The Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Sciences

Facilitating innovative science related to the use and outcomes of therapeutics and diagnostics in large populations.

Overview

The Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science, founded by Dr. Tobias Gerhard, and currently led by Dr. Vincent Lo Re, seeks to advance pharmacoepidemiology and related fields through world-class research and training. PETS is uniquely positioned to take advantage of the opportunities created by the breadth and scale of Rutgers Health.

“I’m honored to have been selected as director of PETS, and I’m excited about the center’s highly collaborative and impactful future. I look forward to working with schools and departments across Rutgers to recruit stellar faculty capable of conducting a broad range of rigorous research and enhancing the center’s productivity by developing innovative approaches to leveraging healthcare data.”

Vincent Lo Re III, M.D., M.S.C.E.
Director, Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science, Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, and Epidemiology, RWJMS

Our Research

PETS faculty are experienced pharmacoepidemiologists with training and a strong track-record in analyzing large clinical and administrative databases to study the utilization, safety, and comparative effectiveness/safety of drugs and devices and to develop new methods for studying treatment effects in large populations. Methodologic studies performed by faculty have focused on outcome validation, data linkage, approaches for dealing with confounding and bias (e.g., propensity scores, disease risk scores, instrumental variables, marginal structural models), and healthy user and healthy candidate bias. The PETS program is, by design and structure, interdisciplinary and committed not to any particular content area but rather to all relevant disciplines involving questions on the use and outcomes of therapeutics and diagnostics in large populations. The content interests of faculty members currently include cardiovascular medicine and heart failure, climate, schizophrenia, depression, and other mental disorders, juvenile idiopathic arthritis and other chronic inflammatory diseases. The areas of interest of adjunct PETS faculty from academia and industry are even more wide-ranging.

Our Training

PETS faculty are actively involved in educational efforts both locally and globally. At Rutgers, PETS faculty teach master’s and PhD students in pharmacoepidemiology methods as well as mentor undergraduates, graduate students, and clinical trainees in pharmacoepidemiologic research. PETS is working with the Rutgers School of Public Health to develop a certificate program and PhD program focused on pharmacoepidemiology and treatment science.

PETS faculty are also actively involved in the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology (ISPE), serving in roles on the Education Committee and participating as faculty in a variety of courses at the annual International Conference on Pharmacoepidemiology & Therapeutic Risk Management.

Our Service

PETS faculty serve in a variety of positions locally, nationally, and globally to advance the health of individuals, communities, and populations. At Rutgers, PETS faculty are also faculty members at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, the Rutgers School of Pharmacy, and the Rutgers School of Public Health. Faculty members are involved in inpatient and outpatient patient care within the Departments of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics in Rutgers Health.

PETS faculty members serve on FDA Advisory Committees, on study sections at the National Institutes of Health, committees at the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, and in various roles within clinical and research organizations, including the Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance and the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology (ISPE). They also participate in planning committees for the annual International Conference on Pharmacoepidemiology & Therapeutic Risk Management, organizing committee for the annual Asian Pharmacoepidemiology Conference, and on the editorial board for the Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety journal.

Core Members

Lo Re Vincent

Vincent Lo Re, MD, MSCE, FISPE

Director, Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science

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Benjamin Bates, MD

Core Member, Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science

Greta Bushnell, PhD

Core Member, Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science

Chintan Dave, PharmD, PhD

Core Member, Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science

Monica D’Arcy, PhD, MS

Core Member, Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science

Tobias Gerhard, BSPharm, PhD, FISPE

Director, Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research

Daniel B. Horton, MD, MSCE, FISPE

Core Member, Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science

Farzin Khosrow-Khavar, PhD

Core Member, Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science

Pia Mauro

Pia M. Mauro, PhD

Core Member, Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science

Yola Moride, PhD, FISPE

Core Member, Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research

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Mary Beth Ritchey, PhD

Principal and Owner, Med Tech Epi, LLC

Hillary Samples, PhD, MHS

Core Member, Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science

Soko Setoguchi, MD, DrPH

Director, Rutgers Health-RWJBarnabas Health Center for Climate, Health, and Healthcare

Brian L. Strom, M.D., M.P.H.

Elizabeth A. Suarez, PhD, MPH

Core Member, Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science

Adjunct Members

Jesse Berlin, ScD

Stephen Crystal, PhD, MA

Director, Rutgers Center for Health Services Research

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Christopher Rowan, PhD

Founder & Principal Investigator, Veritas Research Foundation

Jenny Sun, PhD

Associate Director, Epidemiology (Safety Surveillance Research Scientist), Pfeizer

Sandra Lopez Leon, MD, PhD

Maribel Salas, MD, DSc, MSc, FACP, FISPE

Research Staff

Haoqian Chen, PhD

Director of Sponsored Research, Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science

Matthew Iozzio, MBA, MPP

Associate Director of Finance and Administration, Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science & Associate Director, IFH Data Core

Abner Nyandege, PhD

Senior Research Project Manager, Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science

Dean Carbonari

Dean M. Carbonari, MS

Senior Research Project Manager

Kristen Lloyd

Kristen Lloyd, MPH

Senior Research Project Manager, Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science

Sanika Rege, PhD, MS

Research Scientist, Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science

Kim O’Malley, MS, PMP

Research Analyst, Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science

Christine Jurcsek

Senior Administrative Assistant, Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science

Yuyang Zhu

Research Analyst, Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science

Trainees

Julia Liaw

Julia Liaw, PharmD

Trainee, Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science

Orges Alabaku

Orges Alabaku, PhD

Trainee, Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science

Jiaxun Zhao

Jiaxun Zhao, MPH

Trainee, Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science

Naomi Cruz

Naomi Cruz

Trainee, Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science

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Ziyan Hong, MPH

Trainee, Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science

Mackenzie Henderson

Mackenzie Henderson, PharmD, MS

Trainee, Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science

Robert Perna

Robby Perna, MPH

Trainee, Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science

Mireia Triguero Roura

Mireia Triguero Roura, PhD

Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science

Amina Alkhalaf, PharmD, MS

Trainee, Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science

Hongjie Harry Qian

Hongjie (Harry) Qian, MS, BScPharm

Trainee, Rutgers Center for Pharmacoepidemiology and Treatment Science