Jill Kolesar, PharmD, MS, FCCP, BCPS

Dr. Jill Kolesar serves as Dean and Professor and the Jean M. Schmidt Chair in Drug Discovery at the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy. She received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, where she also completed a residency and fellowship in oncology. Previously, she was Professor of Pharmacy at the University of Kentucky and the Dr. Michael E. Karpf Endowed Chair in Precision Medicine at Markey Cancer Center. She also held an administrative position at the Markey Cancer Center as the co-leader of the Translational Oncology (TO) Research Program. Under her leadership, TO program funding doubled in 5 years and the cancer center obtained comprehensive status.

Her research focuses on precision medicine and oncology drug development. She has authored more than 400 abstracts, research articles, and book chapters, and as a principal investigator has received more than $25 million in research funding from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), ARPA-H, the American Cancer Society, and other sources. In addition, she has 9 patents or patents pending and has founded two start-up companies, Helix Diagnostics and VesiCure Technologies, based on technologies developed in her laboratory. She also edits leading pharmacy textbooks, including Pharmacotherapy Principles and Practice, Top 300 Pharmacy, Top 200 Injectables and Top 100 Over the Counter Medication Flash Cards.

Dr. Kolesar contributes substantial and sustained professional service to the NCI, the Oncology Research Information Exchange Network (ORIEN) and several pharmacy organizations. She is currently the chair of the ORIEN Steering committee and is a past president of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP). At NCI she has served on both the Early Phase and Cancer Prevention Central IRBs (CIRBs), multiple NCI study sections, the Cancer Therapy and Evaluation Program (CTEP) Pharmacology task force, and the Investigational Drug Steering Committee. Dr. Kolesar has also received teaching and research awards from local, national, and international organizations including the Innovations in Teaching Award from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.