Full Name
Prof Goh Boon Cher
Designation
Senior Consultant, Department of Haematology-Oncology, National University Cancer Institute, Singapore
Group Chief, Physician Leadership and Organisation Development Office, National University Health System (NUHS)
Deputy Director (Research), National University Cancer Institute, Singapore (NCIS)
Director, Investigational Medicine Unit, NUHS
Deputy Director, Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, NUS
Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Medicine, NUS
Group Chief, Physician Leadership and Organisation Development Office, National University Health System (NUHS)
Deputy Director (Research), National University Cancer Institute, Singapore (NCIS)
Director, Investigational Medicine Unit, NUHS
Deputy Director, Cancer Science Institute of Singapore, NUS
Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Medicine, NUS
Bio
Dr Goh received his undergraduate medical education at the National University of Singapore, and joined the Department of Hematology-Oncology, NUH where he completed fellowship in medical oncology, and completed a National Medical Research Council fellowship in clinical pharmacology and phase I clinical trials at the University of Chicago.
Since then he has established himself as a leading clinician scientist in clinical pharmacology and cancer drug development, and currently serves on several institutional and national research portfolios. Upon his return from Chicago, he has contributed much to the development of a clinical trial research infrastructure at the NCIS, one of the largest clinical research groups in Singapore, and chaired the Cancer Therapeutics Research Group, an Asia Pacific cancer research group. He is principal investigator of the Experimental therapeutics group at the Cancer Science Institute, Singapore focused on evaluating novel treatments for cancer. As a clinician, he is well established in the fields of head and neck/lung cancer.
As a senior clinician and scientist, he has mentored many clinical oncology and pharmacology fellows, and has been awarded senior clinician scientist from the Biomedical Research Council and the National Medical Research Council since 2005. In addition, he has been competitive in being awarded research grants as principal investigator of both individual project grants and infrastructure grants.
Beyond cancer therapeutics, he is also widely published in pharmacogenetics, studying how human genetics affect drug response. Internationally, as a key opinion leader, he has served on advisory boards of several pharmaceutical companies advising on drug development of very novel drugs, and has served on editorial boards of important journals like the Journal of Clinical Oncology and Annals of Oncology.
As a responsible member of clinical research, he has also espoused principles of ethics, and served for several terms as Chairman of the Domain Specific Research Board.
Since then he has established himself as a leading clinician scientist in clinical pharmacology and cancer drug development, and currently serves on several institutional and national research portfolios. Upon his return from Chicago, he has contributed much to the development of a clinical trial research infrastructure at the NCIS, one of the largest clinical research groups in Singapore, and chaired the Cancer Therapeutics Research Group, an Asia Pacific cancer research group. He is principal investigator of the Experimental therapeutics group at the Cancer Science Institute, Singapore focused on evaluating novel treatments for cancer. As a clinician, he is well established in the fields of head and neck/lung cancer.
As a senior clinician and scientist, he has mentored many clinical oncology and pharmacology fellows, and has been awarded senior clinician scientist from the Biomedical Research Council and the National Medical Research Council since 2005. In addition, he has been competitive in being awarded research grants as principal investigator of both individual project grants and infrastructure grants.
Beyond cancer therapeutics, he is also widely published in pharmacogenetics, studying how human genetics affect drug response. Internationally, as a key opinion leader, he has served on advisory boards of several pharmaceutical companies advising on drug development of very novel drugs, and has served on editorial boards of important journals like the Journal of Clinical Oncology and Annals of Oncology.
As a responsible member of clinical research, he has also espoused principles of ethics, and served for several terms as Chairman of the Domain Specific Research Board.
Topic
Implementing pharmacogenomics, a precision medicine tool, into clinical practice
Abstract
Drugs are mainly developed with dosing recommendations to treat the general population. However, interindividual variability of drug effect leads to significant effect differences at the individual patient level, manifested as unexpected toxicity or lack of efficacy in some patients. Precision medicine aims to personalize therapy by selecting the right treatment for the right patient at the right dose and schedule to achieve optimal outcomes. To do so, the underpinnings of this interindividual variability of drug effect has to be understood and one of these factors is genetics of patients, either at the single gene level (pharmacogenetics), or at the multiple gene level (pharmacogenomics). Advances in drug-gene interactions have proceeded to the point where clinical implementation is ongoing, either as reactive or preemptive pharmacogenomics implementation programs. For this to happen, consistent and careful curation of research data, availability of PGx guidelines and policies, availability of sequencing technology and incorporation of these data into electronic prescription platforms in a user friendly format is critical. Perhaps most importantly, mindset acceptance of its usefulness through adequate education and exposure will be the key to success of these implementation programs.
