The Pitt News T h e in de p e n d e n t st ude nt ne w spap e r of t he University of Pittsburgh
STUDY PITCHES CUSTOMIZED MEDICATION
Men’s Basketball Gallery See online February 17, 2016 | Issue 107 | Volume 106
Annemarie Carr Staff Writer
Instead of prescribing drugs based solely off patients’ medical records, Pitt’s Philip Empey is looking into a new tactic — basing prescriptions on patients’ DNA. Empey, assistant professor of pharmacy and therapeutics at Pitt’s school of pharmacy, is heading a UPMC initiative to start a larger trend of personalized prescriptions by taking genetic blood tests for cardiac catheterization patients. Since December, Empey offers the genetics test to UPMC Presbyterian patients who undergo cardiac catheterization, a surgery to open arteries, and receive a stint to keep the artery open. So far, Empey said 150 cardiac catheterization patients have elected to get the test, which doctors then use to write genetic-specific prescriptions for blood thinners, which would eliminate complications associated with the drugs. The University of Pittsburgh Clinical and Translational Science Institute, the National Institutes of Health, the McCune Foundation and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists are funding the initiative. This part of the initiative — an effort to individualize medicines called Pharmacogenomicsguided Care to Improve the Safety and Effectiveness of Medications, or PreCISE-Rx — will test patients’ genetics to determine potential risks for side effects associated with blood thinners and adjust their medication accordingly. “Most drugs, such as antibiotics, psychiatric medications and painkillers, don’t work for everybody. As we learn more about the genetic, environmental and other factors that shape drug metabolism, the current one-kind-fitsall approach will give way to personalized and more effective treatments,” Empey said in a UPMC release. Empey said patients’ blood samples undergo genetics tests, which Magee-Womens Research See Study on page 3
A group skates at the ice rink at PPG Place, which cloes on Feb. 28m in downtown Pittsburgh. Wenhao Wu | Senior Staff Photographer
PITT CONSIDERS YEAR OF ‘DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION’ Danni Zhou Staff Writer
The University is considering making the 2016-17 school year the “year of diversity and inclusion,” according to a vote from the University Senate Community Relations Committee. At the committee’s monthly meeting Tuesday in Hillman Library, Pamela Toto, co-chair, pitched a preliminary proposal to support the 2016-17 possible theme, which nine committee members approved unanimously. The Senate Council subgroup of Diversity and Inclusion, which proposed
the theme at its meeting last week, will present the idea to the full Senate Council next month. Starting last year with the Year of the Humanities, the University uses a theme to promise attention to a specific area of education. Members of the Senate Council subgroup asked Toto to share the preliminary proposal for the theme with the Community Relations Committee to collect feedback. “According to the Senate Council subgroup, their next step is to present the proposal to the entire Senate Council on March 23 for initial approval,” Toto
said. If the full Senate Council — and later the administration — approves the proposal, the Senate will outline a plan to fund events and programs for the year. In line with the diversity and inclusion theme, the Senate Council subgroup, according to Toto, plans to establish a Pitt Promise panel to reduce misconduct and guarantee respectful treatment to the entire University community. “The group also plans to form a diversity and inclusion advisory council for the Office of Diversity and IncluSee Senate on page 3