Outcomes & Translational Sciences

Dr. Donneyong's passion is to improve health equity with respect to the effectiveness, safety and adherence to prescribed medications through research. His research interests include drug-drug interactions - adverse drug events precipitated by exposure to poly-pharmacy among older adults, especially racial/ethnic minorities; and medication adherence - the role of social determinants of health and patient-provider relationships in racial/ethnic disparities in medication adherence.

Dr. Nahata teaches in the pharmacotherapy and leadership courses, conducts clinical research to evaluate the effectiveness, safety, and usage of medications in the pediatric and adult populations, directs a postdoctoral pharmacotherapy research fellowship program, and serves on the committees of various national and international organizations.

Dr. Phelps’ lab is involved in both pre-clinical and clinical development of numerous small molecule anti-cancer and immuno-modulatory agents under development. Their work aims to understand the mechanisms involved in the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (i.e. pharmacokinetics, PK) of these agents, and how both the PK and pharmacodynamic (PD) effects of these agents are altered by genetic differences (polymorphisms) among individuals (i.e. pharmacogenetics, PG).

Dr. Sparreboom's research studies the contribution of solute carriers to chemotherapy-induced toxicity profiles, identifies chemical inhibitors of critical transporters, translates the findings to clinical trials in collaboration with scientists and oncologists, and ultimately improves the long-term outcome of patients with cancer by modulating the therapeutic window of widely-used chemotherapeutics. His research is currently focused on the development of transport modulators that could be used in conjunction with platinum-based drugs and tyrosine-kinase inhibitors, with emphasis on the development of innovative preclinical model systems.

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.