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Joshua Niznik, PharmD, PhD, assistant professor of geriatric medicine, received pilot funding from the United States Deprescribing Research Network (USDeN) to study deprescribing bisphosphonates in nursing home residents with dementia.


Joshua Niznik, PharmD, PhD, assistant professor in the division of geriatric medicine in the UNC Department of Medicine, was awarded pilot funding from the United States Deprescribing Research Network (USDeN) to study deprescribing bisphosphonates in nursing home residents with dementia. The 1-year award seeks to develop operational definitions for identifying deprescribing of bisphosphonates using Medicare administrative data and evaluate factors that may be associated with deprescribing of bisphosphonates in older nursing home residents with dementia. The study team will also engage with a stakeholder group of nursing home providers and residents/caregivers to disseminate findings.

The pilot award brings together investigators and clinicians from the Division of Geriatric Medicine and the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy in the Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Co-investigators include Carolyn Thorpe, PhD, MPH, and Xintong Li, MS, Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy, Jan Busby-Whitehead, MD, and Meredith Gilliam, MD, MPH, Division of Geriatric Medicine, Laura Hanson, MD, MPH, Division of Geriatric Medicine and Director, UNC Palliative Care Program, and Sherrie Aspinall, PharmD, MS, University of Pittsburgh and VA Pittsburgh Health System.

Dr. Niznik was also recently appointed to the USDeN’s Junior Investigator Intensive Program, which supports junior investigators as they collaborate to expand deprescribing research. The work from this pilot project will lay the foundation for subsequent explorations of the implications of deprescribing for clinical outcomes and cost-effectiveness in older nursing home residents with dementia.