Dr. Edgar S. Diaz-Cruz, associate professor in Pharmaceutical, Social & Administrative Sciences in Belmont’s College of Pharmacy, and three College of Pharmacy alumni recently had their manuscript titled: “Leveraging Expertise from Community Resources to Improve the Role of the Pharmacist in HIV Testing and Counseling” published in the INNOVATIONS in pharmacy journal.

This work is the result of a continued 10-year collaboration with the community-based organization Nashville CARES. Nashville CARES serves more than 50,000 clients annually throughout 17 counties in Middle Tennessee. It provides targeted education, free and confidential HIV testing, and a broad range of comprehensive social services to individuals at-risk for or living with HIV.

This article describes the development of a partnership between a pharmacy school and a community-based organization to offer an HIV counseling and testing training program to help develop skills in delivering HIV testing services. The HIV counseling and testing training program contains learning modules that provide a wide array of in-depth information about HIV patient care in the community. The partnership allows for the enjoyment of a myriad of benefits for students, the pharmacy program, the community-based organization and the public health of the community-at-large. Student pharmacists feel more prepared and comfortable working with patients in discussing HIV transmission risk factors and test results because of this training. The study proved that a successful and durable relationship between a community partner and a school of pharmacy is a feasible strategy for pharmacy progress in public health.

INNOVATIONS in pharmacy focuses on the leading edge, novel ideas for improving, modernizing and advancing pharmacy practice, education and policy.

Dr. Genevieve Lynn (Ness) Engle, Director of the Christy Houston Foundation Drug Information Center and Associate Professor in Pharmaceutical, Social & Administrative Sciences in Belmont’s College of Pharmacy, recently published a book chapter titled, “Assessing Drug Promotions” in the 7th edition of the Drug Information A Guide for Pharmacists textbook. This chapter was written in collaboration with Robert D. Beckett, PharmD, BCPS from Manchester University College of Pharmacy.

Pharmacists must be able to assess both Direct to Consumer Advertising (DTCA) and promotions designed for healthcare professionals. This chapter outlines the requirements and legislation of such promotions, as well as a pharmacist’s role in reporting promotional concerns to the FDA.

Drug Information a Guide for Pharmacists is a collaboration of more than 50 contributors with expertise in drug information, pharmacy education, analytics and medication safety. A total of 30 chapters are presented, covering a broad array of topics relevant to drug

Drug Information Fellows Dr. Austin Mondloch and Dr. Matthew Sherman, working at the Christy Houston Foundation Drug Information Center within Belmont University, have formulated an Amazon Alexa Skill to give users precise information on what standards a website detailing health information must meet to be deemed credible.

Drs. Mondloch and Sherman crafted the skill as a follow up to the “Belmont Talk” they offered during the campus’s Presidential Inauguration Week regarding online misinformation, titled “How to Assess and Interpret Online Health Information.” With the influx of information at the hand of every consumer, it can be difficult to decipher what is reliable from what is not.

The Amazon Alexa skill “Check Online Sources” will perform the task of listing criteria for a credible website relaying health information as designated by Health on the Net (HON). HON is a nonprofit corporation that works with the World Health Organization (WHO) to certify quality of health information on the internet.

“We are trying to point people in the right direction in terms of where they get information, specifically wanting them to critically think when they are utilizing the internet,” said Dr. Mondloch.

The skill was developed in collaboration with the following Belmont University College of Pharmacy student pharmacists: Chresten Hanna 2022 PharmD Candidate, Jacquese Reed 2022 PharmD Candidate, Phuong (Ngoc) Truong 2023 PharmD Candidate, and Alyssa McIntosh 2024 PharmD Candidate.

Future steps for the project include incorporating specific HON qualified websites. Alexa would then be able to give a user specific examples of credible websites to visit for trustworthy health information online.

Dr. Hope Campbell, associate professor in Belmont’s College of Pharmacy, has been selected as a member of the American Association Colleges of Pharmacy’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Anti-racism Advisory Panel.

Campbell and the other members will provide recommendations on how AACP can enhance programs and services to achieve the Association’s DEIA goals.

Campbell is a co-writer of the paper “Teaching Systemic Racism in Pharmacy Curriculum is Essential to Improving Health Equity,” which analyzes several pharmacy program curriculums and their teachings of racial issues within the healthcare system. The paper was recently published in Pharmacy Times, and Campbell’s passion for educating future  pharmaceutical employees on the issues in our healthcare system is evident. 

Dr. Chelsa Deanes, Clinical Pharmacist Fellow in Drug Information with Belmont University College of Pharmacy and Aegis Sciences Corporation, earned board certification in medical affairs through the Accreditation Council for Medical Affairs (ACMA).

The ACMA’s mission is to raise the bar for pharma industry professionals with a particular focus on Medical Affairs and Medical Science Liaisons.

When asked about this achievement, Deanes shared, “Studying for the BCMAS certification while maintaining my responsibilities as a fellow was challenging. Honestly, I was somewhat intimidated by the process but, hard work always pays off! I am so thrilled to have accomplished my goal of earning my BCMAS certification. In addition to the intensive training that I have received as a fellow over the past year and a half, I am confident that I will excel in my future endeavors.”

The expertise gained from this prestigious specialized training will serve Deanes well as she continues to engage with the Belmont University College of Pharmacy students, faculty and staff in advancing the strategic priorities of the college and advancing pharmacy practice.

Dr. Leigh Ann Bynum, associate professor in Pharmaceutical, Social & Administrative Sciences in the College of Pharmacy, recently had her manuscript “Preparing Student Pharmacists to Care for Patients Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence” accepted for publication in Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning journal. Her case “When Love Hurts: Caring for Patients Experiencing Interpersonal Violence” was also recently published in the 2^nd edition of the Public Health in Pharmacy Practice: a casebook.

Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning is devoted to dissemination of high quality, peer-reviewed scholarship relevant to all areas of pharmacy education—promoting educational research excellence.

Public Health in Pharmacy Practice: a casebook, is a collaboration of more than 90 individuals with expertise and training in public health pharmacy. A total of 54 chapters are presented, covering a broad array of topics relevant to pharmacy applications of public health. This work is the result of a successful collaboration with The University of Mississippi Pharmacy Administration Program.

Intimate partner violence–IPV–is a serious public health problem. Little is known about pharmacists’ IPV knowledge and awareness. This study assessed student pharmacists’ knowledge, attitudes and awareness of IPV and examined the impact of a brief curricular unit on these factors. Moreover, the published case defined IPV, examined its impact and identified methods to appropriately respond to IPV.

Sara Saif, a second-year student in Belmont University’s College of Pharmacy, was given the opportunity to conduct research in a polypharmacy project within the COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC-19), a consortium of more than 120 cancer centers and other organizations who have come together to collect data about patients with cancer who have been diagnosed with COVID-19.

This project aims to analyze and assess the impact of polypharmacy and select medication classes on COVID-19 outcomes among patients in the geriatric population who have or have had a diagnosis of cancer. By utilizing the CCC-19 registry database, a statistical analysis plan will be created for certain medication classes of interest.

Saif was invited to become a member of the research team because of her excellent work during the 2021 Biomedical Informatics internship at Vanderbilt University. By participating in this project, Sara will not only be using her clinical knowledge, but will also be using her knowledge of healthcare informatics and analytics to accurately assess and evaluate the clinical impact of certain medication classes on the geriatric population within the CCC-19 database registry.

Among others, Saif will be working with Dr. Christopher Jensen, MD, a Hematology/Oncology clinical fellow at the University of North Carolina; Dr. Samuel Rubinstein, MD, a Clinical Assistant Professor at the Division of Hematology University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Medicine; Dr. Tanya Wildes, MD, MSCI; and Dr. Ariella Elkrief, MD, a Research Fellow. 

First-year students in the Belmont College of Pharmacy program have all worked to create successful machine learning models or “skills” that were certified, accepted and are now available for use by the general public on the Amazon Alexa store.

This project pathway introduced the students to the concepts and terminology of artificial intelligence and machine learning. By the end of this project, students were able to select and apply machine learning services to primarily build study aids, but the skills may be applied in the future to help solve complex research and clinical problems. The students each were able to label, build, train and deploy a custom machine learning model under the direct supervision of Dr. Anthony Blash.

The machine learning models “Opioids Quiz” and “Top 300 Drug Game” were one of the many developed to help pharmacy students study and review the most commonly prescribed drugs. These models include brand and generic names of many of the most commonly prescribed medications. The information in these skills are provided for informational and educational purposes only. They are not a substitute for professional medical advice, treatment or diagnosis.

Sara Saif, a second-year student at Belmont University’s College of Pharmacy, accepted an internship at Vanderbilt University’s Biomedical Informatics Summer Research Program. By joining this program, Saif will actively apply the subject of informatics to address healthcare challenges.

Throughout her internship, she will be working directly under the guidance of Dr. Jeremy Warner, an associate professor of medicine and biomedical informatics at Vanderbilt University. With Dr. Warner as a mentor, Saif will be able to work with data regarding the COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium.

As a current student in the Belmont University College of Pharmacy, Saif not only receives a strong clinical foundation, but also valuable training on healthcare information technology and its use in the practice of pharmacy. This training in informatics has proved to be useful to her in the application process and will continue to be a valuable resource throughout her internship at Vanderbilt.

Dr. Hope Campbell, associate professor of pharmacy practice at Belmont, will be presenting multiple sessions at the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy’s (AACP) upcoming annual meeting scheduled for July 19-22. As a scholarship lead for the Health Disparities and Cultural Competency Special Interest Group (SIG) within AACP, Dr. Campbell will share along with her research team a session entitled Teaching on Half the Story: The case of systemic racism.

As schools and colleges of pharmacy nationwide grapple with declining enrollment, they are also seeking to diversify their student body. To that end, she will share her sabbatical research on Attracting Diversity: What factors are important to underrepresented minorities when selecting a school of pharmacy?  On Tuesday, July 20 Dr. Campbell and her colleague Dr. Edgar Diaz-Cruz, associate professor of pharmaceutical, social and administrative sciences in the College of Pharmacy, will share the podium with Dr. Lakesha Butler, clinical professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, to present on the timely topic of how to incorporate structural racism in pharmacy curriculum to address health inequities. Her presentation is titled Daring to Teach the Whole Truth: Structural Racism, Structural Competence and Health Inequities. 

Dr. Campbell continues to contribute to the national discourse on race, diversity, equity, COVID-19 and representation in pharmacy at the student, faculty and organizational level. She recently published the following two manuscripts that the president of the American Association of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP), Dr. Jimmi Kolpek, highlighted in her recent letter to constituents, Building a Road to Equitable Representation.

1. Riley AC, Campbell H, Butler L, et al. Socialized and traumatized: pharmacists, underserved patients, and the COVID-19 vaccine. J Am Pharm Assoc 2021 Jun 1: S1544-3191(21)00202-8. doi:10.1016/j.japh.2021.05.020.
2. Allen JM, Abdul-Mutakabbir JC, Campbell HE, et al. Ten recommendations to increase Black representation within pharmacy organization leadership. Am J Health Syst Pharm 2021; 78:896-902.

When Googling “Pharmacy Informatics,” the popular search engine returns 38,100,000 results in an impressive 0.84 seconds. What’s more impressive is the fact that the no. 1 search result is an article written in 2019 by Dr. Anthony Blash entitled “Pharmacy Informatics and Its Cross-Functional Role in Healthcare.”

Google’s systems have determined that this featured article “will help people more easily discover what they’re seeking, both from the description about the page and when they click on the link to read the page itself. Features are especially helpful for those on mobile or searching by voice.”  

The term “Pharmacy Informatics” has been queried by users of the search engine over 1,600 times since the article’s publication. Dr. Anthony Blash, Pharm.D., BCompSc., CPHIMS, associate professor in the College of Pharmacy’s Healthcare Informatics concentration, has created a sequence of five courses and a one-month Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiential (APPE) rotation at various sites in the city to prepare Belmont’s student pharmacists to become future leaders in healthcare informatics.

Sally Hughes PharmD, RPh, BCMAS, is currently in her two-year post-doctoral fellowship in Clinical Management with HealthTrust and Belmont College of Pharmacy. Recently, she was able to pursue a board certification as a medical affairs specialist to further her experience and career options in the pharmaceutical industry with the Accreditation Council for Medical Affairs (ACMA).

Dr. Hughes achieved the Board-Certified Medical Affairs Specialist (BCMAS) certification from ACMA in May of 2021 and believes that it will open new doors and provide her with more in-depth industry training that is needed to excel in the medical affairs career path. The BCMAS certification is internationally recognized, and achieving the BCMAS demonstrates the ability to uphold global standards to the highest degree. By the end of the fellowship, she hopes to be a medical science Liaison for a pharmaceutical company and return to Washington.

Belmont College of Pharmacy Healthcare Informatics team members April Pepper, Phuong Truong and Karen Le have recently become database analysts using Amazon Relational Database Services (RDS) and Microsoft Corporation’s Structured Query Language (SQL).

The team’s analytics work focused on COVID-19-related data which was obtained from Data.Gov, the home of the U.S. Government’s open data. Under the OPEN Government Data Act, government data is required to be made available in open, machine-readable formats, while continuing to ensure privacy and security. The Big Data tools from Amazon and Microsoft make it possible to analyze and manipulate the large data repositories stored there.

Le analyzed COVID-19 Provider Relief Funds, Pepper compared COVID-19 deaths to the total of all deaths (by county and state) and Truong analyzed COVID-19’s impact on mental health in the U.S.

J. Michael McGuire, PharmD, BCPP, associate professor of pharmacy at Belmont, recently presented a poster with several faculty from the University of Kansas School of Pharmacy at the annual meeting of the College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacists (CPNP).

The poster, titled “Consumer Perception, Knowledge and Uses of Cannabidiol,” reported on findings from an anonymous, nationwide online survey administered through Qualtrics that consisted of sections about demographics, safety of CBD use, use of resources for CBD information and perception of CBD. Funding for the study was provided by the Belmont College of Pharmacy Departmental Fund and the University of Kansas General Research Fund.

The team found that a large portion of people are using CBD for psychiatric and neurologic conditions. The investigators noted that a high percentage of respondents reported significant adverse events with CBD products, but further analysis of data needs to be conducted.

Belmont University’s College of Pharmacy hosted the Fifth Annual Middle Tennessee Antimicrobial Stewardship Symposium on March 26 via Zoom. The virtual event attracted pharmacists, nurses, physicians, residents and students from across the country and Saudi Arabia to learn and discuss ways to work together as a medical community to improve appropriate antimicrobial use and mitigate risks. Featured speakers represented several states, and Vanderbilt’s Dr. Buddy Creech gave the keynote presentation – an update on COVID-19 vaccines.

Creech, MD, MPH, FPIDS is associate professor of pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. He serves as director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Research Program, principal investigator of the NIH-funded Vanderbilt Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit, and co-principal investigator of the CDC-sponsored Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment Network. Dr. Creech’s research interests focus on the development and evaluation of new vaccines and therapeutics. He is currently leading COVID-related clinical trials at VUMC, including the evaluation of novel treatment options for hospitalized patients with COVID and trials of candidate SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.

Dr. Montgomery Green, associate professor of pharmacy practice at Belmont, said this year’s symposium was particularly meaningful and important to host in light of the current pandemic. “Participants in the symposium are all those who have been on the front lines since the beginning and have led their institutions and practices response based on their expertise. We were delighted to still be able to offer the program this year and gather together in a virtual format,” Green said. “The symposium highlighted the work that has been done by healthcare practitioners in various practices in response to COVID-19, as well as provided education on the vaccine. We were also able to continue with the previous mission of the symposium to share innovations in current practice in non-COVID-19 related antimicrobial stewardship activities and collaborate with those in the field. With attendees from Oregon to Rhode Island to Florida and Saudi Arabia, the event was truly an international gathering.”

Belmont University College of Pharmacy third-year students Jacquese Reed, Raven McKinnie, Abel Alemeshet, Katarina Bielinski, Azmaan Lakhani and Ahmed Abogamiza took on the task of updating an Amazon Alexa skill for the Top 300 most prescribed drugs, in addition to incorporating recently approved drugs. Upon searching for a particular drug, a user will be given information for proper medication management. This includes storage information, administration techniques, common side effects and when to contact a primary care provider. Such a skill will revolutionize the way patients are able to receive information.

The first Alexa skill at hand was initially developed collectively by a previous informatics group at Belmont. The current informatics team was responsible for updating pertinent information for each medication in addition to creating a separate skill altogether.

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College of Pharmacy students Austin Bailey and Xrystina Bicoy

Every year, hundreds of pharmacy students apply for the Air Force Health Profession Scholarship, but only four awards are granted nationally. Belmont junior pharmacy students Austin Bailey and Xrystina Bicoy were among two of the four nationally selected students to be awarded this competitive scholarship.

The scholarship includes two years of paid tuition and the commissioned officer rank of the second lieutenant throughout pharmacy school. Once Bailey and Bicoy graduate, the scholarship will require them to complete three years of active duty service which follows a five-week training course post-graduation.

“For Austin and Xrystina to both be selected for the Air Force Health Professions Scholarships sends a tremendous message about their character and the type of students we are blessed to have in our program. Our College of Pharmacy has a foundational value of service and we are grateful for their commitment to their education in serving patients and how they will serve our country in the Air Force in the near future,” said Dr. David Gregory, dean of the College of Pharmacy.

After their training program, Bailey and Bicoy will be assigned to a base depending on their duty which can range from hospital pharmacy to managing an outpatient clinic. The scholarship is highly competitive and will provide the select few students with opportunities to further their experience.