Melissa Stein, PharmD'23, awarded 2022-2023 AFPE Gateway to Research Scholarship

The AFPE Gateway to Research Scholarship award supports PharmD and undergraduate students considering a career in research and allows them to work with a faculty mentor on that mentor’s research project. Awardees are chosen by a highly selective Board of Grants and contribute to research that will positively impact public health and patient outcomes. Stein was one of 29 awardees selected for the 2022-2023 academic year.

Stein was awarded $5,000 for her research with her mentor Dr. Raymond Cha, clinical associate professor, pharmacy practice, titled: Characterization of Treatment of Diabetes in COVID-19 Hospitalized Patients. Dr. Gina Prescott, clinical associate professor, pharmacy practice, is a co-mentor on the project, along with faculty and clinician collaborators  at The University of West Indies in Jamaica.

“Diabetes is associated with developing severe COVID-19 and mortality in those with SARS-CoV-2 infections. Currently, there is limited information on how long-term glucose control or if various antidiabetic treatments affect these outcomes.”, Stein says. “In this study we hope to rationalize treatment of diabetes in the hospitalized population and between U.S. and Jamaica cohorts. Impactful parameters will be assessed through multivariate matrices encompassing the contribution of severity factors, diabetic management, demographics, biomarkers, and SARS-CoV-2 variants, amongst others.”

Stein hopes to present and publish this research and refine the analytical data to serve as preliminary validation for further larger investigation.