Pharmacists are medication experts that are found in many settings, including hospitals, doctors' offices, outpatient clinics, and community pharmacies.
For some faculty members, their research laboratories are these types of "pharmacy practice" settings. They study how pharmacy practitioners can improve care for patients and groups of patients, and improve health care systems.
Practiced-based research creates additional roles for pharmacists. It also leads to new services for patients related to their medications. Researchers' work in this area leads to improved patient-centered, team-based care delivery across a variety of settings.

Researchers in This Area
- Design and develop new pharmacy services and interventions
- Assess whether pharmacists’ interventions are effective
- Implement innovations and new services across pharmacy settings
- Assess health policy to ensure pharmacists can best serve patients
- Study how patients can use medications more safely
- Investigate pharmacists’ roles on patients’ healthcare teams
Researchers in Action
- Jim Hoehns studied how well promising treatments for COVID-19 worked for groups of people.
- Brett Faine, an emergency room pharmacist, was part of a group studying how to reduce the risk of front-line workers contracting COVID-19.
- Korey Kennelty received a grant to see whether removing high-risk medications from older adults' regimens leads to them falling less.
- Michael Ernst was the only pharmacist on an international research study (ongoing in another form) that concluded low-dose aspirin may do more harm than good in healthy older adults.
Practice-Based Researchers


Identifying Best Practices for Pharmacies
William Doucette
Deborah K. Veale Professor in Healthcare Policy









