Andrew Holt, BSc(Hons), MPhil(Cantab), PhD(Cantab)

Area of Study / Keywords

Pharmacology enzyme kinetics teaching strategies for pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics

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About

Dr. Holt obtained a BSc (Hons) in Pharmacology from the University of Dundee (1989), and MPhil and PhD degrees in Pharmacology (in 1990 and 1993, respectively) from the University of Cambridge. After 5 years of postdoctoral research at the University of Alberta, in the Departments of Psychiatry and Chemistry, Dr. Holt spent a further 5 years working in industry, latterly as Head of Drug Discovery at ALviva Biopharmaceuticals Inc. He returned to the University of Alberta in 2003, taking up a tenure-track position in the Department of Pharmacology in 2004 and was promoted with tenure in 2009. Dr. Holt served as Associate Chair (Graduate Studies) in Pharmacology, from 2013-2016. In 2018 Dr. Holt relocated to the Neurochemical Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry, and was appointed to the position of Graduate Program Director in Psychiatry in 2024.

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Research

Dr. Holt has two major areas of research interest.

1. The pharmacology of drugs acting on enzymes. His particular area of interest is in the molecular pharmacology and kinetics of amine oxidase enzymes. Dr. Holt hosted the 14th Biennial International Amine Oxidase Workshop in Edmonton in 2010, and has published widely, including in Science, Molecular Pharmacology, PNAS, and the British Journal of Pharmacology.

2. Development of tools to enhance the teaching of pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics.

Dr. Holt's research has been supported by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Alberta Diabetes Institute and the Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund of the University of Alberta.

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Teaching

Dr. Holt has taught the subject of Pharmacology for over 20 years, presenting more than 1000 lectures to students in Science, Medicine, Pharmacy and Nursing. He was the 2018 recipient of The Rang Prize, an international teaching award presented by the British Pharmacological Society for excellence in contributions to the teaching of Pharmacology, he was the inaugural winner of the Department of Psychiatry Teaching Award in 2020, and he received a Teaching Excellence award from the Medical Students' Association (2018). Dr. Holt developed a hands-on patient simulator to teach students pharmacokinetics, which was featured on local CTV News, and he has devoted a substantial amount of time since the COVID pandemic began to developing a series of animated vodcasts explaining pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic concepts aimed at students in professional health science programs. He has also authored an eBook, "An ABC of PK/PD", designed as a reference manual for MD and BPharm students, which was released in August of 2023 (https://openeducationalberta.ca/abcofpkpd/).

In addition to teaching duties at the University of Alberta, Dr. Holt is the Pharmacology lead for teaching MD students in the Alberta Institute - Wenzhou Medical University, in China.

A complete list of courses taught by Dr. Holt at the University of Alberta is below.

* Denotes course currently taught    # Denotes course coordinator role

• DDS524   Pharmacotherapeutics *
• DMED511   Foundations Pharmacology
• DMED517   Renal Pharmacology
• MED511   Foundations Pharmacology *
• MED519   Renal Pharmacology *
• NURS195   An introduction to Pharmacology
• NURS215   An introduction to Pharmacology, accelerated program
• PHARM203   Introduction to Pharmacodynamics and Pharmacokinetics *
• PHARM306   Pharmacodynamics and autonomic Pharmacology
• PHARM630   Metabolism of psychiatric drugs
• PMCOL201   Introductory Pharmacology #
• PMCOL337   Practical Pharmacology
• PMCOL343   Scientific basis of Pharmacology (I)
• PMCOL344   Scientific basis of Pharmacology (II)
• PMCOL401/2   Research project (one term)
• PMCOL442   Pharmacological characterisation of drugs #
• PMCOL498   Honours research project (2 terms)
• PMCOL501/2   Directed reading course
• PMCOL508   Molecular Pharmacology
• PSYCH511   Neurotransmitters and neuromodulators
• HSS202   Introduction to Pharmacology *

Van Den Eynde V., Abdelmoemin W.R., Abraham M.M., Amsterdam J.D., Anderson I.M., Andrade C., Baker G.B., Beekman A.T.F., Berk M., Birkenhäger T.K., Blackwell B.B., Blier P., Blom M.B.J., Bodkin J.A., Cattaneo C.I., Dantz B., Davidson J., Dunlop B.W., Estévez R.F., Feinberg S.S., Finberg J.P.M., Fochtmann L.J., Gotlib D., Holt A., Insel T.R., Larsen J.K., Mago R., Menkes D.B., Meyer J.M., Nutt D.J., Parker G., Rego M.D., Richelson E., Ruhé H.G., Sáiz-Ruiz J., Stahl S.M., Steele T., Thase M.E., Ulrich S., Van Balkom A.J.L.M., Vieta E., Whyte I., Young A.H., Gillman P.K.

CNS SPECTRUMS. 2022 June; 10.1017/S1092852922000906

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Meyer J.H., Matveychuk D., Holt A., Santhirakumar A., Baker G.B.

Neuropsychopharmacotherapy. 2021 July; https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56015-1_98-1

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Matveychuk D., MacKenzie E.M., Kumpula D., Song M.S., Holt A., Kar S., Todd K.G., Wood P.L., Baker G.B.

CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR NEUROBIOLOGY. 2020 December; 10.1007/s10571-021-01078-3

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Andrew Holt

Journal of Neural Transmission. 2018 November; 10.1007/s00702-018-1943-8

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Ines Zuna, Andrew Holt

British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. 2017 November; 10.1111/bcp.13357

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