Q&A with Dr. Ruida Hou: Advancing Precision Treatment for Childhood Leukemia
June 25, 2026Dr. Ruida Hou, a postdoctoral trainee at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, studies acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common type of pediatric cancer, and the role of a specific enzyme that leukemia cells need to grow and survive.
While training to become a medical doctor, Ruida Hou was struck by a reality not always reflected in his textbooks: the same treatment can have very different effects from one patient to the next.
He wanted to know why, but the answer wasn’t clear. This question drove Hou to pursue a PhD in pharmacogenomics, the study of how a person’s unique genetic makeup influences their body’s response to medicines.
Now armed with his MD and PhD, Hou is a postdoctoral trainee at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, where he studies acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common type of pediatric cancer. He received the 2026 PhRMA Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in Translational Medicine for his research on a specific enzyme that leukemia cells need to grow and survive.
Using a tool that allows him to study thousands of genes at once, Hou aims to identify which patients are most likely to benefit from therapies targeting this enzyme and to design drug combinations that can overcome or prevent resistance.
Watch this video to learn more about Hou and his research.
