A visit to School of Medicine by Dr. Jortani, University of Louisville, Kentucky, USA

Dr. Jortani, from University of Louisville met with Dr. Aminian, the chair of the Department of Biochemistry, Dr. Nowrozi, the International Director and a number of distinguished faculty members of the School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences.

They had a very fruitful discussion on the proteomics, detection and measurement of drugs, therapeutics and poisons, and the use of pharmacogenetics in pain management and for postmortem investigations as well as the effect of exposure to air pollution on cancer risk.

Dr. Jortani also had the opportunity to visit the Research Labs, General Lab, Cell Culture Lab, Library and Site, and Prof. Nasser Maleknia Hall Conference. He stated that arranging lectures and conference with the collaboration of TUMS, and publishing joint journals could be considered as the first steps towards international scientific collaboration.

About Dr. Jortani

Dr. Jortani is an Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at University of Louisville, School of Medicine.  He is a board certified clinical chemist and a practicing toxicologist.  He is an Associate Director of University of Louisville’s Clinical Chemistry and Toxicology Laboratory.  He has served as a representative of several national organizations in the area of laboratory medicine such as the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC), American Board for Clinical Chemistry (ABCC) and the Commission on Accreditation in Clinical Chemistry (ComACC).

Dr. Jortani is a co-founder and the past chair of the Clinical Proteomics Division of the AACC.  He is on the editorial boards of Clinica Chemica Acta and Clinical Proteomics, Therapeutic Drug Monitoring.  His research interests are proteomics, detection and measurement of drugs, therapeutics and poisons, and the use of pharmacogenetics in pain management and for postmortem investigations.  Working with other executive officers of the proteomics division and the National Cancer Institute, Dr. Jortani has been instrumental in establishing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between AACC and the NCI.

Dr. Jortani is also one of the leaders in the field of pharmacogenetics specifically focusing on personalized pain management and PGx-guided forensic toxicology investigations and pain management.  As a liaison representing the AACC to the College of American Pathologists, he co-founded the first proficiency testing materials in the area of clinical pharmacogenetics.  His efforts by participating in the writing of the Laboratory Medicine Practice Guidelines in Pharmacogenetics and his directing of clinical trials in this area will contribute to substantial advancement in this area.

Reported By: F. Vahedi