- Phone:
- 858-822-6629
- Email:
- smtsunoda@ucsd.edu
Bio
Dr. Shirley M. Tsunoda is a Professor and Associate Dean for Pharmacy Education at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at UC San Diego. She completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychobiology at UCLA, a Doctorate in Pharmacy at UCSF, completed a PGY1 Acute Care Residency at UCSF, and a post-doctoral research fellowship in Pharmacokinetics/Drug Metabolism in the laboratory of Leslie Z. Benet at UCSF.
Dr. Tsunoda’s research focuses on using metabolomics to investigate factors influencing the variability of drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics. Her group is interested in the intersection of drugs and the gut microbiome – pharmacomicrobiomics. She is one of the Principal Investigators of the UCSD Center of Excellence in Therapeutics for MPRINT (Maternal and Pediatric Precision in Therapeutics) Hub where she is investigating the impact of antibiotic exposure through breastfeeding on the infant microbiome, metabolome, and development. Previous work has included investigating the impact of altering the gut microbiome with antibiotics on drug metabolizing activity and using probe compounds such as midazolam and cyclosporine to predict activity of CYP3A4. She has also conducted clinical pharmacology investigations with immunosuppressive agents. Her group is also investigating the use of noninvasive techniques to monitor drugs and other chemicals in pregnancy, infancy, and healthcare workers.