Marilyn Ann Huestis (born 1948) is an American toxicologist researching the effects of

illicit drugs The prohibition of drugs through sumptuary legislation or religious law is a common means of attempting to prevent the recreational use of certain intoxicating substances. While some drugs are illegal to possess, many governments regulate the ...

on the body, brain, and

in utero ''In Utero'' is the third and final studio album by American rock band Nirvana. It was released on September 21, 1993, by DGC Records. After breaking into the mainstream with their second album, ''Nevermind'' (1991), Nirvana hired Steve Albini t ...

. She was chief of the chemistry and

drug metabolism Drug metabolism is the metabolic breakdown of drugs by living organisms, usually through specialized enzymatic systems. More generally, xenobiotic metabolism (from the Greek xenos "stranger" and biotic "related to living beings") is the set of ...

section at the

National Institute on Drug Abuse The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is a United States federal government research institute whose mission is to "advance science on the causes and consequences of drug use and addiction and to apply that knowledge to improve individual a ...

Early life and education

Huestis began working in a

toxicology Toxicology is a scientific discipline, overlapping with biology, chemistry, pharmacology, and medicine, that involves the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms and the practice of diagnosing and treating expo ...

lab in 1969 as an undergraduate at a

women's college Women's colleges in higher education are undergraduate, bachelor's degree-granting institutions, often liberal arts colleges, whose student populations are composed exclusively or almost exclusively of women. Some women's colleges admit male stud ...

. She married during her senior year, held a variety of jobs and raised a family. Ten years later, Huestis went through a two-year program to earn a M.S. in clinical chemistry. In 1988, Huestis started at the

(NIDA) as a research fellow while completing her Ph.D. in toxicology in 1992 from the

University of Maryland School of Medicine The University of Maryland School of Medicine (abbreviated UMSOM), located in Baltimore City, Maryland, U.S., is the medical school of the University of Maryland, Baltimore and is affiliated with the University of Maryland Medical Center and Me ...

. Her doctoral research focused on

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: ''Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternatively ...

. Her dissertation was titled ''An integrated pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic study of acute marijuana use''. She was over the age of 40 before she started conducting research.

Career and research

Huestis is a toxicologist who studied the effects of

on the body, brain, and

. After receiving her doctorate in 1992, she founded her own company. In the late 1990s, Huestis started one of the few human

clinical research Clinical research is a branch of healthcare science that determines the safety and effectiveness ( efficacy) of medications, devices, diagnostic products and treatment regimens intended for human use. These may be used for prevention, treatm ...

labs in the world to test illicit drugs in humans. In 1998, she became chief of the chemistry and

section of the NIDA. She retired in 2016 after 23 years at NIDA. Huestis was an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Huestis' research program had sought to discover mechanisms of action of

cannabinoid Cannabinoids () are several structural classes of compounds found in the cannabis plant primarily and most animal organisms (although insects lack such receptors) or as synthetic compounds. The most notable cannabinoid is the phytocannabinoid tet ...

agonists and antagonists, effects of in utero drug exposure, and the neurobiology and

pharmacokinetics Pharmacokinetics (from Ancient Greek ''pharmakon'' "drug" and ''kinetikos'' "moving, putting in motion"; see chemical kinetics), sometimes abbreviated as PK, is a branch of pharmacology dedicated to determining the fate of substances administered ...

of novel

psychoactive substances A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, psychoactive agent or psychotropic drug is a chemical substance, that changes functions of the nervous system, and results in alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition or behavior. T ...

, the emerging face of drug abuse. She studied a wide range of illicit drugs, including

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...

methamphetamine Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Methamph ...

, ecstasy, and

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...

. Her research included an initiative to develop new diagnostic tests for

designer drug A designer drug is a structural or functional analog of a controlled substance that has been designed to mimic the pharmacological effects of the original drug, while avoiding classification as illegal and/or detection in standard drug tests. Des ...

s, which current drug tests cannot detect. Huestis' work has yielded more than 400 manuscripts, most recently with a focus on the effects of marijuana use on driving impairment. She was motivated to see how her research improved people’s lives by reducing deaths from drugged driving or reducing the effects on children when mothers use drugs during pregnancy. Huestis was a president of the , chair of the Toxicology Section of the

American Academy of Forensic Sciences The American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) is a society for forensic science professionals, and was founded in 1948. The society is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA. The AAFS is a multi-disciplinary professional organization that p ...

, and the first woman president of .

Awards and honors

In 2010, Huestis received a

doctor honoris causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

from the Faculty of Medicine at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

, a school that supported her work on in utero drug exposure.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Huestis, Marilyn Living people Place of birth missing (living people) National Institutes of Health people 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American women scientists American toxicologists University of Maryland School of Medicine alumni 1948 births American medical researchers American women medical researchers