by Bill Snyder
Elizabeth Phillips, MD, of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, an international expert on adverse reactions to medications, has been elected to membership in the Association of American Physicians (AAP), one of the nation’s most respected medical honor societies.
Phillips, the John A. Oates Professor of Clinical Research and professor of Medicine, Dermatology, Pharmacology and Pathology, Microbiology & Immunology, was inducted with other new members during the joint annual meeting of the AAP, American Society for Clinical Investigation, and American Physician Scientist Association April 21-23 in Chicago.
According to the AAP’s announcement, Phillips “has transformed medication safety” through the discovery and development of strategies to prevent life-threatening hypersensitivities.
She currently is leading the National American Therapeutics in Epidermal Necrolysis Syndrome (NATIENS) trial to determine the mechanisms and optimal management of severe, potentially fatal, immunologically mediated adverse drug reactions known as Stevens-Johnson Syndrome/Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (SJS/TEN).
The NATIENS trial is a randomized and double-blind phase 3 trial conducted at several sites throughout the United States. The three-arm study is testing the effectiveness of two immunosuppressive drugs, cyclosporine and etanercept, versus the current standard of supportive care, in the treatment of SJS/TEN.
Under Phillips leadership, VUMC serves as the clinical, data and laboratory center for the NATIENS trial. Patients at VUMC also are being enrolled in the study.