Division of Outcomes & Translational Sciences

My research is focused on cardiac arrhythmias (abnormal heart rhythms), particularly in heart failure. We use an integrated approach from proteins to cells to tissues to the intact organism to study the causes, and potential treatments of cardiac arrhythmias. My clinical practice is at the Ambulatory Care Center at the Ross Heart Hospital, where I provide patient care in antiarrhythmic medication monitoring.

Dr. Donneyong's passion is to improve health equity with respect to the effectiveness, safety and adherence to prescribed medications. 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.

The overall goal of Dr. Hu’s research is to evaluate the contribution of uptake transporters, in particular OCT and the OATP1B-type transporters, in the disposition and toxicity of anticancer drugs, with particular emphasis on peripheral neurotoxicity. Her laboratory utilizes multi-level approaches including in vitro, in vivo models, aims to understand the underlying mechanisms that drive the extensive inter-individual pharmacokinetic variability, drug transporter regulation, antitumor efficacy, and drug-drug interaction in response to drug therapy in cancer patients. Another area of research interest is to design of preclinical and clinical studies to evaluate pharmaceutical agents as modulators of side effects associated with tubulin poisons, such as paclitaxel and vincristine.

Dr. Kebriaei’s research is focused on treatment of multi-drug resistant bacterial infections. Some examples of the diseases associated with these infections include bacteremia, endocarditis, bone and joint infections and implant associated infections.

Her current work is concentrated on both planktonic and biofilm states of bacteria and novel approaches for combating multi-drug resistant infections. She utilizes various classes of antimicrobials with distinct mechanisms of action to discover optimal treatment options for a wide range of infectious diseases. In addition, she designs and operates pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic models to simulate humanized doses in vitro. The majority of knowledge achieved from this research is translatable to bedside and leads to better patient outcomes.

Dr. Neidecker’s research interests include pharmacoeconomic analyses and health outcomes studies. Her scholarship also focuses on clinical research education and workforce development. She has experience in curriculum development and program evaluation, and she enjoys serving as a research project advisor for students in the MS Health Systems Pharmacy Administration and Leadership program.

Professor Jennifer (Jen) Plahovinsak is the Director of the Master of Science in Translational Pharmacology program. Jen’ s research focuses on the design and development of technology-enhanced learning environments for science education, graphic and instructional design to support learning, key learner characteristics for graduate students, curricular development for online toxicology courses, and quality strategies for online program success. Additionally, her interests include the development of relevant preclinical models to support medical countermeasure research programs. Jen has been certified as a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology since 2015.

Research in the Radwański lab focuses on cardiac biophysics and pharmacology with the twin goals of understanding the mechanisms of life-threatening abnormal heart beats (cardiac arrhythmias), and developing effective antiarrhythmic therapies. By leveraging experience as both a clinical pharmacist and a cardiovascular researcher, and using cutting-edge biophysical approaches ranging from the single-ion channel level to the whole organism, they have identified a novel arrhythmia mechanism. Neuronal-type sodium channels account for a tiny fraction of sodium channels in the heart, but exert a disproportionately strong influence on cardiac calcium dynamics, particularly in disease. By applying pharmacology principles, in the context of this fundamental insight, they are developing novel therapeutic approaches, which effectively prevent arrhythmias, while avoiding the lethal side effects usually associated with classical antiarrhythmic agents. In essence, Dr. Radwański’s approach could be summarized as better clinical outcomes through basic scientific insights.

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.