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Rajender R. Aparasu, MPharm, PhD, FAPhA, is the Mustafa and Sanober Lokhandwala Endowed Professor and Founding Chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Health Outcomes and Policy at the University of Houston College of Pharmacy. He is a renowned scholar and educational leader with over 25 years of experience in the areas of pharmaceutical outcomes research and policy. He started his academic career at South Dakota State University – College of Pharmacy in 1995 after obtaining his PhD from the University of Louisiana – Monroe. He joined as Professor at the University of Houston – College of Pharmacy in 2006. He was the inaugural Chair of the College of Pharmacy’s new department, Pharmaceutical Health Outcomes and Policy. He has taught various professional and graduate courses in pharmacy. He served as a mentor for over 25 graduate students and post-doctoral fellows for the past 10 years. His primary areas of research interest include outcomes research and pharmacoepidemiology, with particular emphasis on improving the quality of pharmaceutical care in older adults. His research group focuses on evaluating medication safety in older adults using real-world data based on novel methodological approaches in observational research.
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Dr. Aparasu has continuous research funding from Federal sources, including R01, R15, R56, and R03, to generate real-world evidence. His non-Federal funding sources include pharmaceutical companies and other organizations. He has published nearly 150 peer-reviewed manuscripts and has over 250 presentations in national and international meetings. He was listed among the World’s Top 2% Scientists in Geriatrics based on various citation metrics as per PLOS Biology. In 2012, he was recognized by his peers as a Fellow of the American Pharmacists Association (FAPhA) for his exemplary professional achievements and outstanding service and contribution to the pharmacy profession. In 2016, Dr. Aparasu was selected for the Fulbright Specialist Roster and visited Indonesia to mentor pharmacy and medical faculty in research. In 2022, he was honored by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) as the recipient of the Paul R. Dawson Award for Excellence in Patient Care Research. He is a grant reviewer for the American Heart Association (AHA), Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), and National Institutes of Health (NIH). He was recently invited to serve on the Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Board of Scientific Counselors NAMCS Workgroup.
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John P. Bentley, RPh, PhD, FAPhA, FNAP, is a Professor of Pharmacy Administration, a Research Professor in the Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and the Director of the Center for Pharmaceutical Marketing and Management at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy, with a joint appointment in the Department of Marketing in the School of Business Administration. He previously served as the Program Coordinator for the University’s Graduate Minor in Applied Statistics. In the pharmacy curriculum, Dr. Bentley teaches elements of research design, biostatistics, epidemiology, and drug literature evaluation. At the graduate level, he teaches several applied statistics courses, including general linear models, multivariate statistics, and elective courses focusing on the application of modern longitudinal data analysis methods and principles of statistical mediation and moderation. He has conducted research projects in a variety of areas, including: patient-reported outcomes; medication use, misuse, and outcomes; pharmacoepidemiology; healthcare quality assessment; measurement of adherence to medications; pharmaceutical marketing and patient behavior; patients’ evaluation of healthcare providers; pharmacy practice management; health behaviors among college students; and ethics and professionalism. His statistics interests include latent variable analysis, longitudinal data analysis, the analysis of statistical interactions (i.e., moderation analysis), and the statistical analysis of mechanisms of effects (i.e., mediation analysis).
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Dr. Bentley has been a member of many interdisciplinary research teams, consulted with numerous researchers concerning statistical analysis, and served on the MS or PhD committees of over 170 students from various disciplines. He was named a Fellow of the American Pharmacists Association in 2009 and the National Academies of Practice in 2019. He has been recognized as a Thelma Cerniglia Distinguished Teaching Scholar at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy and has received the Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Mentoring Award from the University of Mississippi Graduate School, the University of Mississippi’s Faculty Achievement Award for Outstanding Teaching and Scholarship, and the Outstanding Article of the Year Award for a paper published in Quality of Life Research. He has served as a member and chair of the University of Mississippi Institutional Review Board (IRB), a peer reviewer for many journals, and an Associate Editor for the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association. Dr. Bentley received his BS in pharmacy and MBA from Drake University, his MS and PhD in pharmacy administration from the University of Mississippi, and his MS and PhD in biostatistics from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).
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Adam N. Pate, PharmD, BCPS, is a Clinical Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy. He has practiced pharmacy in both internal medicine and ambulatory care and has conducted research projects in a variety of areas. His primary research interests and publications have been in educational research and the scholarship of teaching and learning.
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Dr. Pate has worked with a number of students and residents on research projects, including being the research advisor for the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy Community residency program and actively participating as a residency preceptor at his practice site with North Mississippi Medical Center. In 2019, he was named an American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Emerging Teaching Scholar and has consistently been involved in mentoring and developing research projects with students, including participation as an American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Walmart Scholar Mentor. He has served as a peer reviewer for multiple journals, including serving on the editorial board and being named the 2019 #1 reviewer for the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education. Dr. Pate has also served in a variety of roles and committees within AACP, including serving as the 2019-2020 AACP Pharmacy Practice Section Chair. He has also served on the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy – North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX) Review Committee for a number of years, including attending a multitude of NAPLEX item writing workshops. Dr. Pate received his BS in Pharmaceutical Sciences and PharmD from the University of Mississippi. He subsequently completed a PGY-1 Pharmacy residency, including completing requirements for a residency teaching certificate at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, Arkansas.