Kathleen Polkowski | School of Pharmacy

Kathleen Polkowski is a Clinical Pharmacogenomics Fellow under the mentorship of Dr. Philip Empey and Dr. James Coons. She staffs inpatient and outpatient clinics, and her research interests include pharmacogenomics, large-scale population research, and integration, implementation, and standardization of pharmacogenomics into electronic health records (EHR). Kathleen earned a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in 2024 and is a licensed pharmacist in Pennsylvania and South Carolina. During her final year of pharmacy school, Kathleen developed a strong interest in pharmacogenomics through clinical rotations, most notably at the United States Pharmacopeia, where she began research into the standardization of integrating pharmacogenomics to advance quality precision medicine.

Education & Training

PharmD, MBA

Fellowship Program Affiliation(s)

Clinical Pharmacogenomics Fellowship

Center Affiliation(s)

Pittsburgh Pharmacogenomics (PittPGx)

Practice Interests

Interacting with patients with a focus on pharmacogenomics and what it means for their care Research focused on the implementation of PGx into clinical practice

Research Interests

Pharmacogenetics

Research / Project

Implementation of Pharmacogenomics

Presentations

"Using Pharmacogenomics in Family Medicine with Pediatric Populations." PGx ECHO. Virtual presentation to pharmacists, April 18, 2025.

Hometown

Montville, NJ

Outside Interests

Baking, reading, hiking

Reason for attending

I chose this program due to its unique structure which affords me the ability to interact with patients while also focusing on research in a growing field in pharmacy.