Robin DiFrancesco MT ASCP, MBA
Robin DiFrancesco
MT ASCP, MBA
Professional Summary:
Robin DiFrancesco, MT ASCP, MBA has over 30 years of experience in pharmacology research (20+ in HIV research) and has a variety of knowledge, practical and theoretical, to offer our global students. She is appointed at the UB School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences as a research assistant professor and as a voluntary adjunct faculty member for the UB Department of Biotechnology and Clinical Sciences within the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. She holds an ACSP certification as a medical technologist and a NYS license as a clinical laboratory technologist. Her experience in clinical pharmacology research and quality assurance, as it applies to the clinical pharmacology laboratory and laboratory sciences, is extensive. She has served almost 16 years in this capacity within the NIH/NIAID/DAIDS networks as well as a laboratory technologist on the ACTG/IMPAACT Laboratory Technoligists committee. She is also appointed as the scientific manager of the Drug Development Core, part of the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at the University at Buffalo. In addition, she has served as both vice-chair and chair on two specialty sections for The Society for Quality Assurance. Robin has co-authored and published over 60 articles.
Education and Training:
- MBA, The State University of New York at Buffalo, School of Management (1986)
- BS, D'Youville College (1980)
Employment:
- Instructor, Pharmacy Practice, The State Univserity of New York at Buffalo (1997-present)
- Quality Assurance and Laboratory Manager, Pharmacy Practice, The State University of New York at Buffalo (1993-present)
- Laboratory Coordinator, Pharmacy Practice, The State University of New York at Buffalo (1981–1996)
Awards and Honors:
- UB School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Staff Award (2009)
- UB SOPPS Research Staff Recognition Award (2009)
- D’Youville College, Department of Mathematics and Sciences Student Award (1980)
Journal Articles:
- Ocque AJ, Hagler CE, DiFrancesco R, Morse GD, Talal AH. Ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry for determination of Direct Acting Antiviral drugs in human liver fine needle aspirates. J Chromatogr B Analyt Technol Biomed Life Sci. 2017; 1052.
- Venuto CS, Markatou M, Woolwine-Cunningham Y, Furlage R, Ocque AJ, DiFrancesco R, Dumas EO, Wallace PK, Morse GD, Talal AH. Paritaprevir and Ritonavir Liver Concentrations in Rats as Assessed by Different Liver Sampling Techniques. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2017; 61(5).
- Tsuji BT, Venuto, Charles, Ma Q, DiFrancesco R, Bednasz, Cindy, Smith, Nicholas, Morse GD, Talal AH. Insights into the Exposure Response Relationship for Ribavirin in the Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infections. Open Forum Infectious Diseases 3. 2016.
- Ocque AJ, Hagler CE, Difrancesco R, Woolwine-Cunningham Y, Bednasz CJ, Morse GD, Talal AH. Development and validation of a UPLC-MS/MS method for the simultaneous determination of paritaprevir and ritonavir in rat liver. Bioanalysis. 2016; 8(13).
- Bednasz C, Luque AE, Zingman BS, Fischl MA, Gripshover BM, Venuto CS, Gu J, Feng Z, DiFrancesco R, Morse GD, Ma Q. Lipid-lowering therapy in HIV-infected patients: relationship with antiretroviral agents and impact of substance-related disorders. Curr Vasc Pharmacol. 2016.
- Boltz VF, Bao Y, Lockman S, Halvas EK, Kearney MF, McIntyre JA, Schooley RT, Hughes MD, Coffin JM, Mellors JW; OCTANE/A5208 Team (DiFrancesco team member). Low-frequency nevirapine (NVP)-resistant HIV-1 variants are not associated with failure of antiretroviral therapy in women without prior exposure to single-dose NVP. J Infect Dis.. 2014; 209(5).
- McCance-Katz EF, Gruber VA, Beatty G, Lum P, Ma Q, Difrancesco R, Hochreiter J, Wallace PK, Faiman MD, Morse GD*. Interaction of disulfiram with antiretroviral medications: Efavirenz increases while atazanavir decreases disulfiram effect on enzymes of alcohol metabolism. The American Journal on Addictions. 2014; 23(2).
- DiFrancesco R, Rosenkranz SL, Taylor CR, Pande PG, Siminski SM, Jenny RW, Morse GD*. Clinical Pharmacology Quality Assurance (CPQA) Program: Longitudinal Analysis of Antiretroviral (ARV) Proficiency Testing for International Laboratories. Therapeutic Drug Monitoring. 2013; 35(5).
- Tornatore KM, Brazeau D, Dole K, Danison R, Wilding G, Leca N, Gundroo A, Gillis K, Zack J, DiFrancesco R, Venuto RC. Sex Differences in Cyclosporine Pharmacokinetics and ABCB1 Gene Expression in Mononuclear Blood Cells in African-American and Caucasian Renal Transplant Recipients. Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. 2013; 53(10).
- DiFrancesco R, Rosenkranz SL, Taylor CR, Pande PG, Siminski SM, Jenny RW, Morse GD. Clinical pharmacology quality assurance program: models for longitudinal analysis of antiretroviral proficiency testing for international laboratories. Ther Drug Monit. 2013; 35(5).
- DiFrancesco R, Tooley K, Rosenkranz SL, Siminski S, Taylor CR, Pande P, Morse GD. Clinical pharmacology quality assurance for HIV and related infectious diseases research. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2013; 93(6).
- Ma Q, Gelbard HA, Maggirwar SB, Dewhurst S, Gendelman HE, Peterson DR, DiFrancesco R, Hochreiter JS, Morse GD, Schifitto G. Pharmacokinetic interactions of CEP-1347 and atazanavir in HIV-infected patients. J Neurovirol. 2013; 19(3).
- Schifitto G, Ma Q, Gelbard HA, Maggirwar SB, Dewhurst S, Gendelman HE, Peterson DR, Difrancesco R, Hochreiter J, Morse GD. CEP-1347 and Atazanavir Pharmacokinetics in HIV-infected Patients. Journal of neurovirology. 2013; 19(3).
- Zhang X, Tierney C, Albrecht M, Demeter LM, Morse GD, DiFrancesco R, Dykes C, Jiang H, Haas DW*. Discordant Associations between SLCO1B1 521TC and Plasma Levels of Ritonavir-boosted Protease Inhibitors in AIDS Clinical Trials Group Study A5146.. Therapeutic Drug Monitoring. 2013; 35(2).
- Zhang X, Tierney C, Albrecht M, Demeter LM, Morse G, DiFrancesco R, Dykes C, Jiang H, Haas DW. Discordant associations between SLCO1B1 521T?C and plasma levels of ritonavir-boosted protease inhibitors in AIDS clinical trials group study A5146. Ther Drug Monit. 2013; 35(2).
- Zhang X, Tierney C, Albrecht M, Demeter LM, Morse G, DiFrancesco R, Dykes C, Jiang H, Haas DW. Discordant associations between SLCO1B1 521T→C and plasma levels of ritonavir-boosted protease inhibitors in AIDS clinical trials group study A5146. Ther Drug Monit. 2013; 35(2).
- DiFrancesco R, Maduke G, Patel R, Taylor CR, Morse GD. Antiretroviral bioanalysis methods of tissues and body biofluids. Bioanalysis. 2013; 5(3).
- DiFrancesco R, Maduke G, Patel R, Taylor CR, Morse GD*. Antiretroviral Bioanalysis Methods of Tissues and Body Biofluids. Bioanalysis. 2013; 5(3).
- Ma Q, Zingman BS, Luque A, Fischl MA, Gripshover B, Venuto C, DiFrancesco R, Forrest A, Morse GD*. Therapeutic Drug Monitoring of Protease Inhibitors and Efavirenz in HIV-Infected Individuals with Active Substance Related Disorders. Ther Drug Monit. 2011; 33(3).
- Tornatore KM, Sudchada P, Dole K, Difrancesco R, Leca N, Gundroo AC, Danison RT, Attwood K, Wilding GE, Zack J, Forrest A, Venuto RC, Gundroo AA. Mycophenolic Acid Pharmacokinetics During Maintenance Immunosuppression in African American and Caucasian Renal Transplant Recipients. Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. 2011.
- McCance-Katz EF, Moody DE, Morse GD, Ma Q, DiFrancesco R, Friedland G, Pade P, Rainey PM. Interaction between buprenorphine and atazanavir or atazanavir/ritonavir. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2007; 91(2-3).
- DiFrancesco R, DiCenzo R, Vicente G, Donnelly J, Martin TM, Colon LA, Schifito G, Morse GD. Determination of lopinavir cerebral spinal fluid and plasma ultrafiltrate concentrations by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry. J Pharm Biomed Anal. 2007; 44(5).
- DiFrancesco R, Griggs JJ, Donnelly J, DiCenzo R. Simultaneous analysis of cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin and doxorubicinol by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry. J Chromatogr B Analyt Technol Biomed Life Sci. 2007; 852(1-2).
- DiFrancesco R, Fischl MA, Donnelly J, Zingman BS, McCance-Katz EF, Moody DE, Reichman RC, Gripshover B, Morse GD. Buprenorphine assay and plasma concentration monitoring in HIV-infected substance users. J Pharm Biomed Anal. 2007; 44(1).
- Okusanya O, Forrest A, DiFrancesco R, Bilic S, Rosenkranz S, Para MF, Adams E, Yarasheski KE, Reichman RC, Morse GD. Compartmental pharmacokinetic analysis of oral amprenavir with secondary peaks. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2007; 51(5).
- Keil K, Hochreitter J, DiFrancesco R, Zingman BS, Reichman RC, Fischl MA, Gripshover B, Morse GD. Integration of atazanavir into an existing liquid chromatography UV method for protease inhibitors: validation and application. Ther Drug Monit. 2007; 29(1).
- Keil K, Difrancesco R, Morse GD. Determination of tipranavir in human plasma by reverse phase liquid chromatography with UV detection using photodiode array. Ther Drug Monit. 2006; 28(4).
- DiFrancesco R, Rosenkranz SL, Craft J, Morse GD. Tutorial reduces protocol deviations in multicenter ACTG trials with pharmacology endpoints. HIV Clin Trials. 2006; 7(4).
- Holland DT, DiFrancesco R, Connor JD, Morse GD. Quality assurance program for pharmacokinetic assay of antiretrovirals: ACTG proficiency testing for pediatric and adult pharmacology support laboratories, 2003 to 2004: a requirement for therapeutic drug monitoring. Ther Drug Monit. 2006; 28(3).
- Holland DT, DiFrancesco R, Stone J, Hamzeh F, Connor JD, Morse GD. Quality assurance program for clinical measurement of antiretrovirals: AIDS clinical trials group proficiency testing program for pediatric and adult pharmacology laboratories. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2004; 48(3).
- Shelton MJ, Cloen D, DiFrancesco R, Berenson CS, Esch A, de Caprariis PJ, Palic B, Schur JL, Buggé CJ, Ljungqvist A, Espinosa O, Hewitt RG. The effects of once-daily saquinavir/minidose ritonavir on the pharmacokinetics of methadone.. J Clin Pharmacol. 2004; 44(3).
- Keil K, Frerichs VA, DiFrancesco R, Morse G. Reverse phase high-performance liquid chromatography method for the analysis of amprenavir, efavirenz, indinavir, lopinavir, nelfinavir and its active metabolite (M8), ritonavir, and saquinavir in heparinized human plasma. Ther Drug Monit. 2003; 25(3).
- Frerichs VA, DiFrancesco R, Morse GD. Determination of protease inhibitors using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. J Chromatogr B Analyt Technol Biomed Life Sci. 2003; 787(2).
- Frost CE, Adams J, Shelton M, Ebid AH, Gugino LJ, Hewitt R, Difrancesco R, Ingalls E, Cousins S, Hu J, Morse GD. Indinavir Pharmacokinetics during Different Phases of the Menstrual Cycle in HIV-Infected Women. Clin Drug Investig. 2002; 22(2).
- Frost CE, Adams J, Shelton M, Ebid A, Gugino LJ, Hewitt RG, DiFrancesco R, Ingalls E, Cousins S, Hu J, Morse GD. Indinavir Pharmacokinetics During Different Phases of the Menstrual Cycle in HIV-Infected Women. Clin Drug Investigation. 2002; 22(2).
- Tornatore KM, Garey KW, Saigal N, Reed K, Murray BM, Ingalls E, DiFrancesco R, Forrest A, Morse GD, Venuto RC, Morse GD. Ganciclovir Pharmacokinetics and Cytokine Dynamics in Renal Transplant Recipients with Cytomegalovirus Infection.. Clinical Transplantation. 2001; 15(5).
- Adams JM, Shelton MJ, Hewitt RG, DeRemer M, DiFrancesco R, Grasela TH, Morse GD. Zalcitabine population pharmacokinetics: application of radioimmunoassay.. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1998; 42(2).
Professional Memberships:
- The Society For Quality Assurance
- American Society for Clinical Pathology; Medical Technologist
Presentations:
- "Biomarker Assays: What regulates them?" ACTG Annual Summer Meeting 2017, ACTG (2017)
- "Update on the CPQA PRogram" IMPAACT Network Annual Meeting, IMPAACT (2017)
- "Building Quality into International Clinical Research" One Health One Carribbean Conference, University of the West Indies (2016)
- "Building on Quality Assurance towards Pharmaceutical Laboratory Quality Management Systems" 21st International AIDS Conference, UNAIDS, Global Capacity Building in AIDS Pharmacology Research (2016)
- "Good Research Practices: Something Old or Something New?" Society for Quality Assurance 2015, Society for Quality Assurance (2015)
- "What’s the newest about the FDA 2013 Draft Revised Guidance for Industry on Bioanalytical Method Validation?" Society for Quality Assurance 2015, Society for Quality Assurance (2015)
- "Cerebral Spinal Fluid as a Pharmacology Outcome Specimen" ACTG Annual Summer Meeting 2014, ACTG, ACTG Summer Matrices Program (2014)
- "Creating a Budget for Quantative Drug Analysis" ACTG Annual Summer Meeting 2014, ACTG, PSL Director Breakout (2014)
- "PK Novel or Complex Processing Training Tool" ACTG Annual Summer Meeting 2014, ACTG, LTC (2014)
- "Translational Pharmacology Research Core: An Interdisciplinary Drug Development Initiative" Academic Drug Discovery Conference (ADDC) (2013)
- "Complex Pharmacology Samples" ACTG Annual Meeting (2013)
- "Building Quality Laboratory Capacity for International Clinical Pharmacology Research" IAS 2012, IAS, TPRC (2012)
- "Clinical Pharmacology Quality Assurance and Quality Control Program" ACTG Annual Meeting (2012)
- "Comparison of Modeled and Non-modeled Clearance Values for Efavirenz" Translational Science 2012 (2012)
- "Novel Translational Approach to HIV Medication Management Utilizing Task Shifting and Healthcare Informatics" Translational Science 2012 (2012)
- "Novel Translational Approach to HIV Medication Management Utilizing Task Shifting and Healthcare Informatics" Unite For Sight 9th Annual Global Health & Innovation Conference, Yale University (2012)
- "Using Quality-Driven Phased Assessments to Build Pharmacology Laboratory Capacity for HIV Clinical Research in Resource Limited Countries" 28th SQA Annual Meeting & Quality College (2012)
- "Using Quality-Driven Phased Assessments to Build Pharmacology Laboratory Capacity for HIV Clinical Research in Resource Limited Countries (RLC)" 28th SQA Annual Meeting & Quality College, Society for Quality Assurance (2012)
- "Establishing an International Network for Using Health Information Technology in HIV/TB Medication Management Research" 2011 AMIA Summit on Clinical Research Informatics (CRI) (2011)
- "Interindividual Variability of ABCB1 Expression in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells from HIV-Infected Patients" 2010 Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) (2010)
- "Pharmacology Study Conduct in ACTG Protocols" IDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) Annual Meeting (2010)
- "National HIV Drug Interaction and Antiretroviral Therapeutic Drug Monitoring Registry." American Society of Health System Pharmacists, Midyear Clinical Meeting (2005)
- "Biological Matrix Suppression Concerns in LC-tandem MS Analytical Methods" FAll 2005 Meeting NERCDG (2005)
- "National HIV Drug Interaction and Antiretroviral (ARV) Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) Registry" 6th International Workshop on Clinical Pharmacology of HIV Therapy. (2005)
- "From Traditional Ultraviolet or Fluorescence Detection to state-of-the-art Mass Spectrometry: Early Experiences at The University at Buffalo LCMS Facility" NERCDG Annual Meeting (2001)
- "Pharmacology Labs for Dummies" AACTG Annual Meeting (2001)
- "From Traditional Ultraviolet or Fluorescence Detection to state-of-the-art Mass Spectrometry: Early Experiences at The University at Buffalo LCMS Facility" NERCDG Annual Meeting (2000)
- "Pharmacology Labs for Dummies" AACTG Annual Meeting (1999)