Songmao Zheng PhD

Dr. Songmao Zheng joined the Center for Pharmacometrics and Systems Pharmacology in the Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy, the University of Florida at Lake Nona (Orlando) as a postdoctoral associate in September 2012. His research focused on the use of quantitative data analysis and systems pharmacology tools to address critical clinical research and drug development questions and to support regulatory decision-making in the area of protein therapeutics, anti-infectives, and orphan drugs. He has co-authored a state-of-the-art review in Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics focusing on a systems approach in drug risk assessment.

Dr. Zheng received his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Washington in August 2012 under the supervision of Dr. Kenneth E. Thummel. His doctoral thesis was “The Impact of CYP3A5 Variation and Pregnancy on the Metabolic Disposition of Calcineurin Inhibitors”, highlighting clinical studies in which he played a primary role, led by Dr. Thummeland Dr. Mary F. Hebert. For his thesis projects, he-authored 6 publications, including 4 first-author original research articles that presented analytical method development, enzyme kinetics characterization, and quantitative modeling and analysis of clinical data. He received awards including AAPS PPDM, CPTR, and Amgen travel awards for various projects, including his internship project on PK/PD Modeling of Antibody Drug Conjugates with Dr. Baiteng Zhao at Seattle Genetics.

Before joining UW Pharmaceutics, he graduated from Sichuan University with a B.S. degree in Biological Sciences in 2007, during which he had a one-year honored exchange under the guidance of Dr. C. Anthony Blau at the Department of Hematology, UW. His research focused on erythropoietin and genetically modified erythroid progenitor cells. In 2007, he was awarded as the most recognized “National Triple-A Outstanding Student” by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China.

Dr. Zheng is highly passionate about learning and contributing to precision medicine and model-based drug development in the biopharmaceutical industry. After the completion of his postdoctoral training, he was hired by Johnson & Johnson as a PK/PD Scientist.