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.
Center for Pharmacoepidemiology |
Hopkins GIM faculty members have a growing presence in the field of pharmaco-epidemiology. The Center for Pharmacoepidemiology 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;
Editor-in-Chief, Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action;
Associate Director, Physician and Society Course
Research Interests:
Link to publication abstracts: PubMed
Frederick Brancati, MD, MHS, FACP
Professor of Medicine and of 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 - Infectious Diseases and Clinical Pharmacology
and of Epidemiology
Director, the Moore Clinic for HIV Care
Research Interests:
Link to publication abstracts: PubMed
Jodi Segal, MD, MPH
Associate Professor of Medicine and of Health Policy and Management
Research Interests:
Link to publication abstracts: PubMed
Albert Wu, MD, MPH
Professor of Health Policy and Management
Research Interests:
Link to publication abstracts: PubMed
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