Lead scientific advisor, Dr. Elizabeth J. Phillips, is a renowned global expert on severe immune-mediated adverse drug reactions, including Drug Reaction with Eosinophilia and Systemic Symptoms (DRESS) and Stevens-Johnson Syndrome/Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (SJS/TEN). Her contributions to these life threatening drug reactions cannot be overestimated. Dr. Phillips is the founder and director of the Center for Drug Safety and Immunology (CDSI) at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) where she leads clinical and research programs in drug hypersensitivity.

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Dr. Phillips collaborates with researchers and clinicians around the world in an effort to understand and identify genetic factors related to severe adverse drug reactions. Some of her greatest achievements include the development of genetic predictors for drug hypersensitivity to abacavir, and most recently, the discovery of the genetic HLA factors associated with the antibiotic vancomycin and risk for developing DRESS.

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In addition to her work in the United States, Dr. Phillips is the Director of the Centre for Clinical Pharmacology and Infectious Disease at Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia. She founded and chairs global scientific meetings on both SJS and DRESS. 

 

Dr. Phillips' unique relationship with advocacy groups and desire to unite patients, providers and scientists, give us hope for predicting and preventing DRESS Syndrome.