Currently, DPOP comprises nine primary faculty members and twelve graduate students working in a collaborative research environment in pharmaceutical outcomes and policy. Our scientific interests are diverse and span most key areas in contemporary outcomes research:

• Health outcomes assessment
• Psychosocial aspects of chronic illness
• Patient decision-making and adherence to therapeutic regimens
• Pharmaceutical policy analysis
• Pharmacoepidemiology
• Evidence-based medicine
• Evaluations of programs for chronic disease management
• Health economics
• Research methods
• Evaluating the quality of medication use in older adults
• Developing and testing pharmacy services that improve drug use in patients with chronic disorders
• Determining how computers prevent errors in prescribing
• Use of health care by low-income minority groups
• Developing methods for enhancing communication between patients & providers in an outpatient setting
• Complementary and alternative medicine
• Role of diagnostic testing in medical management
• Chronic disease management
• Addressing barriers and identifying opportunities for translating pharmacogenetic tests into clinical practice

See the division faculty page for more

information on our faculty and their research

• Current Research
• Recent Grants
  
• Recent Publications
• Recent Presentations
  
  

• Preventing Falls Through Enhanced Pharmaceutical Care
  Carol Runyan (PI), Susan Blalock (Project leader) UNC Injury Prevention Research Center
  8/01/2004-7/31/2009 - $730,000
• K12 Mentored Clinical Research Career Development Program
  Richard Hansen (PI) US Department of Health and Human Services
  7/01/2006-6/30/2010 - $530,455
• Addressing Knowledge Gaps in the Treatment of Depression
  Joel Farley (CO-I), Richard Hansen (CO-PI) UNC DecIDE Network
  8/15/2008-2/15/2011 - $359,780
• ELSI Case Study Analysis of Large NIH Genetic Research Studies
  Gail Henderson (PI), Lynn Dressler, Henderson, G. (PI)
  10/2007-9/2012
• The Effect of Medicaid Prescription Restrictions on Mental Health Utilization and Expenditures in Patients with Schizophrenia
  Joel Farley (PI) Pfizer Scholars Grant in Health Policy.
  7/1/2007-06/30/2009 - $130,000
• Improving the Quality of Medication Use in Older Adults
  K23 Research and Career Development Award
  Mary Roth (PI) National Institutes of Health (National Institute on Aging)
  5/01/2006 - 05/31/2011  -  $699,170
• Health literacy and aging: A process-knowledge approach
  Michael Murray (CO-PI) (R01 AG031718)
  3/1/08-2/28/13 -  $1,687,048

• Krebs EE, Gaynes BN, Gartlehner G, Hansen RA, Thieda P, Morgan LC, DeVeaugh-Geiss A, Lohr KN. Treating the physical symptoms of depression with second-generation antidepressants: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychosomatics 2008; 23(3):191-8.
• Hansen RA, Gaynes BN, Gartlehner G, Moore CG, Tiwari R, Lohr KN.  Efficacy and tolerability of second-generation antidepressants in social anxiety disorder.  International Clinical Psychopharmacology 2008; 23(3):170-9.
• Donahue KE, Gartlehner G, Jonas D, Lux LJ, Thieda P, Jonas BL, Hansen RA, Morgan LC, Lohr KN. Systematic review: comparative effectiveness and harms of disease-modifying medications for rheumatoid arthritis.  Annals of Internal Medicine 2008; 148(2):124-34.
• Gartlehner G, Hansen RA, Jonas BL, Thieda P, Lohr KN. Biologics for the treatment of juvenile idiopathic arthritis: a systematic review and critical analysis of the evidence. Clinical Rheumatology 2008, 27(1):67-76.
• Hansen RA, Gartlehner G, Webb AP, Morgan LC, Moore CG, Jonas DE. Efficacy and safety of donepezil, galantamine, and rivastigmine for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Clinical Interventions in Aging 2008; 3(2):1-15.
• Levinthal BR, Morrow DG, Tu W, Wu J, Murray MD. Cognition and health literacy in patients with hypertension. J Gen Intern Med 2008; 23(8):1172-1176.
• Sleath B, Chewning B, Devellis B, Weinberger M, Devellis R, Tudor G, Beard A. Communication about depression during rheumatoid arthritis visits.  Arthritis Care and Research, 2008;59(2):186-191.
• Thurman DJ, Stevens JA, Rao JK.  Assessing patients in a neurology practice at risk for falls: An evidence-based review and practice parameter.  Neurology 2008; 70: 473-479.
• Frank E, Carrera JS, Rao JK, Anderson LA.  Satisfaction with career choice among U.S. medical students.  Arch Intern Med 2008; 168: 1712-1716.
• Ferreri S, Roth MT, Casteel C, Demby KB, Blalock SJ.  Preventing falls through enhanced pharmaceutical care: methodology and algorithms. Am J Geriatr Pharmacother, 2008;6: 61-81.
• Sloane P, Ivey J, Roth M, Roederer M, Williams CS. Accounting for the sedative and analgesic effects of medication changes during patient participation in clinical research studies: Measurement development and application to a sample of institutionalized geriatric patients. Contemporary Clinical Trials 2008;29;140-148.
• Farley JF, Blalock SJ, Kline RR.  Effect of the Women’s Health Initiative on prescription anti-osteoporosis medication utilization.  Osteoporos Int 2008, doi: 10.1007/s00198-008-0607-1
• Thorpe CT, DeVellis RF, Blalock SJ, Hogan SL, Lewis MA, DeVellis BM.  Patients’ perceptions about illness self-management in anca-associated small vessel vasculitis.  Rheumatology 2008; doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/ken126.
• Nguyen, H.Q., R.T. Ackerman, M.L. Maciejewski, E. Berke, M. Patrick, B. Williams, J.P. LoGerfo. “Use of a Managed-Medicare Health Club Benefit is Associated with Reduced Health Care Costs in Older Adults”, Preventing Chronic Diseases 2008; 5(1):14.

Michael Murray

• Measured vs. Assumed Drug Dosing Histories in the Polypharmaceutical Management of Congestive Heart Failure: Which Drugs Are Most Important? How Strongly Correlated Are Dosing Histories of Multiple Medications? Drug Information Association, Improving Drug Development Using Patient Adherence Data in Clinical Trials. Washington, DC. May 6, 2008.
• Non-adherence Increases Hospitalizations and Emergency-Room Visits. Drug Information Association, Improving Drug Development Using Patient Adherence Data in Clinical Trials. Washington, DC. May 6, 2008.
• Approaches to Enhance Drug Safety in the Outpatient Setting. American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. San Diego, CA, April 7, 2008
• Effect of a Pharmacist Intervention on Adherence in Patients with Hypertension. National Institutes of Health, Framework for Adherence Research and Translation: A blueprint for the next ten years. Jersey City, NJ. March 19, 2008