Precision Health and PGx Podcast

Desperation to Discovery Empowered by PGx | PGX For Pharmacists

Few people with a cause walk the talk as boldly and graciously as Christine Von Raesfeld, founder and CEO of People with Empathy. Christine is a pillar of patient advocacy and allyship in the rare and chronic disease community. Through the lens of her lived experiences in healthcare, she has become a champion for patient voices, diversity and inclusion in clinical research, and equitable patient-sponsor partnerships. Christine has brought her unique perspective and honed expertise to countless roles as a featured speaker for numerous conferences on topics ranging from clinical trial recruitment to data & digital rights, from a true patient perspective. She serves as an e-patient scholar with Stanford MedicineX and a Technical Expert Panelist with CMS among other roles. Wherever possible, Christine generates momentum toward progress along her patient advocacy interests and has become a thought leader worldwide, stimulating dialog on a range of topics relevant to patients, clinicians, and industry. As a patient advisor, Christine has assisted several initiatives including the Stanford "Humanwide" Precision Medicine Program and the NIH All of Us Research Program and serves as a board member/advisor to multiple organizations and startups. For her many contributions to the field, she has been named one of the top 100 Women of Influence by Silicon Valley Business Journal, a member of the 2021 HIMSS Future50, and one of Medika Life's 50 most influential voices in healthcare among other distinctions. www.peoplewithempathy.org/
Behnaz Disclaimer: These are my personal views and opinions, and I am not speaking on behalf of Castle Biosciences, Inc.

Maternal Medication Management Through Pharmacogenomics | PGX For Pharmacists

Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) is a potentially life-threatening pregnancy disease that may cause weight loss, malnutrition, dehydration, and debility due to severe nausea and/or vomiting, and may cause long-term health issues for mother and baby(ies). It occurs in up to 3% of pregnant women and may last the entire pregnancy, which can lead to malnourished. Dr. Danielle Plummer has unfortunately been a three-time survivor of HG and she is the founder and CEO of HG clinical solutions (www.hgclinicalsolutions.com). Please visit that website and learn more. She offers personalized medication planning and patient advocacy in addition to educating providers on HG disease state. She has women around the world reaching out to her for advice and support, and she is looking forward to the day that PGx is utilized in all the countries that she is supporting. www.HGPharmacist.com is a link to Danielle's free ebook called "Dear ER doctor, Believe Us" There is also a FaceBook support group: www.facebook.com/groups/hgsolutions.
"Coming Soon" is the course called "Preparing for a Hyperemesis Pregnancy". Connect with Danielle to sign up.
 
Behnaz Disclaimer: These are my personal views and opinions, and I am not speaking on behalf of Castle Biosciences, Inc.

The Human Cost of Ignoring DPD Deficiency | PGX For Pharmacists

DYPD is a gene that provides instructions for making an enzyme called dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD). This enzyme plays very important in breaking down a substance called uracil, which is found in our DNA and RNA. Mutations in the DYPD gene can lead to decreased or absent DPD activity, which if you think about it can cause a buildup of uracil in the body. If someone is DPD deficiency it can make it difficult for the body to process certain chemotherapy drugs and can lead to severe side effects, such as nerve damage, GI problems, and even death. Genetic testing before being placed on a chemo agent, to see if there is a DPD deficiency is vital. According to Advocates for Universal DPD/DPYD Testing (AUDT), Europe is becoming the standard of care for testing for this gene and only in some selected institutions in the US the testing it being done. AUDT is made up of a group of patient advocates and medical professionals who are seeking to improve treatment outcomes for patients that are preparing to receive chemotherapy based on fluoropyrimidine drugs. One of the founders of this non-profit organization, AUDT, Karen Merritt is our guest today. She lost her mother in 2014 due to being DPD deficient and after getting her first infusion of 5FU. Karen dedicated herself to advocating and raising awareness about pre-testing for DPD deficiency before fluoropyrimidine chemotherapy administration to reduce unnecessary suffering.
Disclaimer: These are my personal views and opinions, and I am not speaking on behalf of Castle Biosciences, Inc.Resources: https://test4dpd.org/about-us/

Beyond the PGx Certificate: Real World PGx Experiences in the Business of Pharmacogenomics | PGx For Pharmacists

Pharmacogenomics consulting isn't the glamorous and highly lucrative career path some voices in the pharmacogenomics industry portray it to be... In this episode, Behnaz and Becky dispel the "get rich quick" myth about PGx and discuss what pharmacists need to know “beyond the PGX certificate” to be successful creating a career in pharmacogenomics as they have. So, don't quit your full time pharmacist job to become a pharmacogenomics consultant until you listen to this enlightening episode of the PGx for Pharmacists Podcast! https://cpicpgx.org/
Disclaimer: These are my personal views and opinions, and I am not speaking on behalf of Castle Biosciences, Inc.

The State of the PGx Testing Industry December 2022: Pressing Issues and Future Projections

In this episode of the PGx for Pharmacists Podcast, Behnaz and Becky take a break from interviewing other pharmacogenomics experts and share their expert opinions on current pressing issues and future projections for the pharmacogenomics industry. In addition, Behnaz and Becky drop a few hints on what listeners can look forward to from the PGx for Pharmacists Podcast starting in 2023.
www.stoplabcuts.org
www.cap.org/member-resources/articles/message-from-the-cap-president-on-the-valid-act
 
Disclaimer: These are my personal views and opinions, and I am not speaking on behalf of Castle Biosciences, Inc.

PGx Experts in a Multidisciplinary Precision Medicine Team

Dr. Lucas Berenbrok is a pharmacist educator and researcher at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He co-led the implementation of outpatient pharmacogenomic services at University of Pittsburg Medical Center. This unique service, called Primary Care Precision Medicine, provides pharmacogenetic and genetic testing to patients in local and surrounding areas. With his colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh, Berenbrok co-created Test2LearnTM, a pharmacogenomics certificate program for pharmacists. Dr. Neda Leonard, CEO of Rx Gene IQ and she is a Dual Board-Certified Pharmacist in Pharmacotherapy and Geriatrics. She has experience in various setting such as Program for All-inclusive Care for Elderly (PACE) where she uses her expertise in medication management and PGx. She is a seasoned speaker locally and nationally on various subject matters such as pharmacogenomics and polypharmacy. She has published in Drug Metabolism Reviews and was featured in THE CONSULTANT PHARMCIST Journal. Currently she partners with a group of Geriatricians/Internal Medicine physicians using a collaborative practice agreement for patients living independently, in assisted living facilities or in skilled nursing facilities. She has many tools in her toolbox to use such as pharmacogenomics, deprescribing, geriatric medication optimization, Part D Comprehensive Medication Management (CMR) and Targeted Medication Review (TMR),and working with various private insurances such as United Healthcare and Optum. A Multidisciplinary Precision Medicine Service in Primary Care www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8786423/ 

Polypharmacy and PGx Guided Therapy in PTSD | PGx For Pharmacist

Dr. Larry Shapiro is a clinical psychologist that started back in 1990 but quote on quote retired to become a financial advisor. He was having a discussion with his brother one day, who was a career officer in the Army, returning from Afghanistan. That make Dr. Shapiro to re-think about his contributions to his community, so he got his license back, trained in military trauma, and started again as a psychologist in 2014. He started at St. Louis Behavioral Medicine Institute specializing in treatment of OCD, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, simple phobias, depression, and combat trauma. Last year he attended the annual Boston Trauma Conference and heard for the first time about the use of psychedelic medicines for treatment of trauma. So after a 150 hour certification program at Integrative Psychiatry Institute he became certified in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy which now is part of his current practice. Just this year in January he went into private practice so he can focus more on psychedelics. He is also an adjunct instructor in the department of psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis and a clinical consultant for psilocybin research at Healthy Minds Lab at Washington University. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which is one of the most common psychiatric disorders which affects about 8 million adults at some point in their lifetime in the United States. But it is not clear as to why only some people who experience a traumatic event develop PTSD. Some people say it’s a social construct but in the largest and most diverse genetic study of PTSD to date, scientists from University of California San Diego School of Medicine and more than 130 additional institutions participating in the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium found that PTSD has a strong genetic component similar to other psychiatric disorders. Genetics seem to accounts for between 5 and 20 percent of the variability in PTSD risk following a traumatic event. Resources: https://health.ucsd.edu/news/releases/Pages/2019-10-08-study-reveals-ptsd-has-strong-genetic-component.aspx 

Research Data Validates the Value of Pharmacists Providing Consult Reports to Support Pharmacogenomics Report Interpretation: An Interview with the Re...

Significant challenges to widescale clinical implementation of PGx include a lack of physician experience using PGx test data or confidence in interpreting PGx test data and integrating the data into the medication therapy management process. For PGx to be most impactful, prescribers must consider PGx data within the context of other non-genetic patient-specific factors. Pharmacists may help prescribers with PGx test data by creating a summary of medication therapy management recommendations for the patient that streamlines PGx report flags and identifies other pharmacotherapy interventions the pharmacist recognizes while applying non-genetic patient-specific data to the PGx test data.
In this episode of the PGx for Pharmacists podcast, Dr. Becky Winslow discusses the research study, "Pharmacist Consult Reports to Support Pharmacogenomics Report Interpretation," with two of the research investigators, Dr. Anna Langerveld and Dr. David Bright. Dr. Langerveld and Dr. Bright share how this research adds to the growing evidence that clinical pharmacists can help improve the utility of PGx and prescribing. They also share how their study described a process for reducing PGx laboratory report information to a single page of patient-specific clinical recommendations. Lastly, they share that while clinical decision support tools are becoming more routine for pharmacogenomic management, the pharmacists in this study reduced the number of report-based alerts independent of sophisticated clinical decision support informatics.
Anna Langerveld, Ph.D., is the Founder and President of Genemarkers, a contract research organization and CLIA/CAP certified testing laboratory specializing in genomics. Anna received her B.A. in Psychology from SUNY Binghamton and her Ph.D. from the Interdisciplinary Program in Neurosciences at Tulane University. After receiving her Ph.D., Anna served as a Research Assistant Professor at Western Michigan University. She founded Genemarkers in 2008. Under her leadership, Michigan Celebrates Small Business recognized the Company as one of the Top 50 Michigan Companies to watch.
Anna is an author of peer-reviewed publications, an NIH grant recipient, and an invited speaker at a wide range of national meetings. Anna currently serves as an adjunct professor and an advisory board member for the Manchester University pharmacogenomics program and holds a community faculty position at the Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine.
Anna has been instrumental in developing strategic community partnerships to implement the use of genomics in clinical care, with a particular focus on mental health and underserved populations.
Dr. David Bright is a Professor of Pharmacy at Ferris State University, where he has taught therapeutics and medication therapy management. He received his PharmD degree from the University of Toledo, completed a community pharmacy residency with Kroger Pharmacy and the University of Toledo, and served on the faculty at the Ohio Northern University as a community pharmacy residency program director. His research has primarily involved the pragmatic implementation and improvement of non-dispensing pharmacy services, particularly in the outpatient setting. Most recently, that has involved the integration of pharmacogenomics into clinical practice through community pharmacy and ambulatory care practice models.
Research discussed in the podcast episode:
Bright D, Saadeh C, DeVuyst-Miller S, Sohn M, Choker A, Langerveld A. Pharmacist Consult Reports to Support Pharmacogenomics Report Interpretation. Pharmgenomics Pers Med. 2020 Dec 10;13:719-724. doi: 10.2147/PGPM.S276687. PMID: 33328756; PMCID: PMC7735940. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7735940/
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Physician-Pharmacist Collaboration At Its Best | PGX For Pharmacists

Dr. Sandra Awaida is a clinical pharmacist that has been practicing in the US since 1999. She worked as an attending pharmacist at the Massachusetts General hospital which is a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital in the intensive care unit and internal medicine department where she also served on the pharmacy residency advisory committee, the MGH pharmacy research committee and a writer to the MGH pharmacy newsletter. She joined Novartis Canada working on new product launches, developing medical content and speaking on national meetings. Her passion for clinical pharmacy led her on to teach at several universities in the US and abroad until she found her calling when she founded a private cardiology practice where she incorporated Chronic Care Management, Remote Patient Monitoring or RPM and PGx. She is the founder of PreciGenX, LLC. Since 2008, she has worked to advance the non traditional role of pharmacists in medical practices and is a is a huge advocate of a preventative approach to patient care. She is constantly looking to create value by marrying cutting-edge innovative services with the highest evidence-based medicine to achieve the best outcome for her patients and increase ROI or Return of Investment for physicians. And of course she has been mentoring and coaching others to be able to do the same.

Camille Schrier - Miss America’s Mental Health Journey | PGX For Pharmacsts

Camille Schrier, Miss America 2020 is currently pursuing her Pharmacy degree at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. She completed a dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Biochemistry and systems biology. Camille blew up the onstage talent competition with a highly engaging and entertaining version of the “catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide,” Ok let me repeat that. catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, and that won her Miss Virginia in June of 2019 and then Miss America in December 2019 live on NBC. While competing for the job, Camille wanted it known that “Miss America can be a scientist and a scientist can be Miss America.” She is not only the first woman to win the title using science as a talent, but also as the only Miss America to speak in the General Assembly of the UN, to become grounded by a global pandemic, and be asked to serve for two full years as a direct result of COVID-19. Since then Camille has focused on advocating for her social initiative which is called “Mind Your Meds: Drug Safety and Abuse Prevention from Pediatrics to Geriatrics” with a major focus on the opioid epidemic, as well as for exciting youth in the areas of STEM. Just last year, Camille launched her own science educational brand called “Her Royal Scientist”, which furthers her goal to inspire and educate youth and normalize females in science roles. She also works to raise awareness of the genetic condition that impacts her life, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome