Hardy receives $660,000 National Institutes of Health grant

Prayers were answered when Dr. Klarissa Hardy received a $660,000 National Institutes of Health grant that will fund her investigation of effective cancer treatments. Hardy, a researcher and assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences in Lipscomb University’s College of Pharmacy, began writing her proposal to acquire a postdoctoral fellowship at the same time a woman at her church was asking for prayers during her battle with breast cancer. “She had asked for prayer several times in our Bible classes, and so I’m thinking about that and I’m thinking about other individuals who were struggling with the side effects of the drugs that they take,” said Hardy. “As I was writing that, it really kind of all hit me: that this is really important.” After her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Washington, Hardy made her way to Lipscomb University. A chemist at heart, Hardy has always enjoyed studying the effect drugs have on the human body. “I think at the end of the day, for me, what I like is being able to link the very like detailed basic work that we do in the lab to something that can potentially impact and improve the way people are treated.” Now she has the means to dig deeper in her investigation of effective treatments. “We’re trying to get the best treatment for the individual patient, based on their genetic make up, based on their lifestyle, whatever they’re exposed to in their environment, seeing how that unique individual can best respond to a drug.” The research involves genetic factors and how they contribute to a patient’s reaction to the drug. “What I’d really...