News from University of California, Irvine

Cheryl Wisseh awarded grant to study racial disparities in diabetes drug regimens, results

Cheryl Wisseh, UCI assistant professor of clinical pharmacy practice, has received an 18-month, $10,000 grant from the ASHP Research and Education Foundation to study racial and ethnic disparities in diabetes-specific medication regimens and clinical outcomes among Hispanic and non-Hispanic white adults in South Los Angeles. Diabetes is a growing epidemic, especially in the Hispanic community, and while increased prescribing of anti-diabetic medications to delay, manage and reduce the disease is justified, it can also add a further layer of regimen complexity that may have a negative effect on adherence. The study aims to identify associations between diabetes-specific medication regimen complexity and glycemic control and cardiovascular outcomes. “I am pleased and equally humbled to receive this grant,” Wisseh said. “This renews my purpose and objective to be a health disparities clinician-scientist in the pharmacy discipline.” The ASHP Research and Education Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.