Clinical Pharmacologist Left Duke to Conduct World-Class Research at WVU

Not many pharmacists do cutting edge research in developing new drugs, and how drugs affect different patients differently.

But 53-year-old clinical pharmacologist Bill Petros of Wheeling, WV studies how cancer drugs react differently from one patient to the next.

For more than a decade Bill Petros led his own research lab at Duke University Cancer Center, one of the top cancer research centers in the United States. 

Then he got a call from West Virginia University, and was thrilled to return home.

Now in his lab at the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center in Morgantown, Petros develops early drug trails on how smoking affects the way a cancer drug acts in the body, or how body weight affects the way a drug may act, as well as many other factors. 

He’s carrying out world-class research in the new world of personalized medicine – here in West Virginia. 

Petros holds the Mylan Chair in Pharmacology at West Virginia University. He’s also Associate Director for Anti-Cancer Drug Development at the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center at WVU.

Petros and three other leaders in science and business are featured in the West Virginia Public Radio documentary Inspiring West Virginians.