Raymond L. Woosley
Encyclopedia
Raymond L. Woosley, M.D., Ph.D. is the founding President & CEO of Critical Path Institute
(C-Path). C-Path is an independent, non-profit organization created by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) and The University of Arizona
that leads global collaborations to improve health and save lives by accelerating the development of safe and effective medicines.
, Kentucky
, received his medical degree from the University of Miami
, FL, his doctorate in pharmacology
from the University of Louisville
, KY, and his bachelor's degree from Western Kentucky University
. He served his internship and residency in internal medicine
and completed a fellowship in clinical pharmacology
at Vanderbilt University
. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians
, the American College of Clinical Pharmacology, the American College of Cardiology
, and the American Heart Association
.
) from 1968-71. He completed medical school, internal medicine, and clinical pharmacology training in 1976 and joined the Clinical Pharmacology faculty at Vanderbilt University Medical School, rising to the rank of professor of Medicine
and Pharmacology. At Vanderbilt he served as the Associate Director of the NIH-funded General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) and was a founding member of the Vanderbilt Cardiac Arrhythmia Clinical Program.
In 1988, he was appointed Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology at Georgetown University Medical Center
in Washington, D.C.
During his tenure as Chairman, the Department of Pharmacology became one of the highest ranked pharmacology departments in research funding and received the largest endowment of any pharmacology department in the nation. At Georgetown, he founded the Division of Clinical Pharmacology, was Principal Investigator for the NIH-sponsored GCRC, and in 2000, Dr. Woosley was appointed Associate Dean for Clinical Research at Georgetown University.
In 2001, Dr. Woosley joined the faculty at The University of Arizona
as Vice President of the Arizona Health Sciences Center and the Dean of the College of Medicine
. He founded C-Path in 2004.
Dr. Woosley’s research at Georgetown contributed substantially to the recognition that non-cardiovascular drugs, such as antihistamines (e.g., terfenadine (Seldane®), may have arrhythmogenic effects. Dr. Woosley’s invention, fexofenadine
(Allegra®), resulted from this research and is today marketed as a safer non-sedating antihistamine replacing Seldane®. His research on drug safety led Dr. Woosley to champion the development of the Centers for Education and Research on Therapeutics (CERTs), now a network of federally-funded centers designed to improve outcomes in medical therapeutics.
In 2002, Dr. Woosley’s research discovered the primary mechanism of methadone-induced sudden death. His subsequent research on methadone resulted in the addition of warnings to the official label. He is an authority on drugs, like methadone, that prolong the QT interval on the electrocardiogram and cause a particular potentially lethal cardiac arrhythmia, torsade de pointes. He leads a team of scientists at C-Path that maintains a web-based list of the drugs that have this potential toxicity; this website, with over 3,000 visits daily, is an internationally recognized resource cited in textbooks and used by researchers to evaluate the impact of drug safety programs.
. He is a member of the Drug Forum, a committee of the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine. He has served on the editorial boards for numerous cardiology and pharmacology journals. He has provided testimony on a wide range of healthcare and drug safety issues to Congressional Committees and hearings on 18 occasions.
Critical Path Institute
Critical Path Institute is an independent, non-profit organization committed to transformational improvement of the drug development process...
(C-Path). C-Path is an independent, non-profit organization created by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Food and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...
(FDA) and The University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
that leads global collaborations to improve health and save lives by accelerating the development of safe and effective medicines.
Background and Training
Dr. Woosley, a native of Bowling GreenBowling Green, Kentucky
Bowling Green is the third-most populous city in the state of Kentucky after Louisville and Lexington, with a population of 58,067 as of the 2010 Census. It is the county seat of Warren County and the principal city of the Bowling Green, Kentucky Metropolitan Statistical Area with an estimated 2009...
, Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, received his medical degree from the University of Miami
Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine
The University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine is the school of medical education of the University of Miami. The main medical campus is located in the Civic Center, Miami, Florida within the UM/Jackson Memorial Medical Center complex...
, FL, his doctorate in pharmacology
Pharmacology
Pharmacology is the branch of medicine and biology concerned with the study of drug action. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur between a living organism and chemicals that affect normal or abnormal biochemical function...
from the University of Louisville
University of Louisville
The University of Louisville is a public university in Louisville, Kentucky. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of the first universities chartered west of the Allegheny Mountains. The university is mandated by the Kentucky General...
, KY, and his bachelor's degree from Western Kentucky University
Western Kentucky University
Western Kentucky University is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA. It was formally founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a quarter-century earlier....
. He served his internship and residency in internal medicine
Internal medicine
Internal medicine is the medical specialty dealing with the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of adult diseases. Physicians specializing in internal medicine are called internists. They are especially skilled in the management of patients who have undifferentiated or multi-system disease processes...
and completed a fellowship in clinical pharmacology
Clinical pharmacology
Clinical pharmacology is the science of drugs and their clinical use. It is underpinned by the basic science of pharmacology, with added focus on the application of pharmacological principles and methods in the real world...
at Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
The Vanderbilt University Medical Center is a collection of several hospitals and clinics, as well as the schools of medicine and nursing associated with Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.It comprises the following units:...
. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians
American College of Physicians
The American College of Physicians is a national organization of doctors of internal medicine —physicians who specialize in the prevention, detection, and treatment of illnesses in adults. With 130,000 members, ACP is the largest medical-specialty organization and second-largest physician group in...
, the American College of Clinical Pharmacology, the American College of Cardiology
American College of Cardiology
The American College of Cardiology is a nonprofit medical association established in 1949 to advocate for quality cardiovascular care through education, research promotion, development and application of standards and guidelines, and to influence health care policy...
, and the American Heart Association
American Heart Association
The American Heart Association is a non-profit organization in the United States that fosters appropriate cardiac care in an effort to reduce disability and deaths caused by cardiovascular disease and stroke. It is headquartered in Dallas, Texas...
.
Professional Experience
After completing his Ph.D. training, Dr. Woosley was the first scientist at Meyer Laboratories (now GlaxoSmithKlineGlaxoSmithKline
GlaxoSmithKline plc is a global pharmaceutical, biologics, vaccines and consumer healthcare company headquartered in London, United Kingdom...
) from 1968-71. He completed medical school, internal medicine, and clinical pharmacology training in 1976 and joined the Clinical Pharmacology faculty at Vanderbilt University Medical School, rising to the rank of professor of Medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
and Pharmacology. At Vanderbilt he served as the Associate Director of the NIH-funded General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) and was a founding member of the Vanderbilt Cardiac Arrhythmia Clinical Program.
In 1988, he was appointed Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology at Georgetown University Medical Center
Georgetown University Medical Center
Georgetown University Medical Center is the medical campus at Georgetown University. It is also a $225 million biomedical research and educational organization. The Medical Center contains over 80% of Georgetown University's sponsored research funding and is led by Howard J...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
During his tenure as Chairman, the Department of Pharmacology became one of the highest ranked pharmacology departments in research funding and received the largest endowment of any pharmacology department in the nation. At Georgetown, he founded the Division of Clinical Pharmacology, was Principal Investigator for the NIH-sponsored GCRC, and in 2000, Dr. Woosley was appointed Associate Dean for Clinical Research at Georgetown University.
In 2001, Dr. Woosley joined the faculty at The University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
as Vice President of the Arizona Health Sciences Center and the Dean of the College of Medicine
University of Arizona College of Medicine
The University of Arizona College of Medicine is the only MD granting medical school in the state of Arizona. It has two campuses: the Tucson campus is located at the Arizona Health Sciences Center and University Medical Center, and the Phoenix campus is located at the historic Phoenix Union High...
. He founded C-Path in 2004.
Medical Research
Dr. Woosley’s research has been continuously supported by competitively-awarded, federal grants since 1976; his research has been reported in over 260 peer-reviewed publications and in eleven patents. He has investigated the basic and clinical pharmacology of drugs, factors contributing to variable response to medicines, the medical management of arrhythmias, and the cardiac toxicity of drugs. While at Vanderbilt, Dr. Woosley was the co-director of the landmark NIH-sponsored Cardiac Arrhythmia Suppression Trial (CAST) that found arrhythmia suppression by drugs to be an invalid biomarker for the prediction of drug therapy that prevents sudden death.Dr. Woosley’s research at Georgetown contributed substantially to the recognition that non-cardiovascular drugs, such as antihistamines (e.g., terfenadine (Seldane®), may have arrhythmogenic effects. Dr. Woosley’s invention, fexofenadine
Fexofenadine
Fexofenadine is an antihistamine drug used in the treatment of hayfever and similar allergy symptoms...
(Allegra®), resulted from this research and is today marketed as a safer non-sedating antihistamine replacing Seldane®. His research on drug safety led Dr. Woosley to champion the development of the Centers for Education and Research on Therapeutics (CERTs), now a network of federally-funded centers designed to improve outcomes in medical therapeutics.
In 2002, Dr. Woosley’s research discovered the primary mechanism of methadone-induced sudden death. His subsequent research on methadone resulted in the addition of warnings to the official label. He is an authority on drugs, like methadone, that prolong the QT interval on the electrocardiogram and cause a particular potentially lethal cardiac arrhythmia, torsade de pointes. He leads a team of scientists at C-Path that maintains a web-based list of the drugs that have this potential toxicity; this website, with over 3,000 visits daily, is an internationally recognized resource cited in textbooks and used by researchers to evaluate the impact of drug safety programs.
Leadership and Service
Dr. Woosley was elected President of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics and the Association for Medical School Pharmacology Chairs. He has served on numerous advisory committees for the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Veterans AffairsUnited States Department of Veterans Affairs
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs is a government-run military veteran benefit system with Cabinet-level status. It is the United States government’s second largest department, after the United States Department of Defense...
. He is a member of the Drug Forum, a committee of the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine. He has served on the editorial boards for numerous cardiology and pharmacology journals. He has provided testimony on a wide range of healthcare and drug safety issues to Congressional Committees and hearings on 18 occasions.