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Marilyn A. Huestis
Marilyn A. Huestis, Ph.D., is a tenured senior investigator and the Chief, Chemistry and Drug Metabolism Section, Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics Research Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health. She directs a large research program that seeks to discover mechanisms of action of cannabinoid agonists and antagonists, effects of in utero drug exposure, and the neurobiology and pharmacokinetics of MDMA (Ecstasy). Her section also supports medication development projects including the use of buprenorphine as pharmacotherapy in opioid dependence.
Dr. Huestis currently is the principal investigator of a phase I clinical study evaluating cognitive performance and related brain activation of acute and chronic cannabis exposure utilizing fMRI. The study also investigates and contrasts for the first time spontaneous and antagonist-elicited cannabis withdrawal. Rimonabant, the first CB1 cannabinoid receptor antagonist is used as a pharmacological tool to investigate the endogenous cannabinoid system in the human brain. There continues to be controversy over recognition of a cannabis withdrawal syndrome (not recognized in the DSM-IV criteria), although drug treatment providers and cannabis-dependent individuals consistently describe the syndrome as a major factor in drug relapse. This protocol is designed to clearly characterize cannabis withdrawal and therefore, improve the treatment of cannabis dependence. Based on animal studies, and the two protocols conducted at the IRP by Dr. Huestis, rimonabant also may be useful for the treatment of cannabis and other drug dependencies. Dr. Huestis would like to partner treatment studies with rimonabant in cannabis dependent individuals. She directed the first clinical Cooperative Research And Development Agreement (CRADA) for the Intramural Research Program that has served as a model for future research endeavors.
Dr. Huestis is also investigating the effectiveness of buprenorphine and methadone in the treatment of opiate-dependent pregnant women and modeling prenatal drug exposure by studying the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of these licit pharmacotherapies. She also is the Intramural Research Program’s responsible investigator in a multi-center study of in utero methamphetamine exposure. Additional research is characterizing mechanisms of in utero exposure and toxicity of cocaine, cannabinoids and nicotine.
In addition, Dr. Huestis holds an Adjunct Associate Professor appointment at the University of Maryland Baltimore and has directed the doctoral research of four recently completed and five current toxicology PhD students. Dr. Huestis finds the mentoring of graduate students and analytical staff as one of the most rewarding aspects of her career.
She has published 145 peer-reviewed manuscripts in over 47 journals, numerous book chapters, monographs and over 220 abstracts presented at national and international meetings. She came to her current position well qualified having received a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from Mount Holyoke (cum laude), a master's degree in clinical chemistry from the University of New Mexico, and a doctoral degree in toxicology from the University of Maryland in Baltimore. She received 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 2007 for excellence in Clinical Toxicology, the American Academy of Forensic Sciences’ Rolla N. Harger Award for lifetime contributions in forensic toxicology in 2005, and the Irving Sunshine Award for “Outstanding Research in Forensic Toxicology” in 1992 for her work on cannabis. She was director of one of the first forensic urine drug testing laboratories among 150 applicants to be certified by NIDA.
With this background and experience she serves on the World Anti-doping Agency’s Prohibited List Committee, the advisory board for U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s Research Advisory Panel and provides consultation for the Office of National Drug Control Policy and Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Huestis is active in providing educational opportunities for scientists in the United States and in developing countries, including a new program of toxicology presentations translated into Spanish and Portuguese currently being given by South American toxicologists in multiple countries. Dr. 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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