Yu-Jung “Jenny” Wei, PhD

Associate Professor

Pharmaceutics and Pharmacology

Research Areas: The Division of Pharmaceutics & Pharmacology, Medication Use & Outcomes

414 Riffe Building

Professional Interests

Dr. Wei's area of research expertise is in geriatric pharmacoepidemiology, with specific focus areas on drug safety, drug effectiveness, and quality of medication prescribing in older adults, especially those with pain, neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia [ADRD]), and nursing home stays.

Biography

Dr. Wei joined the College of Pharmacy at the Ohio State University in 2022, and prior to that, she was a tenure-track faculty member in the Department of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy. She is currently leading 2 federally funded studies evaluating pain management and opioid prescribing in older adults by using secondary datasets, including Medicare claims data, Nursing Home Minimum Data Set (MDS) assessments, and Health and Retirement Study (HRS) linked to Medicare claims data. Her works are published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), JAMA Network Open, Annals of Internal Medicine, PLOS Medicine, and Alzheimer’s & Dementia. She has served on multiple NIH Study Section and Review Panels. In addition to her research expertise, she makes important contributions to the teaching mission, including graduate student teaching and mentoring, as well as the service mission of the college.

Ongoing grant projects

Research Opportunities

Dr Wei is currently recruiting:

Post-doctoral scholars in pharmacoepidemiology or pharmaceutical health services research
Prospective Ph.D. students interested in pharmacoepidemiology or pharmaceutical health services research

Education

PhD, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Health Services Research
MSc, National Taiwan University, Health Policy and Management

Honors

2020 - The American Society of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (ASCPT)’s William B Abrams Award in Geriatric Clinical Pharmacology
2018 - Excellent Awards for Assistant Professors, University of Florida
2017-2019 - Junior Scholar Award, NIA Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center grant at University of Florida
2011 - Best Research Award, Treatment for Homeless Program Technical Assistance Workshop, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)
2008-2012 - Rho Chi Honor Society Membership

Publications

Outcomes of Discontinuing Long-Term Opioid Therapy among Older Cancer Survivors in Long-Term Care Settings, Journal of the American Medical Directors Association. 2025 Apr | journal-article. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2025.105522.
Unrelieved pain and risk of opioid use disorder or overdose in older adults prescribed opioids, Pain. 2025 Mar | journal-article. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000003589.
Prescription opioid use and cognitive function in older adults with chronic pain: A population‐based longitudinal cohort study, Alzheimer's & Dementia. 2025 Feb | journal-article. doi: 10.1002/alz.70002.
Use of CYP2D6 Inhibitors with CYP2D6 Opioids: Association with Emergency Department Visits for Pain, Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics. 2024 Oct | journal-article. doi: 10.1002/cpt.3314.
Clinical and Adverse Outcomes Associated With Concomitant Use of CYP2D6-Metabolized Opioids With Antidepressants in Older Nursing Home Residents, Annals of Internal Medicine. 2024 Aug | journal-article. doi: 10.7326/M23-3109.
Sociodemographic Characteristics of Adverse Event Reporting in the USA: An Ecologic Study, Drug Safety. 2024 Apr | journal-article. doi: 10.1007/s40264-024-01397-6.
Short- and long-term safety of discontinuing chronic opioid therapy among older adults with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia, Age and Ageing. 2024 Mar | journal-article. doi: 10.1093/ageing/afae047.
Pain intensity, physical function, and depressive symptoms associated with discontinuing long‐term opioid therapy in older adults with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, Alzheimer's & Dementia. 2024 Feb | journal-article. doi: 10.1002/alz.13489.
Trends in Dietary Vitamin A Intake Among US Adults by Race and Ethnicity, 2003-2018., JAMA. 2023 Mar | journal-article. doi: 10.1001/jama.2023.0636.
Association of injury after prescription opioid initiation with risk for opioid-related adverse events among older Medicare beneficiaries in the United States: A nested case-control study., PLoS medicine. 2022 Sep | journal-article. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1004101.
Perioperative Use of Gabapentinoids and Risk for Postoperative Long-Term Opioid Use in Older Adults Undergoing Total Knee or Hip Arthroplasty., The Journal of arthroplasty. 2022 May | journal-article. doi: 10.1016/j.arth.2022.05.018.
Concurrent Use of Prescription Opioids and Gabapentinoids in Older Adults, American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2022 Apr | journal-article. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2021.08.024.
Concurrent use of prescription gabapentinoids with opioids and risk for fall-related injury among older US Medicare beneficiaries with chronic noncancer pain: A population-based cohort study, PLOS Medicine. 2022 Mar | journal-article. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003921.
Trajectories of prescription opioid dose and risk of opioid-related adverse events among older Medicare beneficiaries in the United States: A nested case–control study, PLOS Medicine. 2022 Mar | journal-article. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003947.
Discontinuation of Long-Term Opioid Therapy in Patients With Versus Without Dementia, American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2022 Feb | journal-article. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2021.07.020.
Generalizability and accuracy of IBM MarketScan health risk assessment instrument data for augmentation of commercial claims data., Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety. 2021 Oct | journal-article. doi: 10.1002/pds.5371.
Utilization Patterns of Skeletal Muscle Relaxants Among Commercially Insured Adults in the United States from 2006 to 2018., Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.). 2021 Oct | journal-article. doi: 10.1093/pm/pnab088.
Uncontrolled Pain and Risk for Depression and Behavioral Symptoms in Residents With Dementia, Journal of the American Medical Directors Association. 2021 Oct | journal-article. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2021.05.010.
Response to Comment on Albogami et al. Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists and Chronic Lower Respiratory Disease Exacerbations Among Patients With Type 2 Diabetes. Diabetes Care 2021;44:1344-1352., Diabetes care. 2021 Jul | journal-article. doi: 10.2337/dci21-0024.
Glucagon-Like Peptide 1 Receptor Agonists and Chronic Lower Respiratory Disease Exacerbations Among Patients With Type 2 Diabetes., Diabetes care. 2021 Apr | journal-article. doi: 10.2337/dc20-1794.
Quality of opioid prescribing in older adults with or without Alzheimer disease and related dementia, Alzheimer's Research & Therapy. 2021 Apr | journal-article. doi: 10.1186/s13195-021-00818-3.
Validation of algorithms to estimate gestational age at birth in the Medicaid Analytic eXtract-Quantifying the misclassification of maternal drug exposure during pregnancy., Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety. 2020 Sep | journal-article. doi: 10.1002/pds.5126.
Agreement of Minimum Data Set 3.0 depression and behavioral symptoms with clinical diagnosis in a nursing home, Aging & Mental Health. 2020 May | journal-article. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2020.1758921.
Risk of Opioid Overdose Associated With Concomitant Use of Opioids and Skeletal Muscle Relaxants: A Population-Based Cohort Study., Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics. 2020 Mar | journal-article. doi: 10.1002/cpt.1807.
Towards Automating Adverse Event Review: A Prediction Model for Case Report Utility, Drug Safety. 2020 Jan | journal-article. doi: 10.1007/s40264-019-00897-0.
Concomitant Use of Quinolones and Stimulants and the Risk of Adverse Cardiovascular Symptoms: A Retrospective Cohort Study., Pharmacotherapy. 2019 Nov | journal-article. doi: 10.1002/phar.2343.
Trends in prescription opioid use and dose trajectories before opioid use disorder or overdose in US adults from 2006 to 2016: A cross-sectional study, PLOS Medicine. 2019 Nov | journal-article. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1002941.
Trends in prior receipt of prescription opioid or adjuvant analgesics among patients with incident opioid use disorder or opioid-related overdose from 2006 to 2016, Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 2019 Nov | journal-article. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2019.107600.
Impact of a New Consumer Form on the Quantity and Quality of Adverse Event Reports Submitted to the United States Food and Drug Administration., Pharmacotherapy. 2019 Oct | journal-article. doi: 10.1002/phar.2325.
Pain Assessments in MDS 3.0: Agreement with Vital Sign Pain Records of Nursing Home Residents., Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 2019 Aug | journal-article. doi: 10.1111/jgs.16122.
Impact of Schedule IV controlled substance classification on carisoprodol utilization in the United States: An interrupted time series analysis., Drug and alcohol dependence. 2019 Jul | journal-article. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2019.05.025.
Real-world Pattern of Biologic Use in Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Treatment Persistence, Switching, and Importance of Concurrent Immunosuppressive Therapy., Inflammatory bowel diseases. 2019 Jul | journal-article. doi: 10.1093/ibd/izz001.
Body weight, frailty, and chronic pain in older adults: a cross-sectional study, BMC Geriatrics. 2019 May | journal-article. doi: 10.1186/s12877-019-1149-4.
Performance of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Opioid Overutilization Criteria for Classifying Opioid Use Disorder or Overdose., JAMA. 2019 Feb | journal-article. doi: 10.1001/jama.2018.20404.
Azithromycin and Sensorineural Hearing Loss in Adults: A Retrospective Cohort Study., Otology & neurotology : official publication of the American Otological Society, American Neurotology Society [and] European Academy of Otology and Neurotology. 2018 Sep | journal-article. doi: 10.1097/mao.0000000000001887.
Prevalence of and Factors Associated With Long-term Concurrent Use of Stimulants and Opioids Among Adults With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder., JAMA network open. 2018 Aug | journal-article. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.1152.
Clinical utility and perils of prescription drug monitoring program-based alert systems., Pain. 2018 Apr | journal-article. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001157.
The association of antidepressant treatment with COPD maintenance medication use and adherence in a comorbid Medicare population: A longitudinal cohort study, International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. 2017 Aug | journal-article. doi: 10.1002/gps.4772.
Physical Health Outcomes in Preschoolers with Prior Authorization for Antipsychotics., Journal of child and adolescent psychopharmacology. 2017 Jul | journal-article. doi: 10.1089/cap.2017.0006.
Adherence and healthcare utilization among older adults with COPD and depression., Respiratory medicine. 2017 Jun | journal-article. doi: 10.1016/j.rmed.2017.06.002.
Fall and Fracture Risk in Nursing Home Residents With Moderate-to-Severe Behavioral Symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias Initiating Antidepressants or Antipsychotics., The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences. 2017 May | journal-article. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glw095.
Algorithm for Identifying Nursing Home Days Using Medicare Claims and Minimum Data Set Assessment Data., Medical care. 2016 Nov | journal-article. doi: 10.1097/mlr.0000000000000109.
Adherence to Maintenance Medications among Older Adults with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. The Role of Depression., Annals of the American Thoracic Society. 2016 Sep | journal-article. doi: 10.1513/annalsats.201602-136oc.
Mortality Risk of Antipsychotic Dose and Duration in Nursing Home Residents with Chronic or Acute Indications., Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 2016 May | journal-article. doi: 10.1111/jgs.14111.
Treated Behavioral Symptoms and Mortality in Medicare Beneficiaries in Nursing Homes with Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias., Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 2015 Aug | journal-article. doi: 10.1111/jgs.13606.
Response to Lapane and colleagues., Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 2015 Apr | journal-article. doi: 10.1111/jgs.13360.
Relationships between antiparkinson medication nonadherence, regimen modifications, and healthcare utilization and expenditures., Parkinsonism & related disorders. 2014 Oct | journal-article. doi: 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2014.10.021.
Quality of psychopharmacological medication prescribing and mortality in Medicare beneficiaries in nursing homes., Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 2014 Jul | journal-article. doi: 10.1111/jgs.12939.
Antiparkinson drug adherence and its association with health care utilization and economic outcomes in a Medicare Part D population., Value in health : the journal of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research. 2014 Mar | journal-article. doi: 10.1016/j.jval.2013.12.003.
Quality of psychopharmacological medication use in nursing home residents., Research in social & administrative pharmacy : RSAP. 2013 Nov | journal-article. doi: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2013.10.003.
Antiparkinson drug use and adherence in medicare part D beneficiaries with Parkinson's disease., Clinical therapeutics. 2013 Oct | journal-article. doi: 10.1016/j.clinthera.2013.09.001.
Association between depression and maintenance medication adherence among Medicare beneficiaries with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease., International journal of geriatric psychiatry. 2013 Apr | journal-article. doi: 10.1002/gps.3968.
Association of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease maintenance medication adherence with all-cause hospitalization and spending in a Medicare population., The American journal of geriatric pharmacotherapy. 2012 Apr | journal-article. doi: 10.1016/j.amjopharm.2012.04.002.
Should Medicare rely on high drug spending as a criterion for medication therapy management programmes?, Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research. 2012 Jan | journal-article. .
Use of antiparkinson medications among elderly Medicare beneficiaries with Parkinson's disease., The American journal of geriatric pharmacotherapy. 2010 Aug | journal-article. doi: 10.1016/j.amjopharm.2010.07.002.
Quality competition among hospitals: the effects of perceived quality and perceived expense on health care consumers., American journal of medical quality : the official journal of the American College of Medical Quality. 2006 Jan | journal-article. doi: 10.1177/1062860605283618.
The evolution of healthcare quality assessment: From accreditation to report card system., Taiwan Journal of Public Health. 2005 Jan | journal-article. .