NLA Installs Matthew K. Ito, PharmD, as President

(LAS VEGAS, NV) - The National Lipid Association (NLA) installed Matthew K. Ito, PharmD, FCCP, CLS, FNLA, as President at its Annual Scientific Sessions on May 29, 2013. Dr. Ito is Professor of Pharmacy Practice and Director of the Cardiovascular Pharmacodynamics Laboratory at Oregon State University/Oregon Health & Science University, and was a founding member of the Pacific Lipid Association (PLA). Dr. Ito served as the PLA President from 2009-2010. He received his doctorate in pharmacy in 1986 at the University of Southern California, where he also completed a post-doctoral residency and fellowship. 

Dr. Ito’s primary research interest is Familial Hypercholesterolemia (FH) and other lipid disorders. His current research focuses on the effects of various cardiovascular and lipid altering agents on cholesterol and glucose transporters with the use of cell culture models.

Dr. Ito has attracted close to $800,000 in research grants, and he has published more than 100 research papers, review articles, book chapters, and abstracts in both the pharmacy and medical literature. He served on the National Lipid Association’s Expert Panel on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Familial Hypercholesterolemia and is a current member of the writing group for the scientific statement on Familial Hypercholesterolemia that will be issued by the American Heart Association’s Atherosclerosis, Hypertension, and Obesity in the Young (AHOY) Committee.

Before moving to Portland, Dr. Ito served as Director of a pharmacist-run cholesterol clinic at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in San Diego, California.