Journal of Genetic Syndromes & Gene Therapy
Open Access

William Douglas Figg

Biography

Dr. Figg received his B.S. in pharmacy from Samford University and his doctorate in pharmacy (Pharm.D.) from Auburn University. He also has a dual MBA degree from Columbia University and London Business School. Following his clinical internship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and his fellowship training at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he joined the Clinical Pharmacology Branch of the NCI. Dr. Figg became chief of the Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology Section in 1993. More recently, this section was divided into two groups, the Molecular Pharmacology Section within the Medical Oncology Branch and the Clinical Pharmacology Program within the Office of Clinical Director, CCR, NCI. The Clinical Pharmacology Program has 5 cores - the Blood Processing Core, Bioanalytical Core, Preclinical Pharmacokinetics Core, Pharmacometrics Core and Pharmacogenetics Core. Dr. Figg has focused his research on utilizing pharmacological principles in anticancer drug development and evaluating novel agents in the treatment of cancer. Dr. Figg serves on the Molecular Target Faculty Steering Committee, the Technology Review Group, the NExT Committee, the NIHCC Pharmacogenetics Committee, and chairs the steering committee of the Molecular Targets Development Program. Dr. Figg is also a member of the GU Center of Excellence steering committee. He is on the editorial board of 18 peer-reviewed scientific journals (e.g., Clinical Cancer Research, Cancer Biology & Therapy, Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, The Oncologist, Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology, Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, and Pharmacotherapy). He has been licensed to practice pharmacy since 1988 and in 1991, he became board certified in Pharmacotherapy (recertified in 2007). He holds adjunct appointments at four schools of pharmacy - Samford University, Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Michigan and the University of Maryland. Dr. Figg is also an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He has trained Ph.D. graduate students from Oxford University, Johns Hopkins, University of Pittsburgh, University of Maryland and George Washington. Dr. Figg is also a fellow in the American College of Clinical Pharmacy and a fellow in the American College of Clinical Pharmacology. He was named the Allen J. Brands Clinical Pharmacist of the Year in 2001, the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States in 2003 gave him the Clinical Pharmacist of the Year award, and he received the 2005 Leon Goldberg Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. In addition, he received the 2008 Russell R. Miller Award and the 2008 ASHP Award for Sustained Contribution to the Scientific Literature. In 2009 he received the AMSUS Andrew Craigie Award for Outstanding Advancement of the Profession of Pharmacy. In 2011 he gave the Philip C. and Ethel F. Ashby Lecture at the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Figg has over 500 peer-reviewed publications, has patented over 80 novel anticancer agents and devices and given over 150 invited scientific presentations/lectures throughout the world.

Research Interest

Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics