David Edwards

David Edwards is a Professor in the School of Pharmacy and was formerly the Hallman Director, School of Pharmacy, and Associate Dean, Faculty of Science, University of Waterloo from 2011 through 2020. He received his undergraduate pharmacy degree from the University of Toronto, completed a pharmacy residency at Sunnybrook Medical Centre and graduated from the Doctor of Pharmacy program at the State University of New York at Buffalo where he did postdoctoral research in pharmacokinetics and drug metabolism. He also completed a Master in Public Health (MPH) degree at Wayne State University in Detroit where he was a faculty member and Chair of the Department of Pharmacy Practice.

He is the author of over 100 scientific papers, review articles and book chapters related to pharmacokinetics, drug metabolism, therapeutic drug monitoring, bioequivalence, and drug interactions, and is a co-author of the textbook “Evaluating Drug Literature: A Statistical Approach”. Research in his laboratory identified the mechanism by which drugs interact with grapefruit juice as well as the compounds in grapefruit juice responsible for this interaction. Dr. Edwards is a former board member and past president of the Canadian Foundation for Pharmacy (CFP), Association of Faculties of Pharmacy of Canada (AFPC), and the Canadian Council for the Accreditation of Pharmacy Programs (CCAPP) where he also chaired the Standards Committee from 2021-2023. He received the Honorary Life Award from the Canadian Pharmacists Association in 2018 and the AFPC Woods-Hughes Special Service Award in 2022. In 2022, he was elected as a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

• Pharmacokinetics
• Drug metabolism
• Pharmacogenomics
• Drug interactions
• Bioavailability/Bioequivalence
• Clinical Pharmacology

Dr. Edwards' research has focused on the effect of drugs, food, beverages, and herbal products on the metabolism and pharmacokinetics of medications. He is the author of more than 100 papers, review articles, commentaries and book chapters primarily related to drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics. He also co-authored the textbook “Evaluating Drug Literature – A statistical approach”. His laboratory completed several studies investigating the mechanism and significance of the interaction between grapefruit juice and prescription medication and identified furanocoumarins as the compounds in grapefruit juice responsible for these interactions. His research has received more than 3, 000 citations and he was listed in a Stanford University database of world’s top scientists based on a top 2% percentile ranking using standard citation metrics, August 2021. Dr. Edwards has served on the editorial board of journals such as Annals of Pharmacotherapy and Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics and has been a consultant to government agencies in Canada and the United States.

• 2011 MPH, Public Health, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA
• 1981 PharmD, Pharmacy, The State University of New York (SUNY), Buffalo, New York, USA
• 1978 BScPhm, Pharmacy, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

• Fellow, Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, 2022
• 2022, AFPC Woods-Hughes Special Service Award
• 2018 Honorary Life Award, Canadian Pharmacists Association
• 1992 Fellow, American College of Clinical Pharmacy
• Voted Instructor of the Year by pharmacy students at Wayne State University on 12 occasions

• Dr Edwards has served on the editorial board of journals such as Annals of Pharmacotherapy and Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics and has been a consultant to a number of government agencies in Canada and the United States.
• He has served as President of the Association of Faculties of Pharmacy of Canada (AFPC), the Canadian Foundation for Pharmacy (CFP), and the Canadian Council for the Accreditation of Pharmacy Programs (CCAPP).
• He was a member of the board for the Canadian Pharmacists Association and Ontario College of Pharmacists.

• PHARM 224 - Pharmacokinetic Fundamentals
  • Taught in 2024

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• Foong-Reichert A-L, Grindrod KA, Edwards DJ, Austin Z, Houle SKD. Pharmacist discipline: What do pharmacists get in trouble for? Healthcare Policy 2023; 18(3): 60-71.
• Foong-Reichert A-L, Houle SKD, Austin Z, Edwards DJ, Grindrod KA. Dentist discipline: What do dentists get in trouble for? Healthcare Policy 2023; 18(3): 72-83
• Edwards, D.J., Grindrod, K. and MacDougall, H.: What the polio vaccine can tell us about AstraZeneca. Toronto Star, Saturday, May 22, 2021 (non-peer-reviewed).
• Edwards DJ: Professional identity formation: A shared responsibility for academia and pharmacists. Can Pharm J 2020; 153: 18-20.
• Edwards DJ: Evidence-based practice: Are we in or not? Can Pharm J 2019; 152(1):16-17.
• Foong EA-L, Edwards DJ, Houle S, Grindrod KA. Ready or not: Pharmacist perceptions of a changing scope of practice before it happens. Can Pharm J 2017; 150: 387-396.
• Fouda AY, Newsome AS, Spellicy S, Waller JL, Zhi W, Hess DC, Ergul A, Edwards DJ, Fagan SC, Switzer JA. Minocycline in acute cerebral hemorrhage: An early phase randomized trial. Stroke 2017; 48: 2885-2887.
• Chugani DC, Chugani HT, Wiznitzer M, Parkih S, Evans PA, Hansen RL, Nass R, Janisse JJ, Dixon-Thomas P, Behen M, Rothermel R, Parker JS, Kumar A, Muzik O, Edwards DJ, Hirtz D and the Autism Center of Excellence Network. Efficacy of Low Dose Buspirone for Restricted and Repetitive Behavior in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Pediatrics 2016; 170: 45 – 53.
• Edwards DJ. Dissemination of research results: On the Path to Practice Change. Can J Hosp Pharm 2015; 68: 465-469.
• Kanji S, Hayes M, Ling A, Shamseer L, Chant C, Edwards DJ, Ensom M, Foster DR, Hardy B, Kiser T, laPorte C, Roberts J, Shulman R, Walker S, Zelenitsky S, Moher D. Reporting guidelines for clinical pharmacokinetic studies: The ClinPK statement. Clin Pharmacokin 2015; 54: 783-95.

• Dr. Edwards holds a US Patent related to the use of 6',7'-dihydroxybergamottin, a cytochrome P450 inhibitor in grapefruit juice.

• Stanford University database