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Division for Toxicology Member Spotlight: Interview with Dr. Xiaochao Ma Submitted by Allison Harrill, PhD and Lauren Aleksunes, PharmD, PhD, DABT Dr. Xiaochao Ma of the Division for Toxicology is a tenured associate professor in the Center for Pharmacogenetics, which is in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Ma received an award from the Division for Toxicology as a postdoctoral fellow in 2007. We Dr. Xiaochao Ma recently caught up with Dr. Ma to learn more about how ASPET membership played a role in his career development and what advice he might have for graduate student and postdoctoral members of ASPET today. What sparked your interest in toxicology? In 1998, I graduated from Henan Medical University [in Zhengzhou, China] where I learned that drugs can save a patient, but can also kill a patient because of side effects. I spent a lot of time thinking—How do drug toxicities happen? With this question in mind, I went to graduate school in the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, with toxicology as my major. I completed my PhD study in 2003, and then I joined Dr. Frank Gonzalez’ laboratory at the National Cancer Institute within the National Institutes of Health for postdoctoral training in the same year. You received an award for your research from the Division for Toxicology in 2007. What path has your career taken since then? It was a great honor for me to receive the Postdoctoral Scientist Award in Toxicology in 2007,
The Pharmacologist • March 2016
sponsored by ASPET [Dr. Ma received the first place award]. This award strongly encouraged me and brought me a lot of confidence in research. In 2008, I started my own laboratory and continued to pursue the mechanisms of drug toxicity. What is your current role and research area? I am currently an associate professor in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Pittsburgh. My research focuses on mechanisms of drug toxicity associated with anti-tuberculosis (TB) and antiHIV therapy. This research project is related to my postdoctoral project for which I received the ASPET award. We use genetically engineered mouse models and metabolomic approaches in our research. The goal of our research is to develop mechanismbased strategies to predict and then prevent the toxicity of anti-TB and anti-HIV drugs. We have found that human pregnenolone X receptor plays a key role in the hepatotoxicity associated with rifampicin and isoniazid cotherapy. How has membership in ASPET benefited you and your career? It has been a great help to my career. By coming to the ASPET-sponsored meetings, I learn a lot from other members. I have also found good friends and collaborators in the ASPET family. What advice would you offer to aspiring toxicologists? Believe in yourself and keep working; you will make the world safer.