The official page of the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy at UNC-Chapel Hill.
The Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy is one of the few programs in the country, housed in a school of pharmacy, whose faculty have active research programs in the field of pharmaceutical outcomes and policy. Research in this area has grown considerably over the past decade. This increased interest has been stimulated by two primary factors:
1. the rising cost of pharmaceuticals coup
07/31/2023
We're so proud of DPOP student Phil Hughes for his work evaluating the role of prescriptive authority for psychologists in expanding mental health services access! His simulation modeling study was recently highlighted in an AcademyHealth spotlight for important behavioral health research presented at the annual meeting. Way to go, Phil! Check out the blog post here: https://tinyurl.com/ykahmtde
04/17/2023
Congratulations to Dr. Carolyn Thorpe on her new R01 award from the National Institute on Aging! Her work will examine the health outcomes of deprescribing aspirin for older adults with dementia and inform better prescribing guidelines and provider decision-making. Joining Dr. Thorpe on this project are 3 DPOP Co-Investigators: Dr. Josh Thorpe, Dr. Josh Niznik, and Dr. Alan Kinlaw. Way to go!!đź‘Źđź‘Ź
Congratulations to Dr. Scott Davis (Assistant Professor) for receiving a Junior Faculty Development Award from the UNC Provost's Office! His project "Understanding autistic adults’ unmet needs to inform interventions to promote self-management of their chronic health conditions" will work to address health disparities among patients with autism. The study will seek to identify the most pressing unmet needs and supports of adults with autism to design an intervention to improve medical care visits.
10/12/2022
Congratulations to Dr. Delesha Carpenter! Dr. Carpenter was recently awarded two R01s from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. One project will assess the impact of a vaccine hesitancy intervention on communication about COVID-19 vaccines and vaccine uptake in rural community pharmacies. Her other project will feature work with a diverse Advisory Panel to create interactive maps identifying geographical and racial disparities in naloxone access in North Carolina. Dr. Carpenter is looking for doctoral students and a postdoc to work on these projects! Learn more about DPOP's PhD and postdoctoral opportunities at https://pharmacy.unc.edu/divisions/dpop/.
10/07/2022
DPOP researchers Dr. Kathleen Thomas, Dr. Betsy Sleath, and Jeremy Lowery participated in a booth with UNC Pembroke Nursing during Pembroke Day! They shared resources on medication safety, oral health, disaster preparedness, and a new website from IUVEO supporting teen mental health.
09/12/2022
DPOP is looking for a full-time Executive Assistant to support our growing division! The application is open through September 26th at https://unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/239776. Please share to help us spread the word!
08/29/2022
Betsy Sleath and Debby Futrell visit with Reverend Joyner and Helen Collins at Conetoe Family Life Training Center to discuss opportunities for pharmacy students to work with youth who learn how to grow and prepare healthy foods for their families https://conetoelife.org/
08/10/2022
Please join us in congratulating Rachel Parry, PharmD, Ph.D., on the successful defense of her dissertation, “Bimanual Pelvic Examinations: Temporal Trends and Potential Barriers to Self-Administered Hormonal Contraception Use”. Awesome job, Double-Doctor Parry!
08/03/2022
Interested in a fully funded program that applies multi-level public health solutions to medication use problems? Look no further!đź‘€Learn more at our webinar on Aug 31 at 6:30: bit.ly/3zoKO6p or visit pharmacy.unc.edu/divisions/dpop/
07/27/2022
In this study, Scott A. Davis, PhD., and DPOP researchers performed a content review of continuing education (CE) credit-bearing training programs for pharmacists that cover buprenorphine dispensing. We found that most training programs did not cover all the most important topics; only two briefly addressed buprenorphine dispensing barriers, and none addressed the widespread belief that the Drug Enforcement Administration sets limits on the amount of buprenorphine that can be ordered and stocked. Few programs addressed social barriers, such as stigma. Future training will need to be developed to address the gaps identified in our review.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35813287/
07/26/2022
Congratulations to Dr. Amanda Stover, a post-doctoral research associate with Dr. Delesha Carpenter. Amanda accepted a position as a Tenure Track Assistant Professor at Clemson University. Amanda will join the Department of Public Health Sciences, where she will become part of a new rural health-training program and continue her research work in su***de and overdose prevention.
06/13/2022
Dr. Delesha Carpenter has had two new papers published. One is an editorial that describes actions that the pharmacy profession can take to reduce su***des, and the other is a survey study that examined pharmacists’ attitudes toward buprenorphine and their dispensing behaviors. Her team found that more than 60% of surveyed pharmacists had refused to fill a buprenorphine prescription at least once, which can increase the risk of treatment gaps for patients.
Su***de prevention editorial: https://www.japha.org/article/S1544-3191(22)00130-3/fulltext
Buprenorphine article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544319122001376