[Houston, TX | May 2024.] Michelle Spruill, a recent graduate from the University of Houston College of Pharmacy and Technical Supervisor of Toxicology at Sagis Diagnostics, is set to embark on a new chapter in her career journey. She completed her doctoral degree in May 2024 and was the first person in the college’s history to complete the program while working full-time. Spruill will transition to the pivotal roles of Sagis Chief Quality Officer and VP of Lab Operations, a testament to her exceptional dedication and expertise in pharmaceutical sciences.
Spruill’s passion for research and academia has been a driving force throughout her educational journey. After discovering that research was her destination, she exchanged her early ambitions of studying optometry to transition into genetic sciences. Spruill earned her master’s degree in biology, conducting research on the genetic makeup of Drosophila melanogaster. Throughout her master’s degree, she consistently demonstrated a keen aptitude for scientific inquiry and discovery.
Spruill enjoys research and development and understands that organizing research is vital to formulating progress with results/outcomes. She has worked in a toxicology lab since 2008 and has proudly served on Sagis’ team for the past six years, building the toxicology department from the ground up while honing her skills in laboratory operations, specializing in mass spectrometry. Due to her extensive knowledge, Dr. Spruill has been invited to speak at national and local conferences to discuss her high-quality and cost-saving methods. Her expertise has been instrumental in her doctoral dissertation, which explores the spatial distribution of endogenous and exogenous molecules within biological tissue samples using mass spectrometry imaging (MSI).
MSI has become more prominent in the last twenty years, as noted in Spruill’s review article (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bcp.2022.115080), and it has the potential to be introduced further into the clinical space. Complementing her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics, Michelle Spruill remains committed to advancing the integration of MSI into clinical practice. Her career trajectory aligns seamlessly with her aspirations to bring cutting-edge technologies to the forefront of healthcare innovation.
Sagis extends its warmest congratulations to Dr. Michelle Spruill on this challenging and prestigious achievement. We are excited to continue leveraging her expertise to drive quality initiatives and optimize lab operations while spearheading efforts to introduce MSI into the clinical space.
In addition, Spruill remains committed to collaborating with colleagues and mentors, including her ongoing partnership with Dr. Xinli Liu at the University of Houston College of Pharmacy, on future research projects pertaining to evaluating the effectiveness of cutting-edge breast cancer therapies and how cancer metastasizes into other organs.
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