Division of Pharmacy Practice and Science

Dr. Barnes’ research interests include implementation science focused on expanding the role of pharmacists in ambulatory settings, the use of population health management to improve the quality and cost of care provided in primary care settings, the sustainability of pharmacist-provided care in primary care settings, and methods to develop and support pharmacy practice preceptors. Dr. Barnes’ passion lies with mentoring the next generation of the profession to achieve their own personal goals and dreams.

Dr. Gerlach is a clinical pharmacist in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center with over 25 years of experience. Besides an active clinical practice, he is an active educator and researcher. His research focuses on critical care pharmacotherapy and focus areas include sedation with a focus on dexmedetomidine, necrotizing soft tissue infections and augmented renal clearance. He is also an active member of many professional societies and currently serves as an elected council (board) member of The Society of Critical Care Medicine.

Dr. Hall’s areas of focus include delivery of pharmacy services in innovative interprofessional sites, training students, and mentoring pharmacy practice residents. She strives to provide student pharmacists tools and guidance to find answers to address individual patient health care needs, exposing them to real world scenarios in the classroom and experiences for knowledge application and confidence building. As preceptor, she has mentored pharmacy residents in their early years of practice, as they learn research methods to answer new questions at their practice sites and provide an environment to create and develop skills teaching pharmacy students in the PharmD curriculum.

Dr. Hernandez’s area of focus is underserved populations. His current practice site is a federally qualified health center in central Ohio, where he provides experiential education in the ambulatory care setting to students in the PharmD program. His passion lies in preparing students to provide holistic, patient-centered care to the most vulnerable populations.

Dr. Lahrman’s area of focus is rural pharmacy practice with a current practice site at an independent community pharmacy where she works to implement clinical services. She has a passion for sharing rural healthcare with both pharmacy students and medical students and bridging the gap for patients and the value of living in a rural community.

Dr. Casey Combs May, an Associate Professor – Clinical at the Ohio State University College of Pharmacy, is a multifaceted professional excelling in practice, teaching, research, and professional leadership. Practicing as a neurocritical care pharmacist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, she delivers innovative patient-centered care, specializing in neurologic injuries. Dr. May actively contributes to the academic realm by co-coordinating a key pharmacotherapy course, leading a Critical Care Elective, and engaging in scholarship related to teaching clinicians. Additionally, she holds leadership roles in professional organizations, advocating for pharmacist integration and contributing to committees shaping critical care guidelines. Her research pursuits focus on anticoagulation reversal, optimizing pharmacotherapy, and evaluating pharmacokinetic variations in neurocritically ill patients.

Dr. Mehta's areas of focus include development and implementation of innovative pharmacy practices in community-based settings, self-care/integrative medicines and training student pharmacists and post-graduate trainees to be the future change agents in pharmacy practice. Her scholarship centers on practice advancement, scholarship of teaching and learning and well-being and resiliency in the workplace. Dr. Mehta's leadership focuses on supporting faculty, staff and trainees, encouraging them to achieve their personal and professional goals that are moving the profession forward and lead the collective effort that envisions OSU as the model leader in pharmacy practice.

Dr. Michel directs the College of Pharmacy Learning Lab at COSI. A molecular genetics researcher by training, his career subsequently branched into science education and outreach. His current research interest is how the public understand and interact with the healthcare system, especially their pharmacy care. His lab also offers inquiry-driven, interactive outreach for COSI guests focused on using pharmacology to teach foundational STEM concepts, including science literacy. Lastly, his public-facing lab provides an ideal setting to train his undergraduate students to be the next generation of great science communicators.

Dr. Pickworth is a clinical pharmacist at the Ross Heart Hospital on The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center campus with over 35 years of experience. Besides an active clinical practice in heart failure, her research endeavors focus in the areas of general cardiology or heart failure. She is passionate about educating the next generation of pharmacists and highly engaged in training pharmacy residents. As an active member of many professional societies, she has served at the Chair of the American Society of Health-system Pharmacists (ASHP) Commission on Credentialing and is the current Chair of the Pharmacy Committee for the Heart Failure Society of America.

Dr. Rodis' areas of focus include advancing pharmacy practice through empowering current and future pharmacists to develop and sustain patient care services, advocacy and partnership engagement to influence patient access to pharmacist-provided care, and leadership of the college’s outreach and engagement efforts aligned with the Land Grant mission of The Ohio State University.

Dr. Schmuhl’s primary professional interest is caring for patients with substance use disorders (SUD) and implementing harm reduction strategies both on and off campus. She actively works to educate healthcare professional students across Ohio to care for patients with SUD in a collaborative and effective way. Her research focuses on medication use for SUD, SUD education, harm reduction, and innovative pharmacy practice. Dr. Schmuhl is also passionate about mentoring undergraduates, professional students, and pharmacy residents and serving as a resource for students during their educational and professional journeys.

Jennifer Seifert’s professional interests include advancing continuing professional development (CPD) programming for pharmacists and instilling CPD values in students. She has a passion for community-based pharmacy practice with an emphasis on the care of older adults. Her scholarship has focused on health equity with a focus on access to pharmacy services for people living in poverty.

Dr. Valentino's areas of focus include developing, implementing, and demonstrating impact of innovative pharmacist services in federally qualified health centers. She has a passion for preparing student pharmacists and pharmacists to provide care within interprofessional teams that advances health equity for culturally and socioeconomically diverse patient populations. Her scholarship also focuses on interprofessional practice and education.