Penkarn received a BPharm from Chiang Mai University, an MSc (Hospital Pharmacy Management) from Mahidol University (Bangkok), and a PhD (Pharmacy Healthcare Administration) from the University of Florida (USA). In 1997, she became a faculty member of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Chiang Mai University, where she is currently director of the Health and Medicine Policy Center that coordinates research and capacity building to promote the safe and effective use of medicine and traditional medicine. She is a member of the National Working Group on Monitoring and Evaluation of Rational Drug Use of Thailand. She was a member of the Scientific Working Group that was instrumental in establishing a pilot project on RDU in the hospital setting that led to the development of national RDU policy in public hospitals. She has conducted research in identifying RDU indicators for hospitals and the country. She has conducted pharmaco-epidemiology research in drug utilisation and drug safety in children and drug policy and has worked on a project supported by the Thailand Health Promotion Foundation to promote the integration of the health promotion concept into the pharmacy curriculum around Thailand. She is a member of the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology, and the Pharmacy Council of Thailand.
