Faculty

Interim Chair

Larisa H Cavallari

Larisa H Cavallari Pharm.D., BCPS, FCCP

Professor and Debbie DeSantis Term Professor

Dr. Cavallari received her B.S. Pharmacy and Pharm.D. degrees from the University of Georgia. She then completed a Pharmacy Practice Residency at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Memphis, Tennessee and a fellowship in Cardiovascular Pharmacogenomics at the University of Florida. Dr. Cavallari accepted a position as an Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice at the University of Illinois at Chicago after completing her training and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2009. While at UIC, she directed efforts to implement genotype-guided warfarin dosing for all patients newly starting warfarin during hospitalization. Dr. Cavallari joined the University of Florida Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research as an Associate Professor in April, 2014, where she serves as co-director of the Center for Pharmacogenomics and Precision Medicine. She also serves as Director of the UF Health Precision Medicine Program. In 2021, she was promoted to professor. Her research involves discovery and clinical translation of genetic variants related to drug response and has been funded by the NIH, FDA, American Heart Association, and other awards.

Dr. Cavallari has served on both NIH and American Heart Association grant review committees and is a Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist, Fellow of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, former Chair of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy Research Institute, and Editorial Board Member for the Lexi-Comp pharmacogenetics series.

Division of Translational Research

Division Head

Charles Peloquin

Charles Peloquin Pharm.D.

The Jack C. Massey Endowed Professor And Associate Chair Of The Department Pharmacotherapy And Translational Research

Prior to coming to the University of Florida, Dr. Peloquin completed a hospital pharmacy residency at Duke University Medical Center, where he also served on the clinical staff. He also completed a fellowship in Infectious Diseases and Pharmacokinetics at the Clinical Pharmacokinetics Laboratory, Millard Fillmore Hospital, Buffalo, N.Y. For 20 years, Dr. Peloquin was the Director of the Infectious Disease Pharmacokinetics Laboratory (IDPL) at National Jewish Health, Denver, CO. He now serves as Professor of Pharmacy and Medicine at UF, where the IDPL now is located. Dr. Peloquin and his lab are part of the UF Emerging Pathogens Institute. He has served a consultant to the FDA, CDC and WHO, and has contributed to national guidelines on the treatment tuberculosis and the treatment of opportunistic infections in patients living with AIDS.

Jürgen Bulitta

Jürgen Bulitta Ph.D.

Professor and the Perry E. Foote Eminent Scholar Chair

Jürgen B. Bulitta, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research at the UF College of Pharmacy. He is supported by the University of Florida’s preeminence program in Drug Discovery and Development, and received the Perry E. Foote Eminent Scholar Chair, Endowed Professorship, in 2019. Dr. Bulitta’s research focuses on combating multidrug-resistant bacterial ‘superbugs’ which present one of the three most serious threats to human health.

His mission is to optimize patient therapies and innovative drug development by providing a focal point for translational research in infectious diseases and related areas, and to serve as an internationally-leading, interdisciplinary, collaborative program for translational research.

Dr. Bulitta’s vision is to provide novel solutions and great hope for patients with serious, life-threatening infections by developing new safe and effective therapies. These are informed at the molecular level by an innovative combination of mechanistic, in vitro, animal and quantitative approaches to rationally optimize outcomes in patients. His highly collaborative research program leverages latest pharmacological, microbiological, biochemical and computational approaches. This creates unique translational insights that enable novel therapies and dosing strategies, as well as the design and development of new drugs. We work hard so that we can say “we have an effective therapy for you” when you most need it.

He won 26 peer-reviewed grants (15 as PI) from the NIH, FDA, the Australian equivalents of NIH and NSF, as well as 30 collaborative projects with pharmaceutical industry (total: $35M, 18M active). Dr. Bulitta published 140 peer-reviewed papers and contributed to over 97 phase I-IV clinical trials. He reviewed for several NIH study sections and received 23 awards since 1998. These include the Giorgio Segré Prize 2010 for distinct contributions in the field of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics by the European Federation for Pharmaceutical Sciences (EUFEPS) and the 2012 ASCEPT Denis Wade Johnson & Johnson New Investigators Award. Dr. Bulitta created the Translational Clinical Pharmacology course (PHA6133). He is the creator and developed of the SADAPT-TRAN package that greatly facilitates the development of systems pharmacology models in the S-ADAPT population modeling package.

Emily J Cicali

Emily J Cicali Pharm.D.

Clinical Associate Professor

Emily J. Cicali, Pharm.D., received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, University of the Sciences in 2015. She then completed a Pharmacy Practice Residency at Tabula Rasa HealthCare in Geriatric Personalized Medicine. After her residency, she was hired to work Tabula Rasa HealthCare at as a Research Pharmacist, as well as adjunct faculty at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, focusing on clinical pharmacokinetics and pharmacogenomics implementation. In 2017 she decided to fully transition to academia, which led to her completion of a fellowship in pharmacogenomics at the University of Florida. Cicali is now a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research. Her clinical practice is an outpatient virtual pharmacogenetics consultation service, MyRx, and her research interests include clinical implementation of pharmacogenomics as well as further understanding the role of phenoconversion for optimal medication safety.

Joseph Collins

Joseph Collins Ph.D.

Research Assistant Professor

Joseph Collins, Ph.D., is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy. Dr. Collins received his Ph.D. in Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology in 2018 from the University of Florida. Before becoming UF faculty in the fall of 2023, Dr. Collins worked as a post-doctoral researcher investigating the underlying cause of variable expression of the pharmacogenes in the UF department of pharmacotherapy and translational research.

Dr. Collins’s research interests are related to the regulation of gene expression and how genetic and epigenetic variation contributes to differential gene expression. He uses bioinformatics and functional genomics to identify putative targets and then validates them through an array of molecular biology approaches. His current research focuses on the identification of enhancers that control key pharmacogenes and the identification of novel variants to explain observed differences in gene expression between populations.

Rhonda M Cooper-DeHoff

Rhonda M Cooper-DeHoff Pharm.D., M.S., FAHA, FACC, FCCP

Associate Professor

Dr. Cooper-DeHoff is a Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research, and the Department of Pharmaceutics in the College of Pharmacy, and in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, College of Medicine at the University of Florida.

David DeRemer

David DeRemer Pharm.D., BCOP, FCCP, FHOPA

Clinical Professor

David DeRemer received his B.S. Biology and Pharm.D. degrees from the University of Kentucky. Following graduation, he completed a Pharmacy Practice Residency and an Oncology specialty residency at the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center. He followed that with an Oncology Postdoctoral Fellowship focusing on Drug Discovery/Development at the University of Kentucky. DeRemer is a fellow of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) and the Hematology Oncology Pharmacist Association (HOPA). He joined the University of Florida College of Pharmacy in September 2017 and practices in the UF Health Cancer Center Experimental Therapeutics Group (ETG).

Julio D Duarte

Julio D Duarte Pharm.D., Ph.D., FAHA

Associate Professor

Julio Duarte is an associate professor of pharmacy and medicine as well as Co-Director of the UF Center for Pharmacogenomics and Precision Medicine. He received his Pharm.D. as well as his Ph.D. in clinical pharmaceutical sciences from the University of Florida. He was an assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and Co-Director of the University of Illinois Hospital Personalized Medicine Program until returning to UF in 2015. Dr. Duarte has served as a grant reviewer for both NIH and U.S Department of Defense. He is an elected Fellow of the American Heart Association and has received awards for his research from both UIC and UF. Dr. Duarte also serves as Graduate Coordinator of the Clinical Pharmaceutical Sciences concentration within the College of Pharmacy’s graduate program.

Mohammed Gbadamosi

Mohammed Gbadamosi Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Dr. Mohammed Gbadamosi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy.

Dr. Gbadamosi completed his graduate studies Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy. Thereafter, He completed his postdoctoral training as an NIH T32 Postdoctoral Fellow in the Program for Applied Research and Development in Genomic Medicine (PARADIGM) at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy under the mentorship of Dr. Duane Mitchell.

In 2023, Dr. Gbadamosi was selected as one of thirteen individuals to receive the highly prestigious NIH Director’s Early Independence Award. This award enables outstanding junior scientists with the intellect, scientific creativity, drive, and maturity to bypass the traditional postdoctoral training period and launch independent research careers. Dr. Gbadamosi leads a collaborative multidisciplinary research group and his research broadly leverages advanced molecular, cellular, and computational approaches to optimize the efficacy of chemotherapeutic and immuno-oncology agents. His research spans basic and translational sciences with the ultimate end goal of maximizing the efficacy of combinatorial strategies using chemotherapy and immunotherapy (chemoimmunotherapy) and developing curative chemoimmunotherapeutic treatment regimens.

Dr. Gbadamosi’s Early Independence Award study focuses on utilizing multi-omics and machine learning approaches to (1) identify, characterize, and establish the clinical relevance of molecular features that influence chemoimmunomodulation in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer and other types of cancers and (2) construct computational models capable of predicting chemoimmunomodulatory effects using a patient’s baseline molecular profile thus enabling refined methods for personalizing chemoimmunotherapy. Given the poor prognosis and critical health disparities observed in triple-negative breast cancer and the poor efficacy observed from chemoimmunotherapy in triple-negative breast cancer, this study is of critical importance and holds the potential to drastically improve clinical outcomes.

Dr. Gbadamosi also holds membership in the University of Florida Brain Tumor Immunotherapy Program and Preston A. Wells, Jr. Center for Brain Tumor Therapy where he leads studies focused on developing and characterizing models of triple-negative breast cancer brain metastases and their response to chemoimmunotherapy.

Dr. Gbadamosi’s leadership at the University of Florida has driven transformative initiatives, effecting policy changes and fostering academic excellence. His notable contributions include founding the College of Pharmacy Graduate Student Organization, initiating the UF Graduate Education Diversity Champion Award, and serving on the College of Pharmacy Dean’s Leadership Council (2020-2023). Dr. Gbadamosi has a passion for serving the next generation of trainees and students as a mentor, providing advocacy, opportunities, and experiences that enable them to succeed. This includes mentoring undergraduate, graduate, and professional students and actively engages with mentorship-focused programs such as the Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC) program. Dr. Gbadamosi is an ad-hoc member of the Gene Regulation in Cancer NIH Study Section, is a Fellow of the Cancer Research Education and Engagement (CaRE2) Health Equity Center, and contributes as a reviewer for esteemed journals.

Yan Gong

Yan Gong Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Yan Gong, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research at the University of Florida (UF) College of Pharmacy and the UF Center for Pharmacogenomics and Precision Medicine. Dr. Gong received a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics in 2004 from Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy at UF. She also obtained a Master’s Degree in Statistics in 2003 from UF Department of Statistics. Before joining the UF faculty in 2005, she completed one year of post-doctoral Fellowship in Cardiovascular Pharmacogenomics at the UF Center for Pharmacogenomics.

Dr. Gong’s research focuses on pharmacogenomics of efficacy and adverse response of antihypertensives medications, and pharmacogenomics of serious adverse drug events such as medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ) and cardiotoxicities related to cancer therapies (Cardio-Oncology). Dr. Gong has authored over 170 peer-reviewed publications.

In addition to research, Dr. Gong has been involved in teaching multiple graduate level and professional level courses at the UF College of Pharmacy and College of Medicine. She is currently the course co-coordinator for Pharmacogenomic and Genomic Data Analysis (PHA6449), a required graduate level course for the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research at the UF College of Pharmacy.

Maria Kapetanaki

Maria Kapetanaki Ph.D.

Research Assistant Professor
Jatinder Lamba

Jatinder Lamba Ph.D., M.Sc.

Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education; Professor And The Frank A. Duckworth Eminent Scholar Chair

Dr. Jatinder Lamba is currently the associate dean for research and graduate education in the UF College of Pharmacy and a professor in the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research. In 2022, she was appointed the Frank A. Duckworth Eminent Scholar Chair.

Lamba did her post-doctoral training at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Prior to joining University of Florida, she was an Associate Professor at University of Minnesota, Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy and the Director of the Pathway driven Pharmacogenomics; University of Minnesota Alliance (PUMA) Institute of Personalized Medicine.

Dr Lamba’s research is focused on identification, characterization and clinical validation of genomic/epigenomic markers predictive of therapeutic outcome in cancer patients. This research spans from preclinical basic research comprising the discovery phase utilizing cell line model systems to translational/clinical phase in patient populations from multi-institute clinical trials. The long-term goal of her research is to move pharmacogenetic testing into the clinical setting to improve safety and efficacy of drug therapy. Dr. Lamba’s research on pharmacogenomics of anti-leukemic agents has been funded by NIH/NCI since 2008. Specifically, her current NCI funded R01 focuses on pharmacogenomics/ epigenomics of cytarabine (ara-C), a nucleoside analog that is the backbone of anti-leukemia chemotherapy in pediatric AML patients. Her group is working on developing algorithms to incorporate pharmacogenomics/epigenomic markers with other prognostic factors to advance precision medicine in oncology. Identification of such patients upfront will provide opportunity to tailor the initial chemotherapy to achieve maximum benefit.

Dr. Lamba’s lab is the first one to identify genetic polymorphisms in CD33 gene that are predictive of response to CD33 targeted agents in AML. These results hold promise in utilizing preemptive genotype to select patients most likely to benefit from CD33-directed therapy such as gemtuzumab ozogamicin in treating AML. Previous work on CD33 genomics was funded by NCI and more in-depth characterization of CD33 as AML therapeutic target is funded by a recent award from leukemia Lymphoma Society.

Given a critical gap of our understanding in metabolic dysregulation in AML, Dr. Lamba’s group is focused understanding the metabolomics differences and biomarkers of prognostic significance in pediatric AML. Dr. Lamba’s recent work is focused towards utilizing transcriptomics to build and refine leukemic stem cell signatures and AML drug response signatures of prognostic and predictive value in AML.

Dr. Lamba has served as chair of Pharmacogenomics SIG at AACP (2013) and is currently vice-chair of Pharmacogenomics focus group with AAPS. She has served as a grant reviewer for numerous NIH study sections and has reviewed grants for international agencies as Italian Ministry of Health. She has published more than 90 research articles in peer-reviewed journals and is on the editorial boards of Leukemia and Lymphoma, Pharmacogenomics and Frontiers in Pharmacogenomics and genomics, JCMM. Dr. Lamba is currently Professor in College of Pharmacy and is also Graduate Program coordinator for PTR department. Dr. Lamba is very committed towards training of future generation of scientist. She has trained 6 Ph. D students, 5 Post-doctoral fellows several Pharm D students and 3 hematology-oncology fellows and several under-graduate students including minority and underrepresented students.

Yinzhi Lang

Yinzhi Lang Ph.D.

Research Assistant Professor

Yinzhi Lang, PhD, is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research at the UF College of Pharmacy. Dr. Lang completed her PhD program in 2016 from Ocean University of China and worked as a senior Scientist in Shanghai Greenvalley Pharmaceutical Co.Ltd between 2016 and 2018. In 2018, Dr. Lang joined the College of Pharmacy at UF as a Postdoc and has received systematic training in antimicrobial pharmacology, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics from Dr. Bulitta and his collaborators. In 2021, Dr. Lang was appointed as a Research Assistant Professor at UF. Her current research focus on elucidating the mechanisms of drug action and resistance via the latest mass spectrometry (MS)-based technology and Quantitative & Systems Pharmacology (QSP) modeling approach.

Dr. Lang has over 11 years of experience working with identification and quantification of biological endogenous molecules using liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)-based approaches. This includes the in-depth component and structural analysis of polysaccharides, oligosaccharides, glycoproteins, and glycolipids from marine algae, human milk, animal meat byproducts and microbial cells. For the pharmaceutical compounds, she has created a series of novel UPLC-MS/MS assays to quantify the target site penetration of various classes of antibiotics in Gram-negative bacteria and the intracellular accumulation of antiviral nucleosides/ nucleotides analogs in mammalian cells. Further, she has significantly contributed to the development of advanced QSP models, which can integrate the experimental mechanistic data with pathogen killing and resistance to rationally optimize anti-infective therapy. Moreover, she has extensive experience in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics analysis of anti-infectives in in vitro and mouse infection models. Dr. Lang is leading and co-leading multiple federal funded anti-infective pharmacology research programs to create novel insights to combat serious infections.

John S Markowitz

John S Markowitz Pharm.D., BCPP

Professor

Dr. Markowitz received his BS in Biology from Memphis State University, and his Doctorate in Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) from the University of Tennessee Center for the Health Sciences (UTCHS). He completed an ASHP-accredited specialty residency in Psychiatric Pharmacy Practice, also at UTCHS. Following his education and training, Dr. Markowitz served for a decade as a Clinical Specialist in Psychiatry, and eventually Clinical Coordinator within the Institute of Psychiatry at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston, South Carolina. He eventually transitioned from clinician to a primary faculty research position in the MUSC College of Pharmacy’s Department of Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences with a dual appointment in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences where he had remained prior to joining the UF College of Pharmacy in 2009. Dr. Markowitz has been credentialed by the Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties in Psychiatric Pharmacy (BCPP) since 1997 and is a founding member of the College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacists (CPNP).

Caitrin W McDonough

Caitrin W McDonough Ph.D., M.S.

Assistant Professor

Dr. McDonough received a B.S. in Biochemistry (with a minor in chemistry) from the University of Iowa and then earned a Ph.D in Molecular Medicine and Translational Science from Wake Forest University School of Medicine. After completing graduate studies, she completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Cardiovascular Pharmacogenomics under the direction of Dr. Julie Johnson.

Dr. McDonough is an investigator in the Center for Pharmacogenomics. Her research focuses on identifying and predicting patients at high risk for cardiovascular disease. She uses multiple methods (regression modeling and machine learning) to integrate data from multiple sources (e.g. electronic health records, insurance claims, ‘omics) to identify factors or signatures that are associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes.

Khoa Nguyen

Khoa Nguyen Pharm.D.

Clinical Assistant Professor

Khoa Nguyen, Pharm.D., received his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Michigan, College of Pharmacy. He then completed a fellowship in medical informatics at the VA Indianapolis, HSR&D. After his fellowship, he joined the Regenstrief Institute, Center for Health Services Research as a research scientist and Purdue University, College of Pharmacy as a Visiting Assistant Professor. Currently, Dr. Nguyen is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research at the University of Florida, College of Pharmacy. His clinical practice is within the UF Health Personalized Medicine Program to help develop and improve pharmacogenomic clinical decision support. Additionally, he serves as a faculty liaison at the UF CTSI Integrated Data Repository (IDR) Services to support both research data requests and research IT integration into UF Health electronic health record (EHR) system.

Dr. Khoa Nguyen’s research interests include medical informatics, human-computer interaction, pharmacogenomics, and artificial intelligence (AI). His research focused on improving patient safety through human factor engineering and health information technology. Specifically, Dr. Nguyen wants to utilize human factor engineering, and human-computer interaction method to enhance the implementation of pharmacogenomic clinical decision supports (PGx-CDS). PGx-CDS, when implemented, can foster pharmacogenomics service to predict and prevent severe adverse drug reactions from genetic mutations. Finally, Dr. Nguyen wants to improve the integration of AI tools into EHR systems to assist clinical decision-making. Current projects include the integration of a machine-learning opioid prediction and risk stratification into the UF EHR system as well as develop an AI prediction model and CDS to improve PGx uptake.

Madeline L Norris

Madeline L Norris Pharm.D.

Co-director, Clinical Pharmacogenomics and Precision Medicine Online Graduate Program; Clinical Assistant Professor

Madeline Norris, Pharm.D., received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from University of Florida, College of Pharmacy in 2023. She is currently a clinical assistant professor with the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research and the UF Health Precision Medicine Program. Prior to pharmacy school she studied Disability Sciences at the University of Florida. Her interests include optimizing pharmacogenetics implementation to reach underserved communities.

Alaa R M Sayed

Alaa R M Sayed Ph.D.

Research Assistant Professor

Alaa Ropy Sayed, PhD, is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research at the UF College of Pharmacy. He completed his PhD degree in molecular biosciences at the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM, Spain) in 2014. Then, he moved to Egypt and held a Faculty position at Fayoum University in 2015 until he joined University of Florida as a postdoctoral research associate in 2019.

Dr. Sayed’s current research is focused on studying the mechanisms of action of penicillins and related antibiotics from the β-lactam class. This includes in-depth studies on the receptor binding in lysed and intact bacteria, as well as the associated morphology changes using latest technologies. The latter include biochemical receptor binding studies, flow cytometry and automated confocal microscopy.

All β-lactam antibiotics target penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) and a related class of targets, the so called L,D-transpeptidases (LDTs). Both of these enzymes are responsible for cell wall synthesis and maturation. Our team is applying latest proteomics via mass spectrometry for identifying these target enzymes in different bacteria. Dr. Sayed worked extensively on creating large databases for receptor binding data in lysed bacteria of Acinetobacter baumannii, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa for about 50 β lactams and β-lactamase inhibitors.

Moreover, Dr. Sayed created and refined latest time-course assays on β-lactams for their receptor binding in intact bacteria of A. bau¬mannii, K. pneumoniae, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. He has a publication on first penicillin-binding protein occupancy patterns for 15 β-lactams and β-lactamase inhibitors in Mycobacterium abscessus. He is also working on PBPs of mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium avium complex. Finally, he developed a series of latest direct PBP-binding assays, which can quantify bound PBPs and LDTs using clickable probe β-lactams. This approach allows us to label bound and unbound PBPs using different fluorophores by employing azide or alkyne versions of the targeted β-lactams and BocillinTM FL for labeling of unbound PBPs.

Selection of major research grants where Dr. Sayed is playing a key role:

NIH/NIAID R01 AI136803 Bulitta JB (PI) Role: PI Combating resistant superbugs by understanding the molecular determinants of target site penetration and binding

NIH/NIAID R01 AI148560 Tsuji BT (contact) / Bulitta JB Role: PI Novel Strategies for Antibiotic Combinations to Combat Gram-negative Superbugs

NIH/NIAID SBIR 2R44AI136213-04 Roemer T (PI) Role: Co-I Development of a PO-administered beta-lactam-tarocin combination agent to treat methicillin susceptible and methicillin resistant Staphylococci

NIH R01 R01 AI173064 Bulman Z (PI) Role: Co-I Precise Combination Strategies Targeting Carbapenem-Resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae

Nathan D Seligson

Nathan D Seligson Pharm.D.

Clinical Assistant Professor

Dr. Seligson earned his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of South Florida prior to completing a pharmacy practice residency. Dr. Seligson then completed a post-doctoral fellowship in translational hematology/oncology focused on precision medicine in sarcoma.

Dr. Seligson is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research. His clinical practice includes activities as a clinical pharmacogenomics specialist and hematology/oncology research scientist at Nemours Children’s Specialty Care in Jacksonville, Florida.

Dr. Seligson has been published in as first author in leading journals including: JAMA Open Network, The Oncologist, and npj Precision Medicine. His current research includes work to better understand cancer biology and tumor evolution in order to provide actionable molecular subtyping and pharmacogenomic therapy guidance in sarcoma.

Vivek M Shastri

Vivek M Shastri Ph.D.

Research Assistant Professor

Having obtained his Ph.D. training in cellular and molecular biology, Vivek Shastri joined Dr. Jatinder Lamba’s group in the PTR department at the UF College of Pharmacy. This allowed him to apply his skillset to translational research. One of his interests within the Lamba group is identification, characterization, and validation of pharmacogenomic markers to predict response to therapy in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. He is also leading projects to develop and evaluate novel agents targeting CD33 isoforms to benefit AML patients not responding to currently available immunotherapy options. Another area of focus is understanding the role of senescence in promoting resistance and relapse in AML patients.

Marwa Tantawy

Marwa Tantawy Ph.D.

Research Assistant Professor

Marwa Tantawy, Ph.D., is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research at the University of Florida (UF) College of Pharmacy . Dr. Tantawy received a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology in 2016 from the College of Science, Ain Shams University, Egypt. She also got a master’s degree in immunology in 2010 from the College of Science, Cairo University, Egypt. Before Joining the UF Faculty in 2023, she completed a three-year post-doctoral fellowship in cardiovascular pharmacogenomics at the UF Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research Department. Dr. Tantawy has expertise in molecular oncology and laboratory experiments, particularly genetic association studies, including genome-wide association analyses (GWAS), genotyping, miRNA sequencing, Next Generation Sequencing, methylation, and cell culture. Dr. Tantawy’s current research focuses on adverse drug events such as cardiotoxicity related to cancer treatment, with a particular emphasis on multi-omics (genomics, epigenomics, metabolomics, and proteomics) to identify early detection markers that help in treatment management and reveal the underlying mechanisms.

Katie Vogel Anderson

Katie Vogel Anderson Pharm.D., Ph.D., BCACP, FCCP

Associate Professor

Dr. Vogel Anderson earned her B.S. degree in biochemistry at Florida State University in 1999, and her Pharm.D. at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy in 2003. After completing a primary care PGY1 pharmacy residency in 2004, Katie worked as a clinical pharmacy specialist at the Malcom Randall Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Gainesville, Florida. In 2010, she joined the faculty at the UF College of Pharmacy. With 20 years of experience as an ambulatory care pharmacist, Katie specialized in the management of anticoagulation therapy, hypertension, and transitions of care. In the Pharm.D. curriculum, Katie teaches pharmacotherapy of hypertension, acute coronary syndrome, arrhythmias, venous thromboembolism, men’s and women’s health, and geriatric care. In 2012, Katie established an ASHP-accredited PGY1 pharmacy residency program at the UF College of Pharmacy, for which she served as program director for 11 years. To become a better educator, Katie enrolled in the Higher Education Administration and Policy Ph.D. program at the UF College of Education, in 2019. Her dissertation study evaluated first year student pharmacist outcomes before and after the change in PCAT requirement. After successfully defending her dissertation in July, Katie graduated with her Ph.D. on August 9, 2024. Katie has served as Chair of the UF Faculty Senate, as the faculty representative on the UF Board of Trustees, and as a faculty representative on the UF Foundation Board. Katie and her husband, Shawn Anderson (also a Gator pharmacist), established the endowed Vogel/Anderson Exceptional Leader Scholarship for third year UF pharmacy students in 2009. In her free time, Katie likes to attend Gators athletics events (especially gymnastics) and to go RVing with Shawn and their dogs, Johnnie and Quincie Adams.

Danxin Wang

Danxin Wang M.D., Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Dr. Wang received her MD degree from Fudan University Medical School and her Ph.D from the Academy of Military Medical Science in Beijing. She did postdoctoral training at the University of California San Francisco. She was a Research Assistant Professor at Ohio State University, Department of Cancer Biology and Genetics and Associate Director of Center for Pharmacogenomics prior to joining the University of Florida.

Dr. Wang’s research interests are the discovery of genetic biomarkers for personalized drug therapy. She has discovered many functional regulatory variants in genes related to drug therapy in the areas of cardiovascular diseases, mental diseases and drug dependence. Some of these functional variants are currently included in biomarker testing panels to predict drug response.

Funded by NIH R01 and R35 awards, Dr. Wang’s current research is to understand factors controlling the expression of cytochrome P450 drug metabolizing enzymes (CYPs) in the liver. Using recently developed cutting edge functional genetics/genomics approaches, the research will focus on understanding what genetic, epigenetic and non-genetic factors may contribute to CYPs variability, with the goal to identify biomarker predicting enzyme activity of CYPs for guiding personalized drug therapy.

Dr. Wang has served as an Associate Editor of “European Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences” and was on editorial Board of “Journal of Pharmacogenomics and Pharmacoproteomics”. She has also served as grant reviewer for NIH.

Emeritus Faculty

Diane Beck

Diane Beck Pharm.D.

Professor Emeritus

Diane E. Beck, Pharm.D., is a Clinical Professor Emeritus with the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research in the University of Florida College of Pharmacy. She was previously Associate Dean for Curricular Affairs and Accreditation (2009-2019) and also Clinical Professor at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy (2004-2019). She received her Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Pharmacy degrees from the University of Florida College of Pharmacy (1977 and 1979). She is also Professor Emerita at Auburn University, Harrison School of Pharmacy. Dr. Beck is a past-president of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. During Dr. Beck’s career, her research and scholarship focused on curricular and teaching innovations. Her practice and teaching focused on clinical pharmacokinetics.

Paul L Doering

Paul L Doering M.S.

Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus

Doering is a Emeritus Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Pharmacotherapy and Translational Research at the University of Florida, College of Pharmacy. He is also Co-director of the statewide Drug Information and Pharmacy Resource Center.

Doering received his Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from the University of Florida in 1972 and continued his training at the same institution, earning the Master of Science in Clinical Pharmacy in 1975.

Upon graduation, Doering accepted a position in the University’s Department of Medicine as a research assistant where he designed, implemented and evaluated a program of adverse drug reaction monitoring in the obstetric patient.

Current teaching responsibilities include: coordinating a Non-prescription Products course for undergraduate pharmacy students, a senior-level course in Pharmacotherapy, and an elective course in Drug Abuse. He also guest lectures in a variety of team taught courses in the College of Pharmacy and other Health Center colleges.

Doering has strong ties with the practice of pharmacy, having been a practicing pharmacist both in the hospital and community setting. A member of many local, state, and national pharmaceutical societies, he is a past-president of his local pharmacy association.

Doering has been recognized four times as Teacher of the Year. In March, 1990, he was awarded Fellowship status in the APhA’s Academy of Pharmacy Practice and Management. In 1993, he received one of two Teaching Incentive Awards given to UF College of Pharmacy faculty. In 1995, Doering was promoted to Distinguished Service Professor, the university’s highest honor awarded to a faculty member, he was the first professor in the College of Pharmacy to be recognized in this way.

Leslie Hendeles

Leslie Hendeles Pharm.D.

Professor Emeritus

Dr. Hendeles is a Professor Emeritus in the College of Pharmacy and also in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Florida. Among his current research interests are the improvement of adherence to asthma medications and delivery of inhaled drugs to young children. He is a consultant to FDA’s Pulmonary Division, and previously served on the Coordinating Committee of NIH’s Asthma Education Program, as well as CDC’s Expert Panel on Asthma Guidelines for Emergency Medical Services. Dr. Hendeles provides advice on drug therapy and teaches in the Pediatric Pulmonary Clinic at the University of Florida.

Julie A Johnson

Julie A Johnson Pharm.D.

Dean Emeritus

Julie Johnson is a dean emeritus at the University of Florida. She recently completed a term as Dean of the UF College of Pharmacy, having served in that role from 2013 to 2022. She received her B.S. in Pharmacy from the Ohio State University and her Pharm.D. from the University of Texas at Austin and the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship in cardiovascular pharmacology/ pharmacokinetics at Ohio State.

Dr. Johnson’s research focuses on cardiovascular pharmacogenomics and implementation of precision medicine approaches into clinical practice. She is an internationally recognized leader in clinical pharmacology, pharmacogenomics and genomic medicine, with over 330 peer reviewed original publications and over $50M in research funding as principal investigator. In 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 she was named a Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher, indicating she was in the top 1% most highly cited scientists globally in the discipline in previous decade (pharmacology and toxicology 2015-2017 and across disciplines in 2018).

Under her leadership as dean, the UF College of Pharmacy implemented a new Pharm.D. curriculum, its faculty grew by 90%, the U.S. News & World Report ranking rose from #14 to #5, research funding grew 3.8-fold and research funding rankings rose from the high teens to #3, and it had the highest percentage of under-represented minority students among professional degree programs at UF and the top 40 colleges of pharmacy, with the percentage or URM Pharm.D. students doubling in her time as dean.

Dr. Johnson has had numerous service roles, including with the NIH, FDA, CDC, American Heart Association, American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) and American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (ASCPT), for which she served as President in 2016-17. She is currently serving as President-Elect of the Pharmacogenomics Global Research Network, and President of the Academy for Science, Engineering and Medicine – Florida (ASEM-FL). Dr. Johnson has received numerous awards and honors. She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine, and has been the recipient of the Leon I Goldberg Young Investigator Award, Rawls Palmer Progress in Medicine Award and Mentoring Award from the ASCPT, Volwiler Research Achievement Award from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) (2007), the Therapeutic Frontiers Award, and Paul Parker Medal from ACCP, the ACCP-Pharmacology Distinguished Scientist Award, the Luminary Award from the Precision Medicine World Conference, among others. She has also received teaching awards from both the University of Tennessee and the University of Florida.

Larry Lopez

Larry Lopez Pharm.D., FCCP, BCPS

Professor Emeritus

Dr. Larry Lopez joined the faculty of the University of Florida College of Pharmacy in September, 1979, after completing requirements for his post-baccalaureate Doctor of Pharmacy degree. Before accepting the faculty appointment he had worked as a community pharmacist and a hospital pharmacist for nearly 10 years. He received his high school diploma in 1964 from Jesuit High School in Tampa, Florida and his Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from the University of Florida College of Pharmacy in 1969. Dr. Lopez retired from the faculty on November 30, 2011, after 32 years of service.

While a member of the faculty Dr. Lopez was responsible for teaching a number of topics related to the pharmacotherapy of both general internal medicine and cardiovascular disorders for the Colleges of Pharmacy and Medicine. He also maintained clinical practices in Internal Medicine and Anticoagulation at Shands at the University of Florida for the last 10 years of his appointment. Dr. Lopez served as Chairman of the Department of Pharmacy Practice from January, 1997 until July, 2002, Associate Chair of the same department from July, 2002, until July, 2011, when he once again assumed the position of Department Chairman until his retirement later that year.

Dr. Lopez’s research revolved primarily around clinical evaluations of new therapeutic modalities for management of hypertension, myocardial ischemia and/or congestive heart failure. He received over 30 grants and contracts for support of his work in these areas and published approximately 130 abstracts, articles, monographs, and chapters on these and other topics as well. Dr. Lopez was recognized for his research accomplishments by being named as a Fellow of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy and the American Society of Hypertension. He was Board Certified as a Pharmacotherapy Specialist in October, 2004.

AFFILIATIONS American College of Clinical Pharmacy North Central Florida Society of Health-System Pharmacists American Heart Association Florida Society of Health-System Pharmacists Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties

Michael McKenzie

Michael McKenzie Ph.D.

Professor Emeritus

After receiving his master’s degree in 1972 he continued his work as a researcher on the FDA study on the epidemiology of adverse drug reactions in hospitalized pediatric patients until he accepted a position as assistant professor of pharmacy in the College of Pharmacy in Sept. 1972. He assumed clinical pharmacy responsibilities in the pediatric department of Shands Hospital, coordinated the clinical pharmacy clerkship program, lectured on pediatric pharmacy in the therapeutics course, and coordinated an introductory pharmacology course for nursing students. He taught an elective course in pediatric pharmacy and supervised pharmacy students in a pediatric pharmacy clerkship for many years prior to assuming administrative positions in the College of Pharmacy. For 24 years he coordinated and taught a UF Honors Seminar: In Search of Magic Bullets for students in the Honors Program. He was recently recognized by the UF Honors Program as the Honors Professor of the Year for 2015-2016. He helped organize, implement and teach in a new course, Medications and Health, for UF undergraduates in the spring semester 2016.

In 1977 he was promoted to associate professor and decided to take a two year leave of absence to complete requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in clinical pharmacy at Purdue University. After receiving the Ph.D. degree he returned to the College of Pharmacy and assumed clinical pharmacy responsibilities in the pediatric ambulatory clinic and coordinated the therapeutics course. He accepted the position as coordinator of the post-baccalaureate Doctor of Pharmacy program in 1981.

In 1984 he was appointed as assistant dean for student affairs responsible for recruitment, prepharmacy counseling, financial aid, awards, academic performance, registration, examination scheduling, classroom scheduling, and faculty advisement. In 1989 he was promoted to professor of pharmacy in the department of pharmacy practice and as associate dean for student affairs.

Promoted to associate dean for academic and student affairs in 1995, he was given the responsibility over curriculum development and faculty development in addition to student affairs responsibilities. He worked with the college’s curriculum task force and the curriculum committee to assist in the planning, organization, implementation, and evaluation of a new Doctor of Pharmacy curriculum.

In 1999 he was promoted to associate dean for professional affairs with administrative responsibilities in student affairs, academic affairs, and the clinical experiential program. He also was given responsibilities as the College’s Equal Employment Opportunity Officer. In 2005 he was promoted to senior associate dean for professional affairs.

As an administrator in the College of Pharmacy he and the staff in the Office for Student Affairs along with other offices in the College implemented and refined programs and events that have enhanced the services to students and faculty in the College. These include the peer advisor program, faculty advisor program, early academic warning program, orientations, awards ceremonies, open houses, career days, white coating ceremony, commencement ceremonies, computer database for applications and admissions, and recruitment activities. He has chaired the admissions committee, academic and professional standards committee, and financial aid and awards committee during his tenure in the Office for Student Affairs.

He was instrumental in the creation of joint degree programs for pharmacy students to obtain the Doctor of Pharmacy and Master of Physician Assistant degrees, Doctor of Pharmacy and Master of Public Health degrees, Doctor of Pharmacy and Master of Business Administration degrees, and Doctor of Pharmacy and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. He coordinated and advised foreign pharmacists for many years in a special program to allow them to obtain the PharmD degree. He served on the task force to implement the Working Professional Pharm.D. Program for post-baccalaureate pharmacists.

He was one of the first pharmacists in the country to develop a pediatric clinical clerkship site, a pediatric pharmacy course, publish data about the incidence and severity of adverse drug reactions in hospitalized pediatric patients, the prevalence of child abuse and neglect to draw pharmacists’ attention to this problem, and develop innovative, self-instructional, competency-based, multi-media modules on medication interviewing, patient counseling, and medication therapy monitoring. He was selected twice to be a co-recipient of the AACP Lyman Award for the best article in the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education. He has published over 80 articles and chapters in the professional literature and made numerous presentations at continuing education and professional meetings.

During his tenure in the College, he maintained membership in the American Pharmacists Association, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, Florida Pharmaceutical Association, and the Florida Society of Health System Pharmacists. He is also a member of Rho Chi Honorary Pharmaceutical Society and Phi Lambda Sigma National Leadership Society. He served as national President of Phi Lambda Sigma from 1990-1991 and served as the faculty advisor for the Iota Chapter of Phi Lambda Sigma for 28 years. He was selected as the national faculty advisor of the year for Phi Lambda Sigma in 2012. He has served as a member of the Florida Pharmacy Association House of Delegates for many years. In AACP he has served as chairman of the Student Personnel Special Interest Group, chairman of the PCAT Advisory Group, and as a member of the Nominations Committee, Lyman Award Committee, PharmCAS Advisory Panel, and the Constitution and By-Laws Committee. He served on the APhA/ASP-AACP Council of Deans Task Force on Professionalism and the AACP Advisory Group on background checks for pharmacy students.

J. Daniel D Robinson

J. Daniel D Robinson

Professor Emeritus
Ronald B Stewart

Ronald B Stewart

Professor Emeritus