NIH Clinical Loan Repayment Program Award aims to decrease health care disparities

This competitive funding is given to counteract the financial pressure of student loans for clinical investigators by repaying a percentage of the researcher’s qualified educational debt in return for a commitment to engage in NIH-mission oriented research. 

Smith’s project, titled “Establishing Next Generation Therapeutic Drug Monitoring by Incorporating Special Patient Populations and Mechanism-based Pharmacodynamics,” is focused on developing freely available dosing software tools to individualize therapy in the hospital setting.

“The goal is to better provide dosing recommendations for special or underserved patient populations in Western New York where there may be insufficient information,” Smith says. “In an era of increased medical costs, this type of patient-centered treatment will be integral to decreasing disparities in health outcomes.”

The project involved university collaborations with Robert Bies, PhD, professor of pharmaceutical sciences, Brian Tsuji, PharmD, professor of pharmacy practice, and Thomas Russo, MD, professor, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. External collaborators include the Veterans Affairs Western New York Health Care System (Kari Mergenhagen, PharmD), and the University of Southern California (David D’Argenio, PhD).