Vanderbilt Specialty Pharmacy Student Research Program
About the Program
Student Program Statistics
17 manuscripts
79 posters
Programming
Programming for VSPRP includes an orientation and five didactic research training sessions to help enrich student knowledge and experience with the research process. Didactic meeting topics include literature searching, data collection, abstract development, poster development, and manuscript writing. The VSPRP aims to have each student present a poster of their work at ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting, or an equivalent national conference. A competitive travel scholarship has recently been developed to further support VSPRP students present their research.
Expectations
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Students will commit at least 5 hours/week towards research assignments (time commitment will be discussed on an individual basis and is flexible for the students' schedule).
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Students will attend and actively participate in didactic training sessions
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Students will meet with their assigned mentors by phone or in person at least once every two weeks.
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Students should respond to all email and telephone communications within at least 48 hours regarding research activities.
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Deadlines will be project-specific and agreed upon by the student and mentor. Failure to meet a pre-specified deadline will be discussed with the student researcher by the mentor. Multiple failures may result in dismissal from the program.
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Students will complete IRB and CITI training and adhere to all HIPAA-compliant practices endorsed by VUMC.
Program Feedback
- “Being able to work on project from conception through data collection has been a great and eye-opening experience. Also, learning how to create and modify a survey in REDCap and submitting for IRB approval were all new experiences for me and I learned a great deal from both experiences”
- “All the didactic sessions I was able to attend were very helpful. The content provided great instruction/steps for both poster and abstract development. These are skills that I will now think of consciously when I am writing and developing presentations and future posters.”
- “My mentors were excellent. They ensured that I was on the right track with data collection and provided excellent feedback with both the abstract and poster. They were incredibly friendly and easy to work with. They expressed expectations clearly and was always extremely helpful when I was unsure of which steps to take next and when I had questions.”
Overview of the Student Research Program
VSP recently created a video compiling testimonials from current and former students, VSP clinical pharmacists, and outcomes research team members!
Students in Our Program
Sarah Layne
Sarah attends Belmont University and is in the class of 2025. She is working with VSP Outcomes' Project Manager Katie Cruchelow on a study that evaluates primary medication nonadherence rates and turnaround time between patients who fill their Oncology, Inflammatory, or MS specialty medications at VSP, compared to patients who fill their specialty medications at external pharmacies.
Briana Hunt
Briana attends Belmont University and is in the class of 2025. She is working with VSP Clinical Pharmacist Monica Littlejohn on a study that assesses the severe asthma population at VUMC in terms of racial and socioeconomic status and determine if there is an association between these groups, the prevalence of asthma morbidity, patient engagement in care, and biologic medication outcomes.
Ailsa Watson
Ailsa attends Lipscomb University and is in the class of 2025. She is working with VSP Outcomes' Research and Engagement Pharmacist Chelsea Renfro on a study that describes the development and implementation of a collaborative pharmacy practice agreement in an integrated health system specialty pharmacy using a RE-AIM framework.
Meredith Edelman
Meredith attends UTHSC College of Pharmacy and is in the class of 2025. She is working with VSP Outcomes' Research and Engagement Pharmacist Chelsea Renfro on a study that evaluates pharmacist involvement in specialty medication discontinuation, switch, and dose changes and the resulting financial impact.
Ashley Rector
Ashley attends Lipscomb University and is in the class of 2025. She is working with VSP Outcomes' Director Autumn Zuckerman on a study that identifies important and actionable clinical outcomes to be used in specialty pharmacy practice.
Morteza Kaveh
Morteza attends UTHSC College of Pharmacy and is in the class of 2025. He is working with VSP Outcomes' Project Manager Katie Cruchelow and VSP Clinical Pharmacist Kayla Johnson on a study that evaluates the impact of quick actions and pharmacist interventions in non-Multiple Sclerosis neurology clinics.
Strong Oboh
Strong attends Lipscomb University and is in the class of 2025. He is working with VSP Outcomes' Research and Engagement Pharmacist Chelsea Renfro on a study that evaluates the specialty pharmacist's role in medication access, treatment monitoring, and reducing potential maribavir waste by preventing unnecessary medication fills.
Riley Pendergrass
Riley attends Belmont University and is in the class of 2025. She is working with VUMC pharmacists Jarod Parrish, Elisa Green, and Gary Owen on a study that aims to identify the factors that influence the approval rates for patients referred to the MAP program at VUMC and suggest strategies to improve them.
Montana Packer
Montana attends Belmont University and is in the class of 2026. She is working with VSP Outcomes' Director Autumn Zuckerman on a study that evaluates the efficacy of dose escalation as a strategy to recapture response in patients with Crohn's Disease who relapse on the anti-interleukin agent risankizumab.
Kelsie Fadool
Kelsie attends UTHSC College of Pharmacy and is in the class of 2026. She is working with VSP Outcomes' Research and Patient Care Improvement Pharmacist Kristen Whelchel on evaluating the implementation of a standardized process for specialty pharmacists to document and monitor patient disease severity and response to therapy using SIBDQ.
Jordan Bailey
Jordan attends Lipscomb University and is in the class of 2026. She is working with VSP Outcomes' Research and Patient Care Improvement Pharmacist Kristen Whelchel on a study that describes how often patients taking specialty medications for IBD experience an insurance change in a calendar year and the resulting administrative, medical, and financial challenges.
Christopher Rodriguez
Christopher attends UTHSC College of Pharmacy and is in the class of 2026. He is working with VSP Outcomes' Research and Engagement Pharmacist Chelsea Renfro on a study that describes patient characteristics, time on treatment, and time at each dose for patients diagnosed with HR+/HER2- breast cancer and initiating abemaciclib at a lower dose than the FDA approved dosing of 150mg twice daily.
Charlotte (Charlie) Haskell
Charlie attends Lipscomb University and is in the class of 2027. She is working with VSP Clinical Pharmacist Amanda Kibbons on a study that will evaluate outcomes of recently-approved dupilumab treatment for Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE) in pediatric patients including baseline EoE characteristics and response.
Maxine Cork
Maxine attends Belmont University and is in the class of 2026. She is working with VSP Outcomes' Research and Engagement Pharmacist Chelsea Renfro on a study that will assess the incidence of reactions in subcutaneous IFX therapy as compared to reactions in infusion IFX therapy.
Ella Rosser-Webb
Ella attends Lipscomb University and is in the class of 2027. She is working with VSP Outcomes' Research and Engagement Pharmacist Chelsea Renfro on a study that is assessing clinical outcomes of patients stable on therapy who switch to a biosimilar from an originator product.
