May 7, 2021
The National Institutes on Aging awarded Joshua Niznik, Pharm.D., Ph.D., a 5-year K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award for his study, “Deprescribing Bisphosphonates in Nursing Home Residents with Dementia.”
The $759,090 award will support Niznik’s study, which seeks to evaluate the risks and benefits of deprescribing versus continuing bisphosphonates (a group of medicines that slow down or prevent bone loss) in older nursing home residents with Alzheimer’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease-Related Dementias.
“Deprescribing is an important and rapidly growing area of research in aging. Our study will address a critical gap in knowledge regarding the value of preventive medications in medically complex older adults. This award is also an opportunity to develop a framework for future investigations to continue to study deprescribing in this population,” said Niznik, assistant professor in the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy’s Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy.
Niznik and collaborators will evaluate the qualitative perceptions of providers and caregivers, clinical outcomes, and healthcare-related costs to determine whether deprescribing bisphosphonates is a safe and reasonable strategy to reduce the medication burden for certain individuals in this population.
Niznik’s mentoring team includes several UNC faculties including Carolyn Thorpe, PhD, MPH (Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy), Laura Hanson, MD, MPH (School of Medicine, Division of Geriatric Medicine), and Jennifer Lund, PhD (Gillings School of Global Public Health, Department of Epidemiology).
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