Joshua Niznik, PharmD, PhD, assistant professor in the division of geriatric medicine, was awarded a 5-year K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award by the NIH’s National Institute on Aging for “Deprescribing Bisphosphonates in Nursing Home Residents with Dementia.”
The study seeks to evaluate the risks and benefits of deprescribing versus continuing bisphosphonates in older nursing home residents with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and AD-Related Dementias (AD/ADRD). 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 includes Laura Hanson, MD, MPH (division of geriatric medicine), Carolyn Thorpe, PhD, MPH (Eshelman School of Pharmacy, Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy), and Jennifer Lund, PhD (Gillings School of Global Public Health, Department of Epidemiology).