Biography

Brookie Best, PharmD, MAS is a distinguished clinical pharmacist, educator, researcher, and academic leader widely recognized for her contributions to pediatric and perinatal clinical pharmacology, pharmacy education, and institutional leadership. She currently serves as Dean of the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), where she also holds faculty appointments as Professor of Clinical Pharmacy and Pediatrics. In these roles, Dr. Best provides strategic vision, administrative leadership, and scholarly direction for one of the nation’s leading public pharmacy schools, advancing excellence across education, research, and clinical care. Dr. Best’s journey in pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences began with her undergraduate education at UC San Diego, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry with a focus on chemical education (1994). She went on to receive her Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) from the University of California, San Francisco (1999) and completed a Pharmacy Practice Residency at UC San Diego Medical Center (2000). Dr. Best further enhanced her research training through a prestigious fellowship in Pediatric Clinical Pharmacology Research supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and later earned a Master of Advanced Studies (MAS) in Clinical Research from UC San Diego (2007). Dr. Best’s research expertise centers on pharmacokinetics, the study of how medications are absorbed, distributed, metabolized, and eliminated by the body, with particular emphasis on perinatal and pediatric populations. Her work addresses critical gaps in medication dosing and safety for pregnant women, infants, children, and adolescents — populations historically underrepresented in clinical research. Over her career, Dr. Best has designed and led numerous pediatric and obstetric pharmacokinetic clinical trials that have influenced clinical practice and guidelines.