Pharmacoepidemiology Research

Pharmacoepidemiology is the study of the utilization and effects of drugs in large numbers of people; it provides an estimate of the probability of beneficial effects of a drug in a population and the probability of adverse effects. It can be called a bridge science spanning both clinical pharmacology and epidemiology. Pharmacoepidemiology concentrates on clinical patient outcomes from therapeutics by using methods of clinical epidemiology and applying them to understanding the determinants of beneficial and adverse drug effects, effects of genetic variation on drug effect, duration-response relationships, clinical effects of drug-drug interactions, and the effects of medication non-adherence. Pharmacovigilance is a part of pharmacoepidemiology that involves continual monitoring, in a population, for unwanted effects and other safety concerns arising in drugs that are already on the market. Pharmacoepidemiology sometimes also involves the conduct and evaluation of programmatic efforts to improve medication use on a population basis. 

Hopkins GIM faculty members have a growing presence in the field of pharmacoepidemiology. The Pharmacoepidemiology Program at Johns Hopkins was re-instated in 2007 and is developing a relationship with epidemiologists in the Center for Drug Evaluation at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with the goal of jointly training fellows in the skills of pharmacoepidemiology.

Information about the faculty working in this research area and their projects is provided below.

Eric Bass, MD, MPH
Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology, and Health Policy and Management
Director, Evidence-Based Practice Center
Co-Director, Johns Hopkins DEcIDE Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research
Editor-in-Chief, Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action
Research Interests: Evidence-based medicine, medical and surgical outcomes research, cost-effectiveness,community health partnerships, medical education and curriculum development
Link to publication abstracts: PubMed  

Frederick Brancati, MD, MHS, FACP    
Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology
Director, Division of General Internal Medicine
Core Faculty Member, Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research
Research Interests: Pharmacoepidemiology of diabetes
Link to publication abstracts: PubMed

Richard Moore, MD, MHS
Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology
Director, Moore Clinic for HIV Care
Research Interests: Pharmacoepidemiology, outcomes research in HIV treatment, epidemiology of substance abuse and alcoholism
Link to publication abstracts: PubMed

Jodi Segal, MD, MPH
Associate Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology, and Health Policy and Management
Director, Pharmacoepidemiology Program
Research Interests: Pharmacoepidemiology, comparative effectiveness research including evidence based review, advanced methods for using observational data, evaluation of diagnostic tests, diabetes, venous thrombosis and blood disorders
Link to publication abstracts: PubMed

Sonal Singh, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Medicine and International Health 
Faculty member, Center for Public Health and Human Rights
Research Interests: Pharmaceutical outcomes research, drug safety, and pharmacoepidemiology
Link to publication abstracts: PubMed

Albert Wu, MD, MPH
Professor of Health Policy and Management, Epidemiology, International Health, Medicine and Surgery
Director, Johns Hopkins DEcIDE Center for comparative effectiveness research
Research Interests:  Patient safety, comparative effectiveness research, patient-reported outcomes, quality of care, HIV
Link to publication abstracts: PubMed

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