The University of Florida College of Pharmacy has appointed Steve Smith, Pharm.D., M.P.H., as the new chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy, effective Sept. 6. He has served as the department’s interim chair for the past year.
Smith’s permanent appointment builds upon the momentum gained under his interim leadership. In late 2023, he successfully led the department’s transition into the state-of-the-art Malachowsky Hall for Data Science and Information Technology — a move that is transforming artificial intelligence and data science research across UF. His ability to guide the department through this transformative period has earned him the trust and respect of his colleagues, particularly for his mentorship of junior faculty. Under his leadership, the department enjoyed a record-setting year for research expenditures in 2023-24 and he helped recruit several new faculty and staff positions.
“Dr. Smith has demonstrated exceptional leadership during his interim appointment. In talking with the department’s faculty, it became clear there was tremendous interest in him continuing to lead the department in a permanent role,” said Peter W. Swaan, Ph.D., M.Pharm., dean and professor in the UF College of Pharmacy. “His experience as a clinician and researcher brings a unique perspective to this role, and he has shown himself to be a well-respected and outstanding mentor who has earned the confidence of senior and junior faculty in the department.”
As chair, Smith will lead efforts to recruit new faculty and enhance the department’s expertise in key areas such as pharmacoepidemiology, pharmacoeconomics, health services research, and artificial intelligence. In addition, he will be looked upon to guide the next generation of scientists and clinicians by enhancing professional and graduate education.
“The Department of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy has benefitted from outstanding leadership over the past three decades, providing us with a foundation of excellence in our core mission areas,” Smith said. “Looking forward, our field is at a pivotal moment. Real-world evidence is increasingly viewed as a critical component of evidence-based medicine. On the other hand, the emergence of advanced methods — most notably artificial intelligence — presents unprecedented opportunities to transform pharmaceutical care.”
Smith’s ties to UF span more than two decades. He earned his Doctor of Pharmacy from the College of Pharmacy in 2007 and a Master of Public Health degree in 2011. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship the same year with the colleges of pharmacy and medicine.
After serving three years as an assistant professor in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy at the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Smith returned to Gainesville in 2014. He joined the faculty in the UF College of Pharmacy as a clinical assistant professor of pharmacotherapy and translational research and accepted a courtesy appointment in the UF College of Medicine. During his tenure at UF, Smith has taken on several leadership positions that have prepared him to lead the Department of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy. He is the co-director of the UF Center for Integrative Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease, and he co-directed the UF Family Medicine Fellowship from 2014 to 2023. In July, he earned tenure and was promoted to associate professor of pharmaceutical outcomes and policy.