School of Pharmacy News & Media Center
The University of Mississippi

UM Professors’ New Book Helps Kickstart Pharmacy Student Research

Posted on: September 6th, 2022 by pmsmith
John Bentley and Adam Pate holding their new book

John Bentley and Adam Pate

OXFORD, Miss. – A new book by faculty members at the University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy and the University of Houston College of Pharmacy aims to help pharmacy students, residents and fellows overcome the challenges of limited time and resources in conducting practice-based research.

The new textbook, Student Handbook for Pharmacy Practice Research (McGraw-Hill, 2022), was co-authored and edited by UM’s John Bentley, professor of pharmacy administration, and Adam Pate, clinical associate professor of pharmacy practice. Joining them is Rajender Aparasu, Mustafa and Sanober Lokhandwala Endowed Professor at UH.

UM pharmacy faculty members contributing chapters to the book were Katie Barber, Marie Barnard, Kaustuv Bhattacharya, Sujith Ramachandran and Jamie Wagner. Mandy King from the UM Office of Research and Sponsored Programs made contributions as well.

The book specifically targets learners in pharmacy schools and residency/fellowship programs, which are increasingly integrating evidence-based research components into their curricula or completion requirements based on evolving accreditation standards, expanded roles for practitioners and to improve patient health outcomes and quality of life.

Pate said the book comes during an important time of evolution for the pharmacy profession.

“In health care today and especially in the future with wearable technologies and disruptive changes, it’s more important than ever for pharmacists to have the tools necessary to critically evaluate the impact of pharmacy services,” said Pate. “This book is a step in that direction to introduce readers to concepts and practices that will help improve pharmacy practice research and ultimately allow pharmacists to better advocate for our profession and the critical role pharmacists play in improving our healthcare system.”

Aparasu hopes the book will provide a guiding light for students who may find it difficult to add research projects to their workload.

“It is often challenging for pharmacy students and residents to initiate and complete research during their training,” said Aparasu, who also chairs UH’s Department of Pharmaceutical Health Outcomes and Policy. “We specifically developed this handbook for pharmacy students to provide a practical and comprehensive framework to conduct practice-based research using their existing institutional resources and research infrastructure.”

The new publication focuses on practical approaches with an intentional emphasis on learner-involved research, highlighting research concept application using learner-led examples. Divided into three sections, it covers the elements in planning practice-based research, practicalities of conducting this research in pharmacy settings, and a framework for presenting and disseminating practice-based research in pharmacy. The book was developed as a companion to Aparasu and Bentley’s previous collaboration, Principles of Research Design and Drug Literature Evaluation, first published in 2015 and now in its second edition (McGraw-Hill, 2020).

In addition to his faculty appointment in UM School of Pharmacy, Bentley has a joint appointment in the UM School of Business Administration, and has served on the M.S. or Ph.D. committees of over 170 students from various disciplines. He is a Fellow of both American Pharmacists Association and the National Academies of Practice and is a recipient of the School Pharmacy’s Faculty Research Award, the UM Graduate School’s Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Mentoring Award, the UM Faculty Achievement Award for Outstanding Teaching and Scholarship, the UM Elsie M. Hood Outstanding Teacher Award and the Outstanding Article of the Year Award for a paper published in Quality of Life Research.

Pate has practiced pharmacy and conducted research in internal medicine and ambulatory care settings, as well as mentored multiple pharmacy students and residents in research advisor and preceptor roles, including serving as a mentor in the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Walmart Scholars Program. In 2019, Pate was named both No. 1 Reviewer for the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education and an AACP Emerging Teaching Scholar. Pate is actively involved in AACP including recently serving as AACP Pharmacy Practice Section Chair along with other committee service. Pate is also a longtime member of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy – North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination (NAPLEX) Review Committee.

With more than 25 years’ experience in teaching and conducting pharmaceutical health outcomes and research, Aparasu has published more than 150 peer-reviewed manuscripts, delivered 250-plus presentations at national and international meetings and received continuous federal funding for his work focusing on medication safety in older adults. In addition, he has been honored as a Fellow of APhA, received an appointment to the Fulbright Specialist Roster and recognized with the 2022 Paul R. Dawson Award for Excellence in Patient Care Research by AACP.

Bentley, Pate and Aparasu enjoyed their collaboration and are grateful for the opportunity to work with each other as well as the other talented individuals who contributed chapters to the book.

“It was a distinct pleasure working with Raj and Adam on this project,” said Bentley, who also serves as the Director of UM’s Center for Pharmaceutical Marketing and Management. “Our skill sets are complementary and this led to an end result that we hope many will find useful as they start and continue on their research journeys.”