Skip to main content

Speakers for Houston Medication Safety Symposium

"Deprescribing: What Does The Evidence Tell Us?"

Emily Reeve, BPharm(Hons), Ph.D.
NHMRC-ARC Dementia Research Development Fellow and Lecturer of Pharmacy Practice, University of South Australia

Dr. Emily Reeve is an Australian NHMRC-ARC Dementia Research Development Fellow and Lecturer of Pharmacy Practice at the University of South Australia. She is also a qualified pharmacist with experience working as a clinical pharmacist in a large tertiary teaching hospital. She completed her doctoral training at the University of South Australia in 2013 and was awarded the medal from the School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences for her thesis work. Following her doctoral training, she worked as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Sydney with the NHMRC Cognitive Decline Partnership Centre. She also spent two months as a visiting researcher at the Brocher Foundation (Geneva, Switzerland) in 2014. The first two years of her fellowship were undertaken with the Department of Medicine at Dalhousie University, Canada, and she also holds affiliate status with the College of Pharmacy, Dalhousie University. Her fellowship work is being conducted in collaboration with the Deprescribing in the Elderly Project group at the Bruyère Research Institute (Ottawa, Canada).
Dr. Reeve’s research focuses on optimizing medication use in older adults and people living with dementia and/or frailty. She validated the first tool to capture consumer attitudes towards deprescribing: the Patients’ Attitudes Towards Deprescribing (PATD) questionnaire, published in 2013. She has since revised this tool (rPATD) and developed versions for caregivers and people with cognitive impairment. Another significant contribution she has made to the field of quality use of medicines was the development of the "Evidence-based Clinical Practice Guideline for Deprescribing Cholinesterase Inhibitors and Memantine."

[UAN 0478-0000-19-017-L05-P; Credit hours: 1 hour]


“Too Much of a Good Thing? How to Effectively Deprescribe”

Cara Tannenbaum, MD, MSc
Professor in the Faculties of Medicine and Pharmacy, Université de Montréal
Co-director, Canadian Deprescribing Network

Dr. Cara Tannenbaum obtained her medical and research degrees at McGill University in internal medicine, geriatrics, women’s health and epidemiology. A Professor in the Faculties of Medicine and Pharmacy at the Université de Montréal, she holds the Endowed Chair in Pharmacology, Health and Aging since 2008, and currently leads the Canadian Deprescribing Network. Her EMPOWER and D-PRESCRIBE trials were featured in the New York Times and are recognized internationally. The EMPOWER brochure has been translated into more than 10 different languages. Dr. Tannenbaum is the recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Betty Cohen Knowledge Transfer Award in Aging from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canadian YWCA Woman of Distinction Award in Health and is a member of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences.

[UAN 0478-0000-19-015-L01-P; Credit hours: 1 hour]


"Texas Prescription Monitoring Program"

Allison Vordenbaumen Benz, R.Ph., M.S.
Executive Director, Texas State Board of Pharmacy

Allison Vordenbaumen Benz is a graduate of the University of Texas, College of Pharmacy. She also completed a Master’s of Science degree in Pharmacy Administration at the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to working at the Board, she worked as a community pharmacist in California and Texas. Allison has been an employee of the Texas State Board of Pharmacy since August 1994 and has served for 6-years as Senior Enforcement Officer, 3-years as Assistant Director of Enforcement, and 14-years as Director of Professional Services before being appointed to her present position on December 1, 2017. In her position as Executive Director, Allison serves as the chief executive officer of the agency and an ex-officio member and secretary of the Board.

[UAN 0478-0000-19-016-L03-P; Credit hours: 1 hour]


"Water-Wings: Learning to Swim in the Ocean of the Epidemic
(Opioid Safety, Monitoring and Addressing Aberrant Opioid Substance Use)”

Michael Sprintz, D.O., FASAM
Founder, Sprintz Center for Pain and Recovery
Founder/CEO, Cellarian Inc.

Dr. Sprintz received his Medical Degree from Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine and went on to a residency in Anesthesiology at Johns Hopkins Hospital and University of South Florida, then completed a Pain Medicine Fellowship at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Sprintz is board-certified in Pain Medicine, Addiction Medicine, and Anesthesiology, and is personally in recovery from drug addiction for over 18 years. Dr. Sprintz is the founder of Sprintz Center for Pain and Recovery, an integrated outpatient private practice that specializes in the comprehensive management of chronic pain and substance use disorders. Dr. Sprintz is also the founder and CEO of Cellarian, Inc., which develops innovative software that helps providers rapidly predict, identify, document and monitor patients at-risk for opioid and other substance use disorders and can be integrated right into the EHR for ease of use. CellarianRx decreases risk and cost for providers and health systems, payers and patients, while empowering the transition to value-based care delivery. Dr. Sprintz serves as a member of the FDA’s Analgesic and Anesthetic Drug Products Advisory Committee and is a member of the Joint Commission Standards Review Panel for Pain Assessment and Management, as well as the Joint Commission's Technical Advisory Panel for Pain Assessment and Management in Behavioral Healthcare. Dr. Sprintz is the Past-President of the Texas Society of Addiction Medicine, and a member of the American Society of Addiction Medicine’s Drug Testing Expert Panel, Payer Relations Committee, and the Pain and Addiction Educational Program Planning Committee.

[UAN 0478-0000-19-018-L04-P; Credit hours: 1 hour]