Larisa Cavallari, Pharm.D., FCCP, a professor of pharmacotherapy and translational research and the Debbie DeSantis Term Professor in the University of Florida College of Pharmacy, has been selected to receive a UF Research Foundation Professorship. The three-year award is reserved for UF’s most productive and promising faculty members, and Cavallari is one of only 34 faculty across the university to receive the distinction this year.
“It is a tremendous honor to be nominated and selected for the UF Research Foundation Professorship,” Cavallari said. “There are many amazing scientists at UF who have received this award, and it is a privilege to be considered in the same regard.”
Cavallari’s research focuses on the discovery of genetic associations with drug response, the translation of pharmacogenetic evidence into clinical practice and the examination of clinical pharmacogenetic implementation outcomes. She has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed articles, with high-profile publications in the Lancet, the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and Nature Reviews Cardiology. As a principal investigator, she has secured more than $10 million in research funding from sources such as the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the American Heart Association.
In various roles, Cavallari has showcased her leadership within the university and on a national level. She serves as director of the UF Health Precision Medicine Program and co-director of the UF Center for Pharmacogenomics and Precision Medicine. For the past year, she has also served as interim chair of the UF College of Pharmacy’s department of pharmacotherapy and translational research. Her professional service nationally and internationally extends to leadership roles within the American College of Clinical Pharmacy and the Pharmacogenomics Global Research Network.
Cavallari is among a core group of faculty who have elevated UF to one of the preeminent institutions in the field of precision medicine. She is the past chair and a current principal investigator of the NIH-funded Implementing GeNomics In pracTicE, or IGNITE, Network that was created to enhance the use of genomic medicine in critical care. In addition, she has contributed to writing multiple guidelines for the Clinical Pharmacogenomics Implementation Consortium, a panel of experts who provide guidelines on applying genotype information to prescribing decisions.
The UF Research Foundation Professorship is the second significant award Cavallari has secured this year. In March, she was honored with the American Society of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics Malle Jurima-Romet Mid-Career Leadership Award for her scientific achievements, leadership qualities and future commitment to the profession.