Dr. Amit Pai Receives 2023 Russell R. Miller Award from ACCP

By the time a drug makes it to market, clinical trials have yielded recommendations for dosages. But what if your patient is from a special population that was underrepresented in the trials? Professor Manjunath (Amit) Pai has spent 20 years researching optimal drug doses for patients across the lifespan and those with obesity and organ dysfunction, ensuring safety and efficacy. His work has improved antimicrobial dosing in patients of different body sizes, ages, and renal functions. 

For these important contributions, Dr. Pai has received the 2023 Russell R. Miller Award from the American College of Clinical Pharmacy. The award recognizes an ACCP member who has made substantial contributions to the literature of clinical pharmacy, either in the form of a single, especially noteworthy contribution or sustained contributions over time. The award was presented Sunday, Nov. 12, in a ceremony at the ACCP annual meeting in Dallas.

Dr. Pai is the Professor and Chair of Clinical Pharmacy at the College of Pharmacy; he also codirects the Pharmacokinetics (PK) Core Laboratory, a shared resource that supports the discovery, development, and refinement of therapeutics. He has co-authored approximately 200 publications and has received multiple awards for his scientific contributions. “I appreciate the recognition from ACCP and their bestowing this award on the work my team and I have done over the past several years.”

Building on his expertise in precision dosage design, Dr. Pai recently has ventured into a new area of study he calls “Pharmacomorphomics,” which uses current, detailed measurements of biomarkers ranging from organ size and condition and muscle mass to vascular measures to optimize treatment. Drawing detailed data on a patient’s condition from medical imaging allows clinicians to “provide just the right treatment, in the right dose, for the right outcome, which equates to perfectly personalized and precise care,” according to the Morphomics Analytics Team at Michigan Health. 

Congratulations to Dr. Pai for this new award and the promise of his new lines of inquiry.