Professor of Clinical Pharmacy
Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Dr. Capparelli specializes in pharmacometrics - the use of mechanistically based mathematical models to describe the time course of drugs in the body (PK-pharmacokinetic models), the effects that drug concentrations have their targets in the body (PD-pharmacodynamic models); and overall impact of drug effects have on disease and symptoms (DZ- disease models). A major emphasis of Dr. Capparelli’s research has been to understand developmental, genetic, environmental and other factors that lead to PK and PD differences in infants, children and adults. His works includes novel approaches to therapies for infectious diseases including mono-clonal antibodies and long-acting formulations. In particularly. Dr Capparelli has designed and performed numerous international studies for the prevention and treatment of HIV infection and its complications in infants and children.
Education: Pre-pharmacy San Diego State University/ UC San Diego; Pharm.D. (1985) UC San Francisco; (1987) Fellowship Cardiovascular Therapeutics, Hartford Hospital; (1988) Fellowship Cardiology, UC Irvine.
Awards and Honors: NICHD Collaborative Achievement Award – BPCA Framework Pediatric Drug Development (2021); PPA Sumner J. Yaffe Lifetime Achievement Award in Pediatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Pediatric Pharmacy Association (2021); Award of Excellence in Research, Rady Children's Hospital, San Diego (2016); Pharmacist of the Year, San Diego Society of Health System Pharmacists (2006).
Leadership Experience: UCSD-NICHD Pediatric Pharmacology Research Unit - PPRU, Director (1994-2009); UCSD- NICHD Center for Research in Pediatric and Developmental Pharmacology – RPDP, Director (2011-2021); UCSD- NIAID IMPAACT Pediatric Pharmacology Laboratory – (1994-Present); NIH Vaccine Research Center – VRC, Pharmacokineticist (2014-Present); DHHS - AIDSINFO Pediatric Antiretroviral Guidelines Working Group – PAWG, Member (2004-2017); WHO Pediatric Antiretroviral Working Group - PAWG Member, (2005-2021); FDA Clinical Pharmacology Advisory Committee - Member (2003-2012); UCSD-NICHD Fellowship Training program in Pediatric Pharmacology – Director (2016-2021)
- Characterized developmental changes in drug absorption, distribution and elimination pathways
- Described clinical pharmacologic effects of antivirals used to treat and prevent HIV in pediatric patients.
- Designed treatment strategies for infectious disease using monoclonal antibodies and other long-acting agents.
- Developed mathematical models and performed simulations to optimize pediatric therapies
- Nikanjam M, et al. (2021) Impact of CYP2B6 Genotype, TB Therapy and Formulation on Efavirenz Pharmacokinetics in Infants and Children Under 40 Months of Age. AIDS. 10.1097 - Online ahead of print.
- Zhu G. et al. (2021) Impact of Genetic Variation in CYP2C19, CYP2D6, and CYP3A4 on Oxycodone and Its Metabolites in a Large Database of Clinical Urine Drug Tests. Pharmacogenomics J. 10.1038/s41397-021-00253-5.
- Gaudinski MR, et al. (2021) A Monoclonal Antibody for Malaria Prevention. NEJM. (9):803-814.
- Ruel TD et al. (2021) Pharmacokinetics and safety of early nevirapine-based antiretroviral therapy for neonates at high risk for perinatal HIV infection: a phase 1/2 proof of concept study. Lancet HIV. (3):e149-e157.
- Li J. et al (2021) Model Informed Development of VRC01 in Newborn Infants Using a Population Pharmacokinetics Approach. Clin Pharmacol Ther. (1):184-192.
- Over 30 years of experience in designing and analyzing Phase I-II pediatric and pharmacokinetic clinical trials.
- Design and analysis of Phase I-II studies of monoclonal antibody therapies
- Expertise in pharmacometrics - population pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic and disease modeling using population based methods.