news in brief UT Austin College of Pharmacy Graduate Student Recognized on NBC’s The Today Show for her Global HIV/AIDS Initiative Graduate student Milli Reddy represented the College of Pharmacy on the Feb. 13 edition of The Today Show when she discussed her proposal to improve quality of life to AIDS and HIV patients in South Africa. Reddy is one of three UT Austin pharmacy students who participated in the Clinton Global Initiative University Feb. 13–14 held at UT Austin. All of the approximate 1,000 attendees were expected to make a Commitment to Action—a comprehensive, formal plan of action to address a specific problem. Third-year pharmacy student Karla Cruz and second-year student Misbah Moten attended the conference armed with ideas to expand global awareness of antibiotics and the growing emergence of antibiotic resistant “super bugs.” The conference is a product of the William J. Clinton Foundation, established by former U.S. President Bill Clinton with the mission to “strengthen the capacity of people throughout the world to meet the challenges of global interdependence.” The foundation focuses on four critical areas: health security, economic empowerment, leadership development and citizen service, and racial, ethnic and religious reconciliation. All of the approximate 1,000 attendees were expected to make a Commitment to Action—a comprehensive formal plan of action to address a specific problem.
Cruz and Moten say they plan to utilize the college’s student organizations and their affiliations with similar student organizations across the nation to help educate the public more fully about antibiotics. “Where all of our student organizations have wonderful causes they foster, we see this as an opportunity to see the entire college community get behind this important issue,” Moten said. Reddy’s program involves providing support to patients in South Africa who live with HIV and AIDS and to the clinics that provide services to them. Currently several public healthcare clinics and hospitals are dispensing antiretroviral medication funded by the South African government. Her plan involves setting up an antiretroviral drug and research center at the Dream Center, a nonprofit HIV care facility situated in Kwa-Zula Natal, South Africa. “My intention is to collaborate with the South African Department of Health to create a central registry of patients,” she explained. “Such a registry could be used to conduct health outcomes research and adverse drug reaction surveillance.” Her long-term plan is to extend the services within the Dream Center to include psychological and emotional support, and to partner with the Retired Teachers Association in the area to offer educational assistance to patients whose schooling was affected by this disease.
U of M Study: Living Kidney Donors As Healthy As Non-Donors Risk for high blood pressure, kidney failure, other major health conditions are not increased by donating a kidney.
quality of life, the study found that 60 percent of donors have physical and mental health summary scores that are above the scores of the general population. This may be a direct consequence of the routine screening of donors for important health conditions at the time of donation.
It appears that kidney donors have survival rates similar to that of the general population – that is, their life span does not seem to be altered or negatively impacted after donation, according to new research out of the University of Minnesota. In “This study affects our profession because pharmacists know addition, donors’ risk for developing kidney failure, high blood their patients with diabetes—the leading cause of kidney disease pressure, diabetes and/or cancer is very similar to someone —and chronic kidney disease very well,” said Gross. “These patheir age, gender and ethnicity who is not a donor. tients often rely on their pharmacists for help understanding new medications and devices for self-monitoring. It is important for The study, published in the Jan. 29 edition of the New England pharmacists to know about transplantation and organ donation, Journal of Medicine and co-authored by University of Minneso- and to encourage patients with deteriorating kidney function to ta College of Pharmacy Professor Dr. Cynthia Gross, examined find out if these options are right for them and their families.” the long-term outcomes of nearly 3,700 people who donated a kidney at the University of Minnesota dating back to 1963. Gross continued, “The number of people waiting for an organ Out of that group, researchers randomly chose 255 men and transplant continues to out-pace the availability of donors. women for more detailed studies of kidney function and qual- While living donors have helped close the gap between need ity of life. and availability for some patients, donor awareness campaigns to promote organ donation after death should still be a priority The study shows that a donor’s life span does not seem to be and pharmacists can help spread the word.” altered because of their donation, and risk of kidney failure is actually lower than what is reported in the general U.S. popu- The study was funded with a grant by the National Institutes of lation. Moreover, using standardized tools for assessment of Health and a contribution from the Libin Fund.
academic Pharmacy now Apr/May/June 2009
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