Directory Profile

Dr. Philip Empey is the Associate Director for Pharmacogenomics of the Pitt/UPMC Institute for Precision Medicine and leads the PreCISE-Rx and Test2Learn teams to implement pharmacogenomics clinical, research, and educational initiatives. He also directs the University of Pittsburgh - Thermo Fisher Scientific Pharamcogenomics Center of Excellence which is deploying population scale preemptive pharmagenomics testing (to >150,000 patients) in western Pennsylvania. As a clinician-scientist in the Department of Pharmacy and Therapeutics, Dr. Empey conducts NIH-funded clinical and translational research aimed at understanding the mechanisms of the variability in drug response to improve medication-related outcomes in critically-ill patients.

He received his PharmD from the University of Rhode Island and completed PGY1 and PGY2 residencies in Pharmacy Practice and Critical Care at the University of Kentucky. He earned a PhD in Clinical Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Kentucky before completing postdoctoral research training at the University of Pittsburgh.

Current research interests include understanding the role/impact of xenobiotic transporters following neurological injury, transporter pharmacogenomics, pharmacogenomics clinical implementation, collection of medication-related phenotype information, and genotype-phenotype discovery. Dr. Empey teaches at the graduate level in pharmacokinetics, pharmacogenomics, and drug transporters in the Schools of Pharmacy, Medicine, and Nursing. He also has a research interest in innovative educational models to transform education.

Click on the PubMed underneath the photo for a complete list.

2021: Elected Fellow of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy
2018: Chancellor’s Distinguished Teacher Award, University of Pittsburgh
2018: Rufus A. Lyman Award (2017 Best Paper in American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education), American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy
2017: Outstanding Scholarly Contribution Award, Rho Chi Society
2015: Innovations in Teaching Award, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy
2015: Outstanding Scholarly Contribution Award, Rho Chi Society
2013: Distinguished Paper Award (Co-Author), AMIA Summit on Translational Bioinformatics
2013: Young Investigator Award, Society of Critical Care Medicine
2004-2007: American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education, Endowed Pre-Doctoral Fellowship in the Pharmaceutical Sciences
1998: American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education Gateway Fellowship

Advancing high-fidelity personalized PGx education through the Test2Learn platform, ASCPT Pharmacogenomics & Translational Informatics Webinar, ASCPT, December, 2019.

Forward-thinking strategies for pharmacogenomics implementation, Association of Molecular Pathologists, Washington, DC, November 2019.

Pharmacogenomics – Precision Prescribing to Achieve Precision Medicine. Precision Medicine Leadership Summit (PMLS) in Philadelphia, PA. June 2019.

Returning Results Directly to Patients: Risks and Benefits. Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium (CPIC) in Memphis, TN. June 2019.

Advancing Precision Medicine through PGx Pharmacists leading the way. Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association in Harrisburg, PA. March 2019.

Metabolomic Studies in the Critically Ill: The Good, the Bad, and Ugly. Society for Critical Care Medicine in San Diego, CA.

Learning Through Personal Genomes, International Society of Nursing Genetics in Orlando, FL, November 2018.

Pharmacokinetic modeling and neuropharmacometabolomics to ensure target engagement, National Neurotrauma Symposium in Toronto, CA, August 2018.

Improving Health Through Focused Screening of Populations. BIO2018 in Boston, MA. June 2018.

The Future of Precision Medicine. American Association for the Advancement of Science in Austin, TX. February 2018.

Pharmacogenomics Implementation in Pittsburgh. American College of Clinical Pharmacy in Phoenix, AZ. October 2017.

Pharmacogenomics: The Prescription for Better Medication Outcomes. University of Pittsburgh Senior Vice Chancellor’s Lecture Series 12 at 12 in Pittsburgh, PA. July 2017.