Seamless Synchronization of Care

Third Year of Geriatric Medication Safety Symposium Focuses on Transitions of Care in Older Adult Population

May 6 — More than 120 practitioners, researchers, students and postdoctoral trainees exchanged insights into "Optimizing Safety in Care Transitions for Older Adults" during the 2024 Geriatric Medication Safety Symposium April 25-26 at UTHealth Houston's Cooley University Life Center in Houston's Texas Medical Center.

In its third year, the event drew in-person and online participants from fellow Texas Medical Center institutions and community organizations from across the Greater Houston area and beyond. The symposium featured four plenary sessions and two workshops from the perspectives of nursing, pharmacy, medicine and dentistry, which also provided continuing education credits to attendees. In addition, early-stage faculty members, graduate and professional program students, and postdoctoral residents and fellows presented 21 posters and four podium talks on their research.

Funded by a five-year grant from the National Institute on Aging, the symposium was co-chaired by Rajender R. Aparasu, Ph.D., FAPhA, University of Houston College of Pharmacy Mustafa F. & Sanober Lokhandwala Professor and chair of the Department Pharmaceutical Health Outcomes and Policy, and Holly M. Holmes, M.D., M.S., AGSF, Joan & Stanford Alexander Chair in Gerontology, professor and division director, Joan & Stanford Alexander Division of Geriatric and Palliative Medicine at UTHealth McGovern School of Medicine. 

"The response of health care professionals and investigators committed to improving the quality of care and quality of life of our older patients by sharing our experiences and research has been tremendous," Aparasu said. "I commend our outstanding plenary session and workshop leaders for offering their expertise on highly relevant and timely topics as well as the thoughtful, high-quality studies conducted by our podium and poster presenters."

Leading the plenary talks and workshops were:

• Michelle A. Chui, Pharm.D., Ph.D., FAPhA, Hammel-Sanders Distinguished Professor in the Social & Administrative Sciences Division in the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy, who presented the workshop, "Implementation Science to Improve Medication Safety," and plenary session, "Health IT Tools & Implementation to Improve Geriatric Medication Safety"
• Yong-Fang Kuo, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Biostatistics & Data Science at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), who presented the plenary session, "Medication prescribing by nurse practitioners"
• Timothy P. McNeill, R.N., MPH, founder of consulting firm Freedmen's Health, who gave the plenary talk on "Deploying interventions to address health-related social needs (HRSNs) to improve medication adherence during transitions of care"
• Amanda S. Mixon, M.D., M.S., MSPH, associate professor of medicine and bioinformatics at Vanderbilt University, who shared the plenary presentation, "Lessons Learned from Multi-site Medications Reconciliation Studies"
• June Sadowsky, DDS, MPH, professor and dentist geriatrician at UTHealth School of Dentistry, who led the workshop, "Dentistry: Transitions in the Caring of the Elder Population"

Two participants were recognized for excellence in research presentations:

Bilqees Fatima, Pharm.D., M.S., UHCOP Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences-Pharmaceutical Health Outcomes and Policy Concentration candidate, won Best Poster Award for her project, "Group-Based Trajectory Modeling for Assessing Oral Endocrine Therapy Adherence Pattern in HER-positive Breast Cancer Patients at DHR Health in the Rio Grande Valley"

Sadaf Milani, Ph.D., MPH, University of Texas Medical Branch Department of Internal Medicine assistant professor of geriatrics, won Best Podium Presentation for her project, "The Association of Dementia Medications with Pain Medication in Dementia Patients with Chronic Pain."