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Bankole A. Johnson, M.D., Ph.D.
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio *
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Journal for Minority Medical Students(JMMS): What got you interested in research?
Dr. Johnson: I was always interested in research; I actually worked for and obtained a Masters degree during my residency training.At my first job as a doctoral trainee at Oxford University, I ran into some professors and we started talking about medications for alcohol and drug dependence. One of the famous professors said, “You know, Bankole, we know a lot about the structure of these drugs, why is it not possible for someone to come up with an antidote?” I said, “Well maybe I should look into that.” I’ve been struggling for all my life to answer this one question.JMMS: So you never assumed you’d be a traditional clinical physician?
Dr. Johnson: I did quite a bit of research even as a medical student. One of the things that always intrigued me as a med student was how littlettraining there was on alcohol and drug addiction problems. I thought there was an opportunity and a challenge to try and discover more. My own talent has always been in trying to increase knowledge instead of just trying to memorize or recite the knowledge that others had put into a book.JMMS: How did you find out about NIAAA?
Dr. Johnson: After I was recruited from Oxford University to Texas, I was told by a colleague that I had to write some grants in order to have my salary paid. I had written some grants in the UK before, but there they tend to be about five pages long. My first grant forNIAAA was supposed to be about 25 pages; I think I ended up turning in 21, but I got it. I’ve now been an NIAAA grantee for about 10 years.JMMS: What does your most recent NIAAA-funded research pertain to?
Dr. Johnson: We’re working on new medications for treating alcoholism, one of which is a medication called ondansetron, a treatment that significantly decreases the number of drinks consumed per day in early-onset alcoholics. This is the first study that successfully uses medication to achieve abstinence in biologically-predisposed alcoholics, and it also is the first investigation that demonstrates the importance of tailoring pharmacotherapy in accordance with the subtype of alcoholism. We’re also working on a combination of ondansetron and naltrexone for the same purpose, a study that involves clinical trials work with the added twist of molecular genetics.JMMS: The ondansetron research, which came out in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2000, made big news. What have you found out since then?
Dr. Johnson: We don’t yet have results of subsequent double blind trials; we’re about 2 1/2 years into the second round of a five-year study. We’re now looking for genetic answers to understand the treatment response, and it’s going very well.JMMS: Have you done any work looking at minority populations?
Dr. Johnson: We believe that the answers to some of the effectiveness of these drugs are molecular, so one of the studies we’re doing in conjunction with Howard University is a study of ondansetron/naltrexone is in African Americans. Though they’re not a perfectly homogenous group, it’s a start and it’s better than some other population studies that have been done. We have other studies which are addressing health disparities, including one that is looking at Hispanic populations. My idea is that we’ll be able to compare how different ethnic groups respond to the medications. We just haven’t done a lot of this in the alcohol field up until now. I think if you target the treatments more closely to the types of folks in whom it will work, you’ll get a better result.JMMS: What would you say is important for someone who is considering a career in research?
Dr. Johnson: I think intense curiosity is the most important characteristic. A student has to get intrigued and want to find out more and go deeper and deeper into an area. I also think research tends to attract people who are fairly singleminded, but who are also able to work in groups given the nature of collaborative efforts needed for interdisciplinary research these days. Research requires a good deal of drive, especially because of the way extramural research is funded. You need the drive to keep coming up with novel questions, and so there’s aconstant challenge to better oneself and develop new ideas. You need to be able to make difficult decisions and pick an area that you think should be pursued and then go for it. Research takes a lot of courage and faith. It’s a bit like a school of hard knocks. You have to be fairly tough and keep your focus on what you’re really trying to achieve and learn from your mistakes.JMMS: Do you think it’s important in your field especially to have minorities represented in research positions?
Dr. Johnson: It’s no secret that minorities have traditionally been underrepresented in research, and NIAAA has done a good job in trying to develop minority programs. I think there’s still a lot more that can be done. We know now that people are biologically different, and we need to have researchers who are sensitive to different aspects of a racial or ethnic group in order to pursue the research effectively. Especially in field or clinical research, it’s not only being able to set up the research program that’s important. You also have to be able to recruit patients from the community, and they have to have a trust relationship with you so that they will comply with whatever the treatment of the experiment is. The more the research community reflects the community we call America, the better it is in terms of generating new knowledge on treatment response among various ethnic groups.* This article was written on summer 2003. Now, Dr. Johnson moved to University of Virginia.
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