Biography and Expertise
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.
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 $15 million in research funding from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), 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.
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.