Call for Abstracts

Researchers Invited to Submit Medication Safety, Use Projects for Presentation and Award Consideration at Geriatric Medication Safety Symposium April 7-8

February 4 — Organizers of the inaugural Geriatric Medication Safety Symposium April 7-8 in the Texas Medical Center have issued a call for abstracts for research projects focused on medication safety and use, especially within the geriatric patient population.

Co-hosted by faculty researchers at UH College of Pharmacy and UTHealth McGovern Medical School, the symposium is supported by a multiyear grant from the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health.

The target audiences attending or presenting at the symposium include professional practitioners and researchers, students, residents and fellows in pharmacy, medicine, nursing and dentistry.

Abstract submission is free, but presenters of accepted projects must register for the symposium. Abstracts are due Monday, March 7, with notification of accepted abstracts made March 14. Detailed guidelines and the submission portal can be accessed at https://tinyurl.com/GMSS2022-Abs.

Accepted abstracts will be considered for poster or podium presentation as well as awards, and all accepted abstracts are expected to be published in the journal Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy.

"The Geriatric Medication Safety Symposium is built upon the successful foundation UHCOP and McGovern Medical School established with the Houston Medication Safety Symposium, which was held 2017 to 2019," said Rajender R. Aparasu, Ph.D., FAPhA, UHCOP Mustafa & Sanober Lokhandwala Endowed Professor and chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Health Outcomes and Policy. "Thanks to the support of the NIA, we are now focused on the challenges and opportunities for improving health outcomes and quality of life among our geriatric patients.

"Some of the current, ongoing medication safety challenges in this population as it relates to medication safety include polypharmacy and deprescribing, medication adherence, chronic pain and regulations surrounding prescribing and dispensing pain medications, and broader disease management concerns related to physiological changes in the older adult population that can contribute to adverse drug effects or adverse drug events."

The symposium will be held at UTHealth's Denton A. Cooley, M.D. and Ralph C. Cooley, DDS University Life Center in the Texas Medical Center.