Scott Penzak, Pharm.D. is Department Head and Professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice, joining the Harrison School of Pharmacy on Dec. 1, 2018. Prior to joining the Harrison School of Pharmacy, Penzak totaled more than 12 years of experience as a researcher with the National Institutes of Health and nine years of academic experience at the University of North Texas and Mercer University.

Penzak is a 1990 graduate of Ferris State University with a bachelor of science degree in pharmacy. He went on to complete his Pharm.D. at Wayne State University in 1996. Upon graduation, he was a research fellow for two years at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, studying infectious diseases pharmacology.

Penzak joined the HSOP faculty following a position at the University of North Texas Health Sciences Center in the College of Pharmacy from 2014-18. While there, he has served as professor and vice chair of the Department of Pharmacotherapy while also serving as interim associate dean for academic affairs from 2016-17.

Prior to his arrival at North Texas, Penzak spent 12 years as the director of the Clinical Pharmacokinetics Research Laboratory (CPRL) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. He also spent three years (1998-2001) as an assistant professor of pharmacy practice at Mercer University.

Penzak’s research is focused mainly on pharmacokinetics, pharmacogenetics, drug-drug, and drug-herb interactions with antiretroviral medications. From a clinical pharmacy service perspective, he routinely assists clinicians with therapeutic drug monitoring and drug interaction management in HIV-infected patients.

While with the NIH, Penzak was the director of the Clinical Pharmacokinetic Research Laboratory (CPRL), a unit that assists clinical investigators in the design, analysis, and interpretation of pharmacokinetic studies. The CPRL supports NIH scientists in several major areas of pharmacokinetic research, including drug interaction studies and characterization of drugs with nonlinear disposition. While director of the CPRL, he received three Directors Awards at NIH for scientific achievement (2005, 2013) and patient care (2012). In 2008 he was a recipient of the NIH Mentoring Award.

With research funding from organizations such as the NIH, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, and others, Penzak has generated more than 150 publications. He also serves on the editorial boards for publications such as the Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, Pharmacotherapy, European Journal of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, and the International Journal of Pharmacokinetics. In 2017, Penzak was recognized as a Fellow in the American College of Clinical Pharmacology.