Dr. Shirley M. Tsunoda, Pharm.D., FSSP

Dr. Shirley M. Tsunoda, Pharm.D., FSSP

Professor of Clinical Pharmacy
Associate Dean for Pharmacy Education
Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Shirley M. Tsunoda, Pharm.D., FCCP

Pronouns: She|Her|Hers

Email
smtsunoda@health.ucsd.edu
Phone
(858) 822-6629
Support

Human Resources

Mandi Garhartt (formerly Walker)
mjwalker@health.ucsd.edu
858-246-0080

Fund Management

Heidi Rosenthal
herosenthal@health.ucsd.edu

Reimbursements

Jazmine Phillips
j8phillips@health.ucsd.edu
(858) 822-5144

Research Summary

Dr. Tsunoda’s research focuses on using metabolomics to investigate factors influencing the variability of drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics. Her group is interested in the intersection of drugs and the gut microbiome – pharmacomicrobiomics. She is one of the Principal Investigators of the UCSD Center of Excellence in Therapeutics for MPRINT (Maternal and Pediatric Precision in Therapeutics) Hub where she is investigating the impact of antibiotic exposure through breastfeeding on the infant microbiome, metabolome, and development. Previous work has included investigating the impact of altering the gut microbiome with antibiotics on drug metabolizing activity and using probe compounds such as midazolam and cyclosporine to predict activity of CYP3A4, the major drug metabolizing enzyme in the intestine and liver, as well as clinical pharmacology investigations with immunosuppressive agents. Her group is also investigating the use of noninvasive techniques to monitor drugs and other chemicals in pregnancy, infancy, and healthcare workers.

Dr. Tsunoda has several ongoing research projects in: 1) investigating the bidirectional effect of the microbiome on tacrolimus exposure; 2) addressing the impact of xenobiotics such as antidepressants and antibiotics on the human milk metabolome and microbiome; 3) analyzing skin swab metabolomics for drug and environmental exposure; 3) clinical pharmacology studies with immunosuppressive drugs in transplant patients.

Academic Achievements

Education: B.S. in Psychobiology (1987), UCLA; Pharm.D. (1992) UCSF; Residency in Pharmacy Practice (1993) UCSF; Post-doctoral Fellowship in Pharmacokinetics/Drug Metabolism (1995) UCSF.

Awards and Honors: UCSF Resident Research Project Award (1993); American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy New Investigator Award (1996); National Center for Leadership in Academic Medicine, UCSD (2007); American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics Member of the Month (2011); American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics Dedicated Member (2012); American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Teacher of the Year (2016) ; UC San Diego Faculty Leadership Academy (2020); UC San Diego SSPPS Faculty Member of the Year, P3 class (2020), Fellow, American College of Clinical Pharmacy (2022), Outstanding Teaching Distinction, SSPPS (2024)

Leadership Experience: Associate: Dean for Pharmacy Education, Health Sciences Faculty Council Member at Large, Human Milk Institute Faculty

Teaching
  • Therapeutics
  • Principles of Pharmacology and Physiology
  • Pharmacogenomics
  • Hepatitis and Solid Organ Transplant Electives
Clinical Practice
  • Dr. Tsunoda maintains a clinical practice in the liver transplant clinic at UC San Diego
Key Contributions
  • Investigation of the impact of the gut microbiome on drug metabolism
  • Determining impact of xenobiotics on the human milk metabolome and microbiome
  • Differentiation of intestinal and hepatic CYP3A4 activity using midazolam as an in vivo probe
  • Characterization of drugs in non-invasive skin swab samples
Selected Publications

 

  • Thomas S, et al (2022) An untargeted metabolomics analysis of exogenous chemicals in human milk and transfer to the infant. Clin Transl Sci https://doi.org/10.1111/cts.13393
  • Thompson S^, Abelyan S^, Panitchpakdi M, Zemlin J, Thomas SP^, Zhao HN^, Dorrestein PC, Tsunoda SM. Non-invasive skin swab analysis detects environmental drug exposure in pharmacy staff. Clin Transl Sci 2024 17(2):e70022doi: 10.1111/cts.70022

(view more)

Potential Collaborative Programs
  • Clinical and translational investigations of the bidirectional effect of the gut microbiome and medications
  • Investigations on xenobiotics and environmental chemicals on human milk composition
  • ​Utility of noninvasive skin swabs in drug monitoring
  • Pharmacokinetic and drug metabolism studies in liver disease and liver transplantation