Heather Vezina, Pharm.D.

Heather Vezina, Pharm.D., came to the University of Minnesota in 2000 to pursue a two-yearfellowship in antiretroviral clinical pharmacology at the College of Pharmacy. During her fellowship Vezina became active in the Minnesota AIDS Clinical Trials Unit (ACTU) where she met her senior mentor, Henry H. Balfour, Jr., M.D. Balfour is the P.I. of the Minnesota ACTU and also has an active Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) research program. In 2002 Vezina accepted a joint faculty appointment in the Medical School’s Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology and the College of Pharmacy’s Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology. As an assistant professor she became interested in antiviral- EBV and antiviral-host interactions and is now an integral part of Balfour’s EBV research program.

Vezina oversees the antiviral pharmacology research laboratory in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, which develops drug assays to support her clinical research. As part of CAPS, the NIH-funded K12 program at the University of Minnesota, Vezina is studying whether there is a role for antivirals in the management of primary EBV infections such as infectious mononucleosis (IM), which can occur in otherwise healthy young adults. Her first study will evaluate the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of the antiviral drug valacyclovir when used as an experimental treatment for primary EBV IM. She is also a co-investigator for a prospective study to evaluate risk factors for the severity of primary EBV IM in University freshmen. Data from these and earlier studies conducted by Balfour’s research group could help explain complex interactions observed among EBV, the host, and antiviral drugs. In addition, these data may provide clues into the pathogenesis and management of more serious EBV infections that can occur in individuals with weakened immune systems, such as those who have undergone transplantation.

In addition to Balfour, professor of laboratory medicine and pathology and pediatrics in the Medical School, Vezina’s mentoring team includes Richard Brundage, Pharm.D., Ph.D., associate professor of experimental and clinical pharmacology in the College of Pharmacy, and William Thomas, Ph.D., associate professor of biostatistics in the School of
Public Health.

Regarding CAPS, Vezina says, “I enjoy the multidisciplinary approach to clinical research and look forward to collaborating with other scholars and faculty through this program.”