WELCOME TO THE INFECTIOUS DISEASES PHARMACOTHERAPY SECTION AT THE UIC COLLEGE OF PHARMACY
The Section of Infectious Diseases Pharmacotherapy has provided a wide range of scholarly, teaching, and clinical services to the University and the Chicagoland area since its inception in 1996. Co-directors Larry Danziger and Keith Rodvold continue to provide leadership and vision for the section.
The Section provides clinical pharmacy services to the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System in the inpatient and outpatient settings. Members of the section provide care to patients in the Family Center for Infectious Diseases, a variety of HIV Outreach Clinics throughout the city, the John H Stroger Cook County Hospital, and the Ruth M. Rothstein Core Center.
In addition to patient care services, the Section maintains its commitment to educating future clinician-scientists. The Section has one of the largest and longest-standing Infectious Diseases Pharmacy Fellowship Training programs in the U.S. To date, over 65 Infectious Diseases Fellows have completed the program under the leadership and expertise of Drs. Danziger and Rodvold.
Beyond its academic mission, the Section remains highly active in research for both clinical and basic sciences. The Section is involved in Phases I through IV clinical trials of existing and investigational antimicrobial compounds. The Microbiology Research Laboratory (UIC-MRL), managed by the Section, explores activity of novel compounds, studies approaches to improve the use of both new and old antimicrobials, and evaluates new pharmacotherapeutic options for the treatment of antibiotic resistant infections.
Federal and pharmaceutical industry funding continue to support the research and scholarly activities of the Section. Dr. Rodvold was recently the chairperson of the Special Emphasis Panel for Pharmacokinetics and a member of the steering committee for the Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group (ARLG). ARLG (https://arlg.org) is an initiative funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health. Sixty-two million dollars, allocated over a period of six and a half years, is available to support clinical research in antibacterial resistance. The ARLG is tasked with developing and prioritizing a clinical research agenda and designing, implementing, and conducting clinical studies to address the growing public health threat of antibacterial resistance.
Additionally, Dr. Rodvold received research funding from the National Institute of Health and the ARLG to conduct a phase I study to evaluate pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and safety/tolerability of two dosing regimens of oral fosfomycin tromethamine in healthy adult subjects (NCT02570074). Dr. Rodvold was also funded by Theravance Biopharma Inc. to conduct a pharmacokinetic research study of telavancin in normal body weight and obese (classes I, II, and III) healthy adult subjects (NCT02753855).
Dr. Danziger is the principle investigator of the Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center (IMEC) National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) grant which works with businesses to gain improvements in the areas of Leadership, Strategy, Customer Engagement, Operations, and Workforce. IMEC is affiliated with the U.S. Department of Commerce and NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) centers. The grant has received $8,108,000 to date.
Dr. Keith Rodvold joined Drs. John Rotschafer (University of Minnesota) and David Andes (University of Wisconsin) as an editor of a new textbook, Antibiotic Pharmacodynamics, published by Humana Press. Additionally, Dr. Rodvold is finalizing the Fourth edition of his well-received Drug Interactions in Infectious Diseases textbook.
As part of the Section of Infectious Diseases Pharmacotherapy, Drs. Renata Smith, Rodrigo Burgos, Melissa Badowski, and Thomas Chiampas contribute to the development of the profession through scholarly, teaching, research and service activities in the area of HIV pharmacotherapy. Drs. Smith and Burgos serve as co-directors of the American Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists accredited PGY2 residency in HIV. The Section’s HIV pharmacotherapy services provide care for approximately 1,200 HIV positive individuals in a variety of settings within the University. They provide service to seven outpatient clinics, which include a main campus HIV clinic and infectious disease clinics in six HIV outreach clinics in Chicago neighborhoods with the highest incidence of HIV and sexually transmitted diseases. Furthermore, the Section’s HIV pharmacotherapy group provides care for 26 correctional facilities within the Illinois Department of Corrections system via an HIV telemedicine clinic. The HIV Telemedicine Clinic began in July 2010 and provides over 1000 clinic visits per year. In 2013, the telemedicine group was granted a technology award by the American Academy of HIV Medicine and the Institute for Technology in Health Care recognizing the innovative use of technology in the HIV care setting. This unique environment facilitates a positive research and learning experience and allows experiential students, pharmacy residents, and fellows to be involved in the future of medical care.
Educational outreach has also led to the Section’s involvement in the Midwest AIDS Training and Education Center (MATEC) which is based in the Jane Addams College of Social work. Through these activities the Section provides educational information and programming to pharmacists in a six state area about infectious diseases pharmacotherapy as it relates to HIV infection. Drs. Badowski, Smith, and Chiampas developed elective courses on case-based infectious diseases, management of the HIV patient, exploration of telemedicine in pharmacy practice, and concepts in drug development. Dr. Blake Max has been instrumental in the development of the Interprofessional Collaborative Practice in HIV Care Course; an elective course for students in different professional programs (advanced practice nursing, dentistry, medicine, nutrition, occupational therapy, pharmacy, and public health). The program is designed to provide students from many disciplines foundational knowledge of HIV care and develop the ability to work as members of an inteprofessional collaborative health care team.
The Section continues to maintain its long-term relationships the Ruth M. Rothstein CORE Center and John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County. Inpatient infectious diseases services are provided by Drs. Gail Itokazu and Robert Glowacki at this public urban teaching hospital in Chicago that provides primary, specialty, and tertiary healthcare services to the five million residents of Cook County. Since 2011, Gail Itokazu, along with David Schwartz, MD, Chairman, Division of Infectious Diseases at the John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, serve as consultants to the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to expand Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs throughout Illinois. Dr. Max Blake provides HIV pharmacotherapy services at the CORE center, an outpatient medical facility in the Illinois Medical District.
The future of the Section builds on its history as it continues to grow and serve as leader in current aspects of Infectious Diseases pharmacotherapy including antimicrobial stewardship both locally and throughout the state of Illinois. The Section has recently partnered with the Illinois Department of Public Health as a cosponsor of the Illinois Antimicrobial Stewardship Summit programs and coordinates a quarterly meeting of infectious disease pharmacy practitioners from throughout the Chicagoland area.
Finally, the Section is also excited to announce the addition of three new faculty members. Drs. Eric Wenzler and Zack Bulman are additions to the tenure track and Dr. Sarah Michienzi adds to the HIV faculty on the clinical track. Eric received his PharmD from Ohio Northern University and completed PGY1 and PGY2 residency in infectious diseases at The Ohio State University before coming to UIC for a 3 year post-doctoral research fellowship in infectious diseases pharmacotherapy. Zack received his PharmD from the University of Buffalo and completed a 2 year research fellowship in infectious diseases pharmacology at the University of Buffalo. Dr. Michienzi received her PharmD from Wayne State University and completed her PGY1 residency at St. Josephs Mercy Oakland in Pontiac, Michigan, before completing a two year Advanced Residency in HIV at UIC.