Medicine Grand Rounds- Joshua Niznik & Carolyn Thorpe presents:” Innovative Uses of Real-World Data to Optimize Medication Use Through Deprescribing In Older Adults”

Joshua Niznik, PharmD, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Division of Geriatrics, School of Medicine and the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy, Eshelman School of Pharmacy at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a geriatric health services researcher and pharmacist with expertise in pharmacoepidemiology. Dr. Niznik’s growing program of research is focused on evaluating the quality of prescribing and deprescribing in older nursing home residents with dementia. Dr. Niznik currently has a 5-year K08 award from the NIA which will evaluate perceptions, clinical outcomes, and cost-effectiveness of deprescribing fracture prevention medications for older nursing home residents with dementia.

Carolyn Thorpe, PhD, MPH is a tenured Associate Professor in the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy within the Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has a joint appointment as Core Investigator with the Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System’s Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion. As a pharmaceutical health services researcher with a focus on geriatric populations, her research program aims to improve the health of medically complex older adults through studies on the quality and safety of prescribing and deprescribing. She currently leads an R01 from the NIA which links several real-world healthcare datasets to examine patterns, benefits, and harms of deprescribing aspirin for cardiovascular prevention in nursing home residents with dementia.

Dr. Niznik and Dr. Thorpe have published more than 26 manuscripts together on the topic of inappropriate medication use and deprescribing and their work has been funded by the NIH, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and several Foundations. Their research teams are recognized as leaders in innovative methods for the use of real-world data to evaluate determinants and outcomes of deprescribing for medically complex older adults.