvironment modeling. He has authored nine publications in journals such as Nature Communications and Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics.

Jashvant (Jash) Unadkat, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Dept. of Pharmaceutics at the School of Pharmacy, University of Washington, Seattle.   He received his Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy (B.Pharm.) from the University of London (1977), his Ph.D. from the University of Manchester and his postdoctoral training at the University of California at San Francisco.  He held the Milo Gibaldi Endowed Professorship in the Department from 2016-21. Dr. Unadkat’s research interests are on mechanisms of transport and metabolism of drugs during pregnancy, and transport of drugs across the placental, hepatic, intestinal and blood-brain barrier.  Dr. Unadkat has published more than 250 peer-reviewed research papers.  He is a fellow of AAAS, AAPS, JSSX, and the founding co-chair (1999-2001) of the focus group of AAPS on Drug Transport and Uptake.  Dr. Unadkat received the AAPS Research Achievement Award in 2012 and the ISSX Scientific Achievement Award in 2023.  Dr.  Unadkat created and led the UW Research Affiliates Program on Transporters (UWRAPT), a cooperative effort between the UW School of Pharmacy and pharmaceutical companies, for 10 years. He also leads UWPKDAP, a NIDA funded Program Project grant (P01) on drug disposition during pregnancy and co-leads UW Transporter Elucidation Center (https://depts.washington.edu/uwtec/) funded by NICHD to identify and characterize novel transporters in the placenta and the developing intestine.  Dr. Unadkat has been an Associate Editor for the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, an Editor of AAPS Journal, and a member of the NIH Pharmacology study section (2000-3).  Dr. Unadkat has organized or co-organized numerous national and international conferences on the role of transporters and pregnancy in the disposition of drugs.   

With over 25 years of experience in drug metabolism, Tashinga graduated with a BSc (Hons) Biochemistry and DPhil from the University of Zimbabwe followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at AstraZeneca, Sweden and research associateship at the Cancer Research Institute, University of Cambridge, UK. He is currently senior scientist in the Oncology DMPK Department at AstraZeneca Cambridge, UK and his role focuses on contributing to a deep understanding of the metabolism and disposition of the AstraZeneca oncology small molecule portfolio and some of this work is exemplified by the publications: Drug Metab Dispos 51:892–901, 2023 and Drug Metab Dispos 46:1268-1276, 2018.

Udoamaka (Amaka) Ezuruike is a Senior PBPK Consultant in the Consultancy team at Certara UK (Simcyp Division). She obtained a Pharmacy degree from the University of Benin in Nigeria, an MSc in Pharmacology from the University of Oxford and a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the School of Pharmacy, University College London for her research investigating pharmacokinetic herb-drug interactions amongst diabetic patients. She joined Simcyp in 2015 after completing her PhD and has been involved in the expansion of the capabilities of the Simcyp simulator, including the development and verification of population files and small molecule compound files, and the prediction of clinical drug-drug interactions.  She currently works directly with clients to develop and apply PBPK models to particular projects of interest.

Yuichi Sugiyama has been serving as Special Professor Emeritus at Josai International University since April 1, 2021. He received his Ph.D. from the School of Pharmacy at the University of Tokyo in 1978. After retiring from the University of Tokyo in 2012, he continued his research as the head of the Sugiyama Laboratory at the RIKEN Innovation Center.

Dr. Sugiyama’s pioneering work in physiologically based pharmacokinetics has significantly advanced quantitative in vitro–in vivo extrapolation, particularly in developing predictive models for drug clearance and the extent of drug-drug interactions in humans. His research on membrane transporters—including their functional and kinetic characterization and the influence of genetic variations—has been fundamental to understanding their role in drug disposition.

He has received numerous prestigious awards, including the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) Award in 2003, the Host-Madsen Gold Medal from the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) in 2009, the B.B. Brodie Award from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) in 2012, the R.T. Williams Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award from ISSX in 2013, the Rawls-Palmer Progress in Medicine Award from the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (ASCPT) in 2014, and The Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon from the Government of Japan in 2020.

In addition to his scientific contributions, Dr. Sugiyama has held key leadership roles, including Chair of the Board of Pharmaceutical Sciences (BPS) of FIP, and President of both the International Society for the Study of Xenobiotics (ISSX) and the Japanese Society for the Study of Xenobiotics (JSSX), where he has actively promoted global research in drug metabolism, disposition, and transporters.

Hiroyuki Kusuhara received his BSc, MSc and PhD (Pharmaceutical Sciences) from the University of Tokyo (Japan). Hiroyuki started his carrier as an academic scientist in The University of Tokyo as Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences (1998). He was promoted to Associate Professor (2004) and Professor (2012) of Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo. He is currently professor and chair of Laboratory of Molecular Pharmacokinetics at Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. Hiroyuki’s major research interests encompass interindividual variability in human drug disposition, specifically focusing on the identification of drug transporters involved in tissue distribution and clearance, pharmacokinetics, modeling and simulation, in vitro-in vivo extrapolation, and drug-drug interactions, including biomarker studies. Currently, he is also investigating the mechanisms underlying drug-induced gut toxicity using intestinal crypt-derived cells. He is the author of 276 research papers in these areas.

 Hiroyuki has experience as Council and Director in Japanese societies; JSSX Council (2004-present), Director (2014-2017, 2021-2022), Vice-president (2023-present, President-elect); APSTJ Council (2010-present), Director (2017-2018), Vice-president (2021-2023), President (2024-present). Editorial Board membership: Drug Metabolism & Disposition; Biopharmaceutics and Drug Disposition. Society membership: ISSX, AAPS, ASPET and Japanese Societies; JSCPT, APSTJ, JPS, JSDDS. International Society: ISSX since 2013 Scientific Affairs Committee (2014-2016), and Nominations Committee (2014-2016, 2021-present). 

Dr. Bhagwat Prasad serves as Division Director of Translational and Clinical Pharmacology Cincinnati Children's and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati. Previously, Dr. Prasad was an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Washington State University (WSU) in Spokane, WA. Prior to WSU, Dr. Prasad was an assistant professor at the University of Washington (UW) Seattle and was affiliated with the UW research affiliate program on transporters (UWRAPT) as a co-director. Dr. Prasad has published 75 peer-reviewed articles and 100 conference abstracts and delivered over 60 invited talks at various conferences such as ASPET (EB), ISSX, and ACCP. Dr. Prasad is the recipient of 2018 ISSX North American New Investigator Award. Dr. Prasad's work was selected for the Early Career Faculty Showcase at the 2018 ASPET meeting. Dr. Prasad also serves as a Secretary of the Drug Metabolism and Disposition Division of ASPET. He co-organized 2018 ISSX workshop on quantitative proteomics and was a member of organizing committee for the 12th international ISSX meeting, 2019 held in Portland, OR. Dr. Prasad is a member of editorial board of Drug Metabolism and Disposition. Dr. Prasad obtained his MS in 2006 and Ph.D. in 2010 in Pharmaceutical Sciences from NIPER, Mohali, India and he was a postdoc in the UW Seattle from 2011-2014.

I received a Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy and Biochemistry (2016) and a Master’s (2018) and Ph.D. (2022) in Sciences from the University of São Paulo, Brazil. During my graduate training, I completed research traineeships at Leiden University (Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research, the Netherlands) in 2018 and at the University of Washington (Department of Pharmaceutics, Seattle, USA) in 2022, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Washington (2022–2024). I am currently a faculty member in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of São Paulo (FCF-USP). My work focuses on Pharmacotherapy and Clinical Pharmacology, with emphasis on pharmacokinetics, pharmacokinetic–pharmacodynamic (PK–PD) relationships, and drug–disease interactions.

Dr. Reiya Yamashita is an Assistant Professor in the faculty pharmacy, Kanazawa University. He received his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Kanazawa University in 2025 under the supervision of Prof. Kato. His research focuses on pharmacokinetics and neuropharmacology, particularly on ergothioneine (ERGO)—a food-derived compound that reaches the brain via its membrane transporter OCTN1—and examines actions of ERGO in OCTN1-expressing brain cells, including neural stem cells and microglia.

Dr. Saki Noguchi is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Pharmaceutics at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Keio University. Her research focuses on pharmacokinetics, specifically the role of transporters in drug and endogenous metabolite disposition across key biological barriers like the placenta, blood-brain barrier, and renal proximal tubules. She earned her BS from Keio University and worked as a hospital pharmacist for one year before returning to complete her Ph.D. under the supervision of Professor Masatoshi Tomi and Professor Emi Nakashima. She has been an assistant professor in Professor Tomi's laboratory since 2017. Currently, she is one of the Caretakers for the Transporter Director’s Initiative Session (DIS) of the Japanese Society for the Study of Xenobiotics (JSSX).

Dr. Yukio Kato graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1990 and received a Ph.D. in 1998. He was appointed Research Associate at the University of Tokyo in 1993, Visiting Fellow at the National Institutes of Health, the USA in 2001, Associate Professor at Kanazawa University in 2002, and Full Professor at Kanazawa University in 2008 (Department of Molecular Pharmacotherapeutics). He has also been assigned as a Chair of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Kanazawa University in 2022 and President of JSSX (The Japanese Society for the Study of Xenobiotics) in 2023. His major research interests are pharmacokinetics and mathematical modeling of drug disposition, transporter-mediated drug efficacy/toxicity, and prophylactic pharmacology focusing on neurogenesis and brain cognitive function. He published 234 original research articles including 6 Nature journal series papers and 20 review articles.

Dr. Taosheng Chen is a Professor (Full Member) of Chemical Biology & Therapeutics Department, and Director of High Throughput Bioscience Center at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, USA. He received his BS and MS from Fudan University, Ph.D. from University of Vermont and completed postdoctoral training at University of Virginia. Prior to joining St. Jude in 2006, he was a Senior Research Investigator at Bristol-Myers Squibb, and a Research Scientist at SAIC-Frederick, National Cancer Institute. He serves on several journal Editorial Boards, and NIH grant review panels and study section (e.g., chairperson of the DMP study section). He has authored more than 190 publications (in journals such as Nat Commun, PNAS, JACS, including 2 books), and 18 patents. His laboratory studies the regulation of nuclear receptors PXR and CAR and drug-metabolizing enzymes CYP3A4 and CYP3A5, by using biology, chemistry and structural biology approaches to develop novel chemical probes for mechanistic studies and lead compounds for therapeutic development. The goals are to understand nuclear receptor-regulated transcription networks, enzyme-drug interactions, and design therapeutic approaches to overcome drug resistance and toxicity - the leading causes of therapeutic failures. 

Diane Ramsden, is Senior Director and Head of DMPK at Korro Bio, where she leads preclinical development for RNA editing therapeutics. She brings over 20 years of pharmaceutical industry experience, with prior leadership roles at AstraZeneca and Takeda, supporting drug development across diverse modalities including small molecules, PROTACs, mAbs, ADCs, RNAi, and microbiome-based therapies. Her work spans therapeutic areas such as oncology, GI, neuroscience, cardiometabolic, respiratory, and rare diseases.

She holds three patents, has authored over 75 scientific publications and delivered more than 30 invited talks. She actively contributes to industry consortia advancing in vitro DDI prediction, serves on the editorial board of Drug Metabolism and Disposition, and is part of the PBSS Boston scientific committee. Her research focuses on mechanistic understanding of therapeutic disposition using in vitro and in vivo models.

Stephanie is currently a Principal Scientist in the Nonclinical Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics group at Boehringer Ingelheim in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Her group focuses on characterizing the metabolism and drug-drug interaction potential of small molecules in the development pipeline using in vitro tools. Stephanie joined Boehringer seven years ago after completing her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy, where her research efforts involved understanding the impact of postnatal antiepileptic drug exposure on CYP-mediated metabolism and enzyme induction.

Research Fellow in the LifeSciences Division at LifeNet Health, Research Triangle Park, NC. Dr. LeCluyse received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry at the University of Kansas and did his post-doctoral training in Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Kansas Medical School. He has over 35 years of experience in basic research and in vitro translational model development in industry, biotech and academia, and has held prior positions at Merck & Co., Invitrogen (ThermoFisher), The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences and UNC’s Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Dr. LeCluyse has done extensive research, development, and implementation of novel in vitro human hepatic model systems to study mechanisms of liver metabolism, DILI, and disease. He is the author of over 135 publications, book chapters, and review articles, and has presented numerous lectures and workshops on in vitro liver-related model systems and research applications.

Upendra Dahal is currently a Scientific Director in Pharmacokinetic and Drug Metabolism (PKDM) Department at Amgen. He represents PKDM in multi-disciplinary teams from discovery to development, oversees small molecule projects and outsourcing of ADME studies, and supervises scientists and PTRs. Proficient in designing in vitro and in vivo studies to characterize/understand PKDM properties of the drug candidates, provides recommendations to the teams to design better compounds with minimal metabolic and DDI liabilities. Leading the biotransformation group for small molecule drugs, Upendra reviews data, monitors studies, and addresses PKDM challenges to mitigate risks. His role involves preparing as well as reviewing regulatory documents for IND and NDA submissions. Previously worked at Celgene and Pfizer, Upendra boasts diverse research interests, evidenced by a strong track record of peer-reviewed publications across various domains. Upendra received his PhD focusing on enzyme kinetics and drug metabolism from Washington State University under supervision of Prof. Jeff Jones.

Nashid Farhan is a modeling and simulation expert working in the Pharmacokinetic and Drug Metabolism (PKDM) Department at Amgen. His specialization lies in small molecule pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) and physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling and simulation. As a subject matter expert (SME), he regularly develops models to predict human dose/dosing regimen, assess cardiac safety, and evaluate drug-drug interaction liabilities of small molecule drugs. In addition, Nashid is a Shiny App developer and has created multiple applications for PK/PD model fittings and simulations. Before joining Amgen, Nashid was a post-doctoral associate at the University of Florida's Center for Pharmacometrics and Systems Pharmacology, where he worked both on population PK/PD and PBPK models. He received his PhD in Pharmaceutics from the University of Houston, focusing on pharmacokinetics, drug metabolism, and PK/PD modeling. 

Dr. Li Di has ~30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical indus­try including Pfizer, Wyeth, and Syntex. She is currently a DMPK fellow at Recursion Pharmaceuticals. Her research interests include the areas of drug metabo­lism, pharmacokinetics, PK/PD, drug-drug interactions, absorption, transporters, blood–brain barrier and PBPK modeling and simulation. She has 200 publications including two books and presented over 100 invited lectures. She is a recipient of the Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award, the New Jersey Association for Biomedical Research Outstanding Woman in Science Award, the Wyeth President’s Award, Peer Award for Excellence, Pfizer’s top 14 articles in 2023 and ISSX Distinguished Accomplishments in Drug Discovery and Development of Paxlovid Team Award (2023) and individual award (2024).

Jose M. Calderin is an early-career scientist in Pharmacometrics, currently pursuing his PhD at the University of Cape Town. Originally from Havana, Cuba, he holds a Bachelor's degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Havana. His doctoral research focuses on population PK/PD modelling to optimize treatment strategies for pulmonary and meningeal tuberculosis, integrating preclinical and clinical data.

Shadia Nakalema is an Internal Medicine Physician and Research Scientist at the Infectious Diseases Institute, Mulago, committed to expanding her expertise in healthcare to address emerging challenges. Shadia has extensive experience working with special populations, including pregnant and breastfeeding women. As part of the Contraceptive Implant Research Consortium for Low-Income Countries, she focuses on building evidence for the safe use of contraceptive implants among women living with HIV. Her primary research interests lie in pharmacokinetics and pharmacogenomics, with a particular focus on drug-drug interactions between antiretroviral drugs (such as efavirenz and nevirapine) and contraceptive implants.

Shadia is also part of the DolPHIN-3 consortium, which focuses on optimizing long-acting injectable antiretroviral therapy for pregnant and postpartum women living with HIV. As part of this, she is pursuing a PhD, examining the drug interactions between standard antiretroviral therapies and hormonal contraceptives. Additionally, she aims to explore implementation science aspects related to the integration of long-acting ART and family planning services for women living with HIV. This research will further contribute to improving treatment strategies and reproductive health options for women living with HIV.

Davies Otieno is a first-year PhD Candidate in Makerere University, Infectious Diseases Institute, working under the supervision of Prof. Catriona Waitt. Drawing on a background in Medicine from the University of Nairobi, and an MSc in Clinical Pharmacology from the University of Aberdeen, he developed a keen interest in variability in clinical pharmacokinetics and clinical outcomes. Davies' doctoral research currently focuses on antimicrobial pharmacokinetics in maternal sepsis. Prior to his PhD, Davies completed specialty training in Internal Medicine where he investigated CYP3A4 genotypes using a clinical predictive index in patients taking tacrolimus after kidney transplantation. These findings were presented at the ISSX 2025 African Chapter. He is also interested in open-source tools for pharmacometrics and keen on collaborative initiatives.

My name is Sharon Sawe, and I am originally from Kenya. I have a background in biostatistics and data science, and I am currently pursuing a PhD in Pharmacometrics at the University of Cape Town, in the Department of Medicine, Division of Clinical Pharmacology. My research mostly focuses on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of antitubercular drugs in pregnant and breastfeeding women, as well as drug exposure in their infants. I am enthusiastic about the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning in pharmacometrics, and I am passionate about advancing maternal and child health through pharmacometrics.

Mathew Njoroge is a senior scientist at the Holistic Drug Discovery and Development Centre (H3D), University of Cape Town (UCT), where he works as part of a multidisciplinary team to advance preclinical drug discovery projects. His interest in drug discovery was sparked during his undergraduate in Pharmacy at the University of Nairobi and forged during postgraduate studies with Prof. Kelly Chibale's group at UCT, where he graduated with his PhD in 2010.

His postgraduate work, and his career since then have focused on understanding the metabolism and pharmacokinetics of compounds with a view to translating in vitro data to human exposure – efficacy relationships, as part of drug discovery projects in malaria, tuberculosis and antimicrobial resistance. This work, combined with H3Ds mission to build Africa-specific models, has led to research interests in drug metabolism and disposition in the African population – more specifically in considering the impact of pharmacogenetic variability on the pharmacokinetics of drugs in African populations. 

Julius O Enoru (Ph.D.) is a Director (Senior Principal Research Scientist) at the Department of Qualitative Translational and ADME Sciences (QTAS), AbbVie Pharmaceutical Research & Development, South San Francisco, CA, USA. He holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB), Belgium and completed a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship program at the department of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Pennsylvania. Julius is a subject matter expert in Translational ADME sciences, currently responsible for scientific oversight of pre-FIH in Vitro ADME Sciences functions at the AbbVie South San Francisco, CA site. He has contributed to many INDs, NDAs and responses to regulatory agencies’ inquiries. Julius represents AbbVie on the pharmaceutical industry consortium - International Consortium for Innovation and Quality in Pharmaceutical Development – “Guidelines for development of Targeted Covalent Inhibitors Working Group”.

Julius is passionate about the advancement of xenobiotic research in the African continent and seeks to connect partners to establish collaboration with industry/academic colleagues. He was the co-chair of the 2025 ISSX Africa workshop in Johannesburg, South Africa, and is a member of many international professional organizations. Julius has been a mentor to many students and continues to mentor early career scientists through the ISSX mentorship program.