The Flinn Foundation, https://flinn.org a privately endowed philanthropic grant-making organization, awarded the Division of Clinical Data Analytics and Decision Support (CDADS) at the University of Arizona, College of Medicine https://medicine.arizona.edu in Phoenix, $1.5 million which is being matched by Banner Health https://www.bannerhealth.com.
The funding will be used to research the resources needed to incorporate pharmacogenomics and clinical decision support into clinician training and medical practice.
Pharmacogenomics combines pharmacology, the science of drug actions with genomics, along with the study of genes to predict an individual’s response to specific drugs. The goal of pharmacogenetics is to enable physicians to choose effective safe medications and doses tailored to a person’s genetic makeup.
According to James Hoffman, Pharm.D. and Chief Patient Safety Officer at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, speaking at the “2019 Quality and Safety in Children’s Health Conference said, “Pharmacogenomics could be the next generation tactic to reduce patient harm.”
As he explained, “Not only does it give the prescribing clinician additional information to proactively select the right medication to improve safety and effectiveness of care, but also has the potential to increase patient compliance with their medications which could possibly prevent adverse events.”
According to Tammy McLeod, President and CEO for the Flinn Foundation, “The research projects in pharmacogenomics will serve as a model for health systems not only across Arizona but beyond. We are looking forward to a day when all patients will have access to clinical decision support systems and pharmacogenetics testing.”