Leadership Transition Plans for UF College of Pharmacy

David R. Nelson, M.D., Senior Vice President for Health Affairs, UF &

President, UF Health

Dear Colleagues:

I wanted to share that Julie Johnson, Pharm.D., dean and distinguished professor of the University of Florida College of Pharmacy, has shared with me her decision to step down as dean effective Aug. 1, 2022.

Julie became the first female dean of the college in 2013 and has been a visionary leader who guided the University of Florida College of Pharmacy to its first top 5 national ranking. Under her leadership, the college experienced tremendous growth and accelerated up the national rankings. Most notable was the college’s rise in the U.S. News & World Report rankings of the best pharmacy colleges from No. 14 in 2013 to No. 5 in 2020 and from approximately No. 20 to No. 3 in National Institutes of Health and federal research funding, according to the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.

During Julie’s tenure, the college made significant strides to improve its education, research and clinical areas. She led the recruitment of many world-renowned clinicians and researchers, as the faculty nearly doubled in nine years, from 72 to 135. The college also completely overhauled its Pharm.D. curriculum by adopting an innovative and contemporary teaching approach that the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education self-study team described as “the model for 21st century pharmacy education.”

Other noteworthy accomplishments under Julie’s leadership included:

• Achieved many successful outcomes for students, including ranking No. 1 in the nation in total residency placements five of the last six years
• Lowered the faculty to student ratio from 16.8:1 to 7.8:1
• Made significant strides to increase the diversity of the student body, going from 19% to 35% underrepresented minorities in the Pharm.D. program, and helping the college rank No. 1 among the nation’s top 40 pharmacy colleges in percentage of underrepresented minorities
• Experienced approximately 50% growth in residential graduate student enrollment
• Increased annual research funding from $8.5 million to an expected $30+ million in 2021, with a more than 3.5-fold increase in annual publications
• Increased the size of practicing clinical faculty fourfold and created several new innovative practice models
• Made advances in creating a diverse and inclusive environment that is working to address health inequalities, with these efforts leading to the college receiving the 2021 Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity Magazine

Following her departure next August, Julie will take a year of administrative leave, after which she will rejoin the college faculty in the department of pharmacotherapy and translational research. She intends to help advance research in health disparities and precision medicine, as well as return to teaching.

Prior to serving as dean, Julie was a member of the UF College of Pharmacy’s faculty for 15 years. She chaired the department of pharmacotherapy and translational research for nine years and directed the Center for Pharmacogenomics. She was the founding director of the UF Health Precision Medicine Program and holds the title of distinguished professor in both pharmacy and medicine. Julie has written more than 300 original research articles, secured over $50 million in research funding and four times was named a Clarivate Analytics Highly Cited Researcher, an honor indicating she is in the top 1% of authors of the most highly cited papers in the previous decade. She has received numerous awards from universities and national organizations and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2014, one of the nation’s three national academies.

In the coming months, I will work closely with Julie to plan for a smooth transition and will share details to launch a search for a new dean as plans are finalized.