Dr. Tina Tran, assistant professor of Pharmacy Practice, was awarded an R01 grant from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes for Health (Award Number R01HL179904) for building global capacity for clinical pharmacy and implementation science training.
This NIH-funded randomized controlled trial (INTEGRATE-RX: Integrating Clinical Pharmacists in HIV care to Mitigate Last-Mile Challenges and Reduce Cardiovascular Disease Burden) will evaluate the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a pharmacist-led intervention to prevent and manage cardiovascular disease in people living with HIV.
The risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), such as myocardial infarction and stroke, is two times higher among people living with HIV, as compared to the general population. Over the past three decades, the global burden of HIV-associated cardiovascular disease (CVD) has tripled; however, the greatest consequence remains in sub-Saharan African where two thirds of people living with HIV reside. Primary prevention and treatment for CVD risk factors, particularly hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia, are crucial for comprehensive management and risk reduction in people living with HIV.
Data generated from this research study will provide important policy guidance for countries trying to address the growing concerns of ASCVD amongst the adult and aging population with HIV and will provide rigorous evidence on the roles of clinical pharmacists in chronic disease management in sub-Saharan Africa and similar settings globally.
The study is built upon a three-decade long capacity building program within the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH Kenya), where Dr. Tran and her colleagues have trained a cadre of clinical pharmacist-researchers who are uniquely poised to lead the proposed intervention to impact patient care. In addition to Dr. Tran, TUSP Alumnus Dr. Sonak Pastakia, PharmD ‘04, MPH, PhD, FCCP, will serve as a Co-I, and Dr. Benson Njuguna, B.Pharm, MPH, MPP, will serve as the Multi-PI. Other collaborators in the study include researchers and clinicians from Moi University and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (Kenya), Duke University, Brown University, New York University, and Purdue University.
Temple University is a member of the AMPATH Consortium, partnering with 15 other academic medical centers around the world and university and hospital partners in Kenya, Ghana, Mexico and Nepal.
Research reported is supported by the National Heart, Lung, And Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01HL179904. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.