Prof. Vita Dolžan, MD PhD received her degree in medicine, as well as MSc and PhD degree in Biochemistry and Molecular biology at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana. In 2000 - 2001 she was a postdoctoral fellow with Prof Magnus Ingelman-Sundberg at Karolinska Institute, Stockholm.
She received her habilitation as a Full Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, where she lectures Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Pharmacogenetics at the undergraduate and graduate level. She is also the founder and Head of the Pharmacogenetics Laboratory at the Institute of Biochemistry.
Her research interests are focused on applied research in the field of pharmacogenetics and on implementation of novel molecular biology based methods into clinical use. She investigates the influence of genetic variability in drug metabolizing enzymes, transporters and drug targets on drug treatment response in anticoagulant, antipsychotic, antidepressant, antirheumatic, antiepileptic, and cancer treatment. She also investigates genetic variability in xenobiotic disposition and antioxidative enzymes in relation to occupational diseases and cancer risk. She has coordinated several clinical collaborative studies and lead two national research projects in this field. Five of the PhD students that she has supervised have completed their degree. Currently she is supervising one post-doc, two PhD students and co-mentoring seven clinical PhD students. She also works on the promotion of pharmacogenomics knowledge among Slovenian medical professionals. She is a member of the European Research Network on Pharmacogenetics/genomics and a member of the Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium (CPIC).
She published over 60 research papers that have been cited over 1500 times. She also serves in editorial boards of European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, Acta Dermatovenerologica Alpina, Pannonica et Adriatica, Archives of Industrial Hygiene and Toxicology, review editorial board of Frontiers in Pharamacogenetics and International editorial advisory board of Current Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine (CPPM).
