Giacomini was selected by her AACP peers for the award, which honors the recipient’s leading research and outstanding professional contributions. The annual award is named in honor of the late Ernest H. Volwiler, a former president of Abbott Laboratories.
A faculty member in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences (BTS), a joint department of the UCSF Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine, Giacomini is renowned for her pioneering research on the pharmacogenomics of membrane transporters, the “doors” that allow drugs to enter and exit cells. She is also the co-director of the UCSF-Stanford Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (CERSI), the first regulatory science and innovation center on the west coast, whose research is dedicated to improving the development and approval of effective medical products.
“This award underscores Kathy’s brilliance as a researcher,” said B. Joseph Guglielmo, PharmD, dean of the School of Pharmacy. “All the more remarkable is that this success has taken place while she has created so many research opportunities for others, first through the creation of BTS and then with the CERSI collaboration.”
“Academic research in pharmacy schools is critical to advance the sciences that form the basis of the profession of pharmacy,” Giacomini said. “It is a great honor to be the recipient of an award which recognizes that research.”
Giacomini joins four other School of Pharmacy Volwiler winners: Paul Ortiz de Montellano, PhD, 2006; Tack Kuntz, PhD, 2003; Leslie Benet, PhD, 1991; and Eugene C. Jorgensen, PhD, 1981.
Giacomini will receive her award on July 23, 2018, at the AACP Annual Meeting in Boston.
This article was written by Grant Burningham and originally published by UCSF School of Pharmacy.
