Charles E. Leonard

Charles E. Leonard is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. He holds affiliations with multiple Penn-based institutions, including the Center for Real-World Effectiveness and Safety of Therapeutics (CREST), Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics, Leonard Davis Institute, Institute on Aging, and Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology. Additionally, he serves as a Special Government Employee at the FDA and Honorary Lecturer at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Tanzania.

• Pharmacoepidemiology
• Post-market prescription drug safety
• Causal inference methods
• Real-world evidence generation
• Environmental health impacts on chronic disease

Dr. Leonard’s research focuses on generating real-world evidence to address critical gaps in drug safety, particularly for:

• Population health effects of drug interactions
• Comparative safety of antidiabetes drugs
• Drug-induced sudden cardiac arrest
• Ambient temperature extremes and chronic disease
• Pharmacoepidemiology methods development

His work is primarily funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and has been recognized through multiple awards, including the 2024 Harold I. Feldman Distinguished Scholar Award and the 2020 Elected Fellow status at the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology. He also contributes to curriculum development and student mentoring in Penn’s Graduate Group in Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

• 2024 – Harold I. Feldman Distinguished Scholar Award (Penn)
• 2024 – Ronald D. Mann Best Paper Award (ISPE)
• 2020 – Leadership Medallion (BPS)
• 2019 – Abraham G. Hartzema Distinguished Lecturer (University of Florida)