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.