Dr. Zamboni is a Visiting Professor in Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. He is also the Director of the Cancer Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics Facility and Co-Leader of the Immunology and Drug Development Center in the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Hillman Cancer Center. Dr. Zamboni is a 3-time graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy where he received his Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy in 1992, PharmD in 1994, and PhD in 2005. He also performed his Oncology Pharmacy Residency at the Warren G. Magnuson Clinical Center at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD and his Research Fellowship in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, TN. He is a member of the US FDA Pharmaceutical Science Clinical Pharmacology Advisory Committee and the Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee. He is also a member of the Advisory Committee for the Pharmacokinetics Shared Resource Facility at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Dr. Zamboni is a translational pharmacologist that applies standard and novel analytical chemistry, pharmacology, pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, and biomarker methods to preclinical, translational, and clinical development of drugs, especially anticancer agents. In addition, he is an expert and leader in the translational drug development and pharmacology of complex drugs, such as nanoparticles, conjugates, biologics, implants, and cell-based therapies. A focus of his research is evaluating the processes, mechanisms, and barriers associated with the delivery and distribution of anticancer agents into solid tumors and brain tumors. A second focus of his research is evaluating the bi-directional interaction between complex drugs and the innate immune system (IIS), which is the primary clearance pathway for these agents. He has developed novel analytical methods to measure complex drugs and biomarkers of the IIS, which can be used to predict the pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and the potential for drug-drug and drug-disease interactions of complex agents. The IIS biomarkers are also being evaluated as a method to optimize the dose and regimen of these complex agents based on a patient habitus (e.g. obesity), race, sex, inflammatory diseases, and infections. Dr. Zamboni also serves as a consultant and/or member of the scientific advisory board for several pharmaceutical companies and organizations. In addition, he has founded or co-founded four companies (i.e., ChemoGLO, LLC; Glolytics, LLC; MediGLO, LLC; and HealthSpan, LLC), and thus he has experience translating research into commercial enterprises.
Education & Training
PharmD, PhD
- Drug Discovery and Development
- Clinical Pharmaceutical Sciences
- Drug Formulations and Delivery
- Innovations
- Zamboni WC, Orbach R, Burckart GJ, Stewart CF. Effect of Obesity on the Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Anticancer Agents. Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. 2023;63(S2) S85-S102. [Part of Journal of Clinical Pharmacology supplement entitled Bridging Drug Efficacy and Safety to the Obese]. *Ranked within the top 10% of most-viewed papers published by Journal of Clinical Pharmacology in 2023.
- Lucas AT, Moody A, Schorzman AN, Zamboni WC. Importance and Considerations of Antibody Engineering in Antibody-Drug Conjugates Development from a Clinical Pharmacologist's Perspective. Antibodies (Basel). 2021 Jul 26;10(3):30. doi: 10.3390/antib10030030. PMID: 34449544; PMCID: PMC8395454.
- Piscitelli JA, Ban Jisun, Lucas AT, Zamboni WC. Complex factors and challenges that affect the pharmacology, safety and efficacy of Nanocarrier Drug Delivery Systems. Overcome Cancer Drug Resistance by Nano-carrier Drug Delivery System. Pharmaceutics. 2021; 13(1): 114.
- Lucas AT, Price LS, Schorzman AN, Zamboni WC. Complex effects of tumor microenvironment on the tumor disposition of carrier-mediated agents. Invited review, Nanomedicine. 2017:12(16):2021-2042. PMID: 28745129.
- Chen L, Lucas A, Mansfield A, Lheureux S, Claire O'Connor C, Zamboni B, Patel K, McKee T, Moscow J, and Zamboni W. Evaluation of Innate Immune System, Body Habitus, and Sex on the Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Anetumab Ravtansine in Patients with Cancer. Clin Transl Sci. 2025 Mar;18(3):e70178. doi: 10.1111/cts.70178. PMID: 40051118; PMCID: PMC11885412.
- Alqaisi HA, Cohn DE, Chern JY, Duska LR, Jewell A, Corr BR, Winer IS, Girda E, Crispens MA, Dhani NC, Madariaga A, Grant RC, Malaguti M, Lee C, Bowering V, Wong H, Poothullil A, Speers V, Wang L, Bedard PL, Brady JC, Nixon AB, Chen L*, O'Connor C, Zamboni W, McKee T, Moscow JA, Oza AM, Lheureux S. Randomized phase II study of bevacizumab with weekly anetumab ravtansine or weekly paclitaxel in platinum-resistant/refractory high grade ovarian cancer (NCI trial). Clin Cancer Res. 2025 Mar 17;31(6):993-1001. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-24-3128. PMID: 39836408; PMCID: PMC11911801.
- Price L, Rivera J, Madden A, Herity L, Piscitelli J, Mageau S, Santos D, Roques J, Midkiff B, Nikolaishvili-Feinberg N, Darr D, Chang S, Zamboni W. Minibeam radiation therapy enhanced tumor delivery of PEGylated liposomal doxorubicin in a triple negative breast cancer mouse model. Ther Adv in Med Oncol. 2021 Oct 29;13:17588359211053700. doi: 10.1177/17588359211053700. PMID: 34733359; PMCID: PMC8558804.
- Price LSL, Stern ST, Deal AM, Kabanov AV, Zamboni WC. A Reanalysis of Nanoparticle Tumor Delivery Using Classical Pharmacokinetic Metrics. Science Advances. 15 Jul 2020: Vol. 6, no. 29, eaay9249. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv. aay9249. PMID: 32832614 PMCID: PMC7439617.
- Perry JL, Reuter KG, Luft JC, Pecot CV, Zamboni WC, DeSimone JM. Mediating passive tumor accumulation through particle size, tumor type and location. Nano Lett. 2017;17(5):2879-2886. PMID: 28287740.
- Giovinazzo H, Kumar P, Sheik A, Ivanovic M, Walsh M, Caron WP*, Kowalsky RJ, Song G, Whitlow A, Clarke-Pearson DL, Brewster WR, Le LV, Bae-Jump V, Gehrig PA, Zamboni WC. Technetium-99m-Sulfur-Colloid as a Phenotypic Probe for the Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic disposition of PEGylated Liposomal Doxorubicin in Women with Recurrent Epithelial Ovarian Cancer. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol. 2016;77(3):565-73. PMID: 26822231.
- Song G, Tarrant TK, Barrow DA, Santos CM, White TL, Timoschenko RG, Hanna SK, Bae-Jump V, Gehrig P, Zamboni WC. Roles of chemokines CCL2 and CCL5 in the pharmacokinetics of PEGylated liposomal doxorubicin in vivo and in patients with recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer. Nanomedicine. 2015 Oct;11(7):1797-807. PMID: 26093057.
- Song G, Darr DB, Santos CM, Ross M, Valdivia A, Jordan JL, Midkiff BR, Cohen S, Feinberg, Miller CR, Tarrant TK, Rogers AB, Dudley AC, Perou CM, Zamboni WC. Effects of tumor microenviroment on nanoparticle disposition and efficacy in triple negative breast cancer. Clinical Cancer Res, 2014;20(23):6083-95. PMID: 25231403.
- Caron WP, Lay JC, Fong AM, La-Beck NM, Kumar P, Newman SE, Zamboni BA, Crona DJ, Clarke-Pearson DL, Brewster WR, Le LV, Bae-Jump V, Gehrig PA, Zamboni WC. Translational studies of phenotypic probes of the mononuclear phagocyte system and nanosomal pharmacology. J of Pharmacol Exp Ther. 2013;347(3):599-606. PMID: 24042160.
- Anders CK, Adamo B, Rawal S, Walsh MD, Karginova O, Darr D, Deal AM, Santos C, Bash R, Hanna SK, Carey, LA, Miller CR, Sharpless N, Perou CM, Zamboni WC. Efficacy and pharmacokinetic disposition of PEGylated liposomal doxorubicin compared with non-liposomal doxorubicin in an intracranial breast cancer murine model. PLOS One. 2013;8(5):1-10. PMID: PMC3641071.
Novel Methods for the Precision Dosing of Complex Drugs. Michelle Rudek Memorial Symposium 2025, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, Oct 1, 2025.
Factors Affecting the Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Anetumab Ravtansine in Patients with Refractory Solid Tumors. OSU-UNC NCI ETCTN Network Phase I/ II Meeting. August 2024.
Pharmacologic Studies of the Mononuclear Phagocyte System as Part of Clinical Studies of Anetumab Ravtansine: Interim Analysis. Anetumab Ravtansine Clinical Team, UM1 ETCTN, CTEP, NCI. Feb 2022.
Minibeam Radiation Therapy Enhanced Delivery of Nanoparticle Anticancer Agents to Pancreatic Cancer Tumors. NCI Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer Program Meeting. Oct 2021.
Translational Studies of the Innate Immune System as Biomarkers for the Pharmacology of Complex Drugs and Biologics: A Model for Team Pharmaceutical Sciences. WVU School of Pharmacy. Nov 2018.
