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Marilyn A. Huestis, PhD
Chief (Retired), Chemistry and Drug Metabolism, IRP
National Institute on Drug Abuse National Institutes of Health
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Professor Dr. Dr. (h.c.) Marilyn A. Huestis recently retired as a tenured senior investigator and Chief, Chemistry and Drug Metabolism Section, IRP, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, after 23 years of conducting controlled drug administration studies. She is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Maryland Baltimore. She thoroughly enjoys mentoring doctoral students in toxicology, has to date directly overseen the research of 16 distinguished new toxicologists, and currently has 2 students pursuing their dissertation research. Her research program focused on discovering mechanisms of action of cannabinoid agonists and antagonists, effects of in utero drug exposure, and the neurobiology and pharmacokinetics of novel psychoactive substances, the emerging face of drug abuse. Professor Huestis’ research also explored new medication targets for cannabis dependence, including oral tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and Sativex, a 1:1 ratio of tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol. She is interested in the disposition of drugs and metabolites in a wide variety of biological fluids and tissues following controlled drug administration; data that provide a scientific database for interpreting drug concentrations in alternative matrices. Recently, Professor Huestis and colleagues documented that CB1-cannabinoid receptors are significantly down regulated in specific brain regions in chronic daily cannabis smokers, but these receptors significantly increased with sustained cannabis abstinence. Residual active cannabinoids could be quantified for up to 30 days in some chronic smokers during sustained abstinence and, furthermore, psychomotor impairment was documented in these same subjects for at least 21 days. An area of special interest for Professor Huestis is investigating the effects of in utero drug exposure on child development and whether concentrations of drugs and/or metabolites in meconium predict adverse outcomes of in utero drug exposure. She has published 405 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters and more than 490 abstracts were presented at national and international meetings. Professor Huestis received a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from Mount Holyoke College (cum laude), a master's degree in clinical chemistry from the University of New Mexico (with honors), and a doctoral degree in toxicology from the University of Maryland (with honors). Professor Huestis received a Doctor Honoris Causa from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki in Finland in 2010. Other important awards include, 2016 Saferstein Memorial Distinguished Lecturer at Northeastern University to be awarded April 2016, Excellence in Scientific Research, Women Scientist Advisory NIDA Investigator Award March 27, 2015, Norman P. Kubasik Lectureship Award, AACC Upstate New York Section May 7, 2015, Distinguished Fellow Award from the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) in 2015, The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists (TIAFT) Alan Curry Award in 2010, the American Association for Clinical Chemistry Outstanding Contributions in a Selected Area of Research Award in 2008, the International Association of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring and Clinical Toxicology (IATDMCT) Irving Sunshine Award in 2007, the AAFS Rolla N. Harger Award in 2005, and the Irving Sunshine Award for Outstanding Research in Forensic Toxicology in 1992. The journal Clinical Chemistryfeatured her as an “Inspiring Mind”. She currently serves on the new National Commission on Forensic Sciences, and the Organization of Scientific Area Committee on Toxicology, World Anti-doping Agency’s Prohibited List Committee, the Scientific Working Group on Toxicology (SWG-TOX), Transportation Research Board Committee on Alcohol and Other Drugs, and the National Safety Council’s Alcohol, Drugs and Impairment Division Executive Board. Professor Huestis is past president of the Society of Forensic Toxicologists, past Chair of the Toxicology Section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, and the first woman president of The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists. |
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Donald A. Henderson, MD, MPH
Johns Hopkins University Distinguished Service Professor and Dean Emeritus Professor of Medicine and Public Health, University of Pittsburgh UPMC Center for Health Security
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Dr. Henderson is a Distinguished Scholar at the UPMC Center for Health Security and a Professor of Public Health and Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. He is Dean Emeritus and Professor of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and a Founding Director (1998) of the Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies. From November 2001 through April 2003, he served as the Director of the Office of Public Health Emergency Preparedness and, later, as a Principal Science Advisor in the Office of the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Dr. Henderson’s previous positions include: Associate Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President (1990–93); Dean of the Faculty of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health (1977–90); Director of the World Health Organization’s global smallpox eradication campaign (1966–77); and Chief of the Surveillance Section of the Epidemiology Branch of the Centers for Disease Control (1961–66).
In 2002, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. In 2015, he was awarded Taiwan’s Prince Mahidol Award for Public Health, and in 2013 he was presented with the Order of the Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon, the highest civilian honor awarded by the Republic of China (Taiwan). He is the recipient of the National Medal of Science, the National Academy of Sciences’ Public Welfare Medal, and the Japan Prize. He has received honorary degrees from 17 universities and special awards from 19 countries.
Dr. Henderson is a member of the Institute of Medicine, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an Honorary Fellow of the National Academy of Medicine of Mexico, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London, an Honorary Member of the Royal Society of Medicine, and a Fellow of a number of professional medical and public health societies.
In June 2009, Prometheus Books published a book by Dr. Henderson entitled Smallpox: Death of a Disease. It is a personal account of the challenges, obstacles, and disasters faced by an intrepid international program in achieving the global eradication of smallpox.
Dr. Henderson is Editor Emeritus of the peer-reviewed journal Health Security (formerly Biosecurity and Bioterrorism). Additionally, he has authored more than 200 articles and scientific papers and 31 book chapters and is coauthor of the renowned Smallpox and Its Eradication (Fenner F, Henderson DA, Arita I, Jezek A, and Ladnyi ID. Geneva: World Health Organization; 1988), the authoritative history of the disease and its ultimate demise.
Dr. Henderson, a Lakewood, Ohio native, graduated from Oberlin College, the University of Rochester School of Medicine, and the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. He served as a medical resident at the Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown, New York.
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