Dr. McNamara's primary interest is in pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic research, with a particular emphasis on drug transport.
Transporters play a pivotal role in the movement of drugs across biological membranes.
As such, these proteins can dominate the tissue-specific distribution of drugs, altering their cellular pharmacokinetics. Transporters also may govern the systemic clearance and bioavailability of drugs. Hence, membrane transporters can control drug efficacy and toxicity. Dr. McNamara's most recent work has focused on the mechanisms of drug transfer into milk, the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic consequences of drug exposure in the newborn, and the use of microdialysis to examine the interaction of drugs competing for the MDR transporter in the blood-brain barrier.