Jill Kolesar is a University Research Professor in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Kentucky, the Dr. Michael Karpf Endowed Chair in Precision Medicine, and holds administrative positions as the Co-Leader of the Translational Oncology Program at the Markey Cancer Center and a joint appointment in the Division of Gynecologic Oncology in the College of Medicine.  Kolesar received her Pharm.D. degree at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, where she also completed a specialty practice residency in oncology/hematology and a fellowship in molecular oncology pharmacotherapy. She received an M.S. in epidemiology with an emphasis in genetic epidemiology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, College of Medicine and Public Health in 2016.

She has extensive experience in both developing and leading clinical trials and Molecular Tumor Boards. Kolesar has authored more than 350 abstracts, research articles and book chapters, and as a principal investigator she has received more than $15M in research funding from the NCI, American Cancer Society and other sources.