Rutgers: Department of Pharmaceutics - Prof. Colaizzi's HomePage

John L. Colaizzi, Ph.D., is a University Professor and a Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutics and the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Administration. He earned a B.S. in Pharmacy (Magna Cum Laude) from the University of Pittsburgh, and a M.S. and Ph.D. from Purdue University (in Indiana) under Professor Alfred Martin, a pioneer in the development of physical pharmacy. The publication based on Dr. Colaizzi’s Ph.D. thesis won the Ebert Prize in 1965, an award for the best publication in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences in that year. He served as assistant professor of pharmaceutics at West Virginia University, and as associate professor, professor and chairman of the department of pharmaceutics at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Colaizzi was appointed Dean of the College of Pharmacy and Professor in the Department of Pharmacy at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in 1978. He served as Dean until October, 2007, during which time he also taught in pharmaceutics and pharmacy practice courses in the professional curriculum. For a three-month period in 2003, he also served as Acting Vice President for Academic Affairs. At the conclusion of his 29-year service as Dean, Dr. Colaizzi was given the title University Professor, and he assumed full-time faculty duties with teaching assignments in the professional curricular offerings of the Department of Pharmaceutics and the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Administration.

Professor Colaizzi is a member of the American Pharmacists Association, the American Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists, The American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, and the American Institute of the History of Pharmacy. Since 1983, he has served on the Board of Directors of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ, a major academic heath center, where he was Board Chairman from 1997 to 2000.

Professor Colaizzi has published over 100 articles in various scientific journals and professional and educational publications. His research and scholarship has resulted in publications on the following topics: gastrointestinal drug absorption and bioavailability of aspirin, acetaminophen, pseudoephedrine, sulfonamides, cisapride, quinidine, beta-lactam antibiotics, and itraconazole; clinical pharmacokinetic studies of tetracycline antibiotics, ketoconazole, domperidone, and ritanserin; bioequivalency studies of sulfonamides, doxycycline, piroxicam, and thioridazine; and percutaneous absorption studies of salicylates. Professor Colaizzi’s pubications on professional and educational topics have centered on the following areas: drug product selection by pharmacists; generic and therapeutic substitution; laboratory experiments for students in pharmaceutics courses; industry-based professional experience programs for pharmacy students; industry-based fellowship programs for Pharm.D. graduates; internet pharmacy; pharmacy-based health clinics; and medication reconciliation in hospitals.
Currently Professor Colaizzi is especially interested in the development and assessment of effective and high-quality curricular experiences in pharmaceutics courses taken by pharmacy majors.