News and Highlights - Health Outcomes

What Starts Here Changes the World

Group photo of Health Outcomes division faculty and students on outdoor staircase

The CORE Insights newsletter provides additional detail about our TxCORE faculty research projects.

Announcements and Accomplishments

Dr. Anton Avanceña joined the Health Outcomes Division in August 2022

Dr. Anton Avanceña

The Health Outcomes Division would like to welcome Anton L.V. Avanceña, Ph.D. 

Dr. Anton Avanceña (he, him) is a decision scientist and health policy researcher who studies how efficiency and equity in health can be improved. His main area of research involves understanding the health, economic, and social consequences of alcohol misuse and evaluating treatments, pharmacotherapies, and population-level interventions that reduce the burden of alcohol use. Dr. Avanceña has conducted and continues to do research in other clinical areas such as pediatrics, mental and behavioral health, and infectious diseases.

View Dr. Avanceña's full profile

Dr. Jamie Barner was named recipient of the AACP Social and Administrative Sciences Sustained Scholarship Award

Dr. Jamie Barner

Criteria for the award include demonstrated evidence of sustained contribution to the literature over at least a 15-year period in the scholarship of discovery, integration, application, and/or teaching and learning and having played a meaningful role in mentoring student pharmacists, post-graduate trainees, and/or practicing pharmacists to engage in scholarship within their field of study.

Lisette Peña received the UT-COP Staff Excellence Award

Lisette Peña

Only 4 individuals in the College receive this award annually.

Criteria for the award include: contributed to and demonstrated a commitment to the college’s core values and goals, significantly improved customer service or increased customer satisfaction, significantly improved a work process or system or has significantly increased the efficiency of an operation or unit, demonstrated an exceptional ability to foster collaboration, communication and cooperation among colleagues and university constituents, and has sustained performance record at a level above and beyond normal job expectations.

Dr. Leticia “Tish” Moczygemba will serve as the Chair of the AACP Social and Administrative Sciences Section

Dr. Tish Moczygemba at podium

Dr. Moczygemba will uphold the mission to “advance social and administrative sciences in the education, research, practice, and service missions of pharmacy schools with the goal of improving the health of populations.” She will lead efforts to: “provide a forum for disciplinary and interprofessional dialogue and cooperative effort among section members and stakeholders; advance the teaching of social and administrative sciences in pharmacy schools across the world; examine social and administrative sciences curricula in member colleges and schools of the Association for the purpose of improving content; encourage research in pharmaceutical education and curricular innovations; and make recommendations to the Association in matters affecting social and administrative sciences in member colleges.” 

Dr. Chanhyun Park received the AIM-AHEAD Research Fellowship for a machine learning project

Dr. Chanhyun Park

Dr. Park's project is titled "Developing prediction models for cardiovascular disease risk among women with breast cancer: focus on race/ethnicity.

The National Institutes of Health AIM-AHEAD (Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Consortium to Advance Health Equity and Researcher Diversity) program has established mutually beneficial, coordinated, and trusted partnerships to enhance the participation and representation of researchers and communities currently underrepresented in the development of AI/ML models and to improve the capabilities of this emerging technology, beginning with electronic health records (EHR) and extending to other diverse data to address health disparities and inequities.

Dr. Carolyn Brown Awarded grant for research to inform design of Texas Cares program

Carolyn Brown

Dr. Brown was recently awarded a research grant from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to assess patient medication needs and the potential social and financial barriers to accessing those medications within a population of uninsured and underinsured Texans. Recently passed legislation directs the Texas HHSC to establish the Texas Cares prescription program to make medications more affordable for the uninsured and underinsured. Dr. Brown along with other TXCORE researchers (Dr. Johnsrud and Dr. Richards) are conducting this research to inform the design of the Texas Cares program. This qualitative research study will employ several focus groups with uninsured and underinsured patients, as well as healthcare providers who care for uninsured and underinsured patients, to explore patient experiences surrounding access to medications. Based on findings from our study, we will provide recommendations to the Texas Cares implementation team to support the design of the prescription drug savings program.

Division News

September is Sickle Cell Disease Awareness Month

Dr. Jamie Barner and her team (Barner Babes) raised over $2,000, gave blood, and shared their research on Facebook Live.

Please view the PDF slides for photos and research from the team.

ISPOR Outstanding Student Chapter Award, June 23, 2022

The UT Austin student chapter of ISPOR (the leading professional society for health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) globally) received the outstanding student chapter award.  Congratulations to the officers, faculty advisor, and members!

ISPOR Outstanding Student Chapter award (UT-ISPOR Officers: President Elham Heidari, Vice President Andrew Wash, Treasurer Rana Zalmai, President-Elect Ben Wong, Secretary Shuang Chen, Pharmacy Council Rep Yi-Shao Liu, Faculty Advisor Dr. Rascati)
Health Outcomes Student Internships, Summer 2022

Health Outcomes Division graduate students are participating in exciting internships this summer:

Shuang Chen
Pharmacoepidemiology Summer Intern
Regeneron
New York (Virtual)

Shuang Chen



Emma Gugala
Data Science Intern focused on postpartum depression screening and treatment
Ascension
Virtual

Emma Gugala



Elham Heidari
Atara
Virtual

ElhamHeidari



Yi-Shao Liu
HEOR Strategy Intern
Novo Nordisk
New Jersey

Yi-Shao Liu
Health Outcomes ISPOR 2022 Reception, May 16, 2022

It was great to see friends and alumni at ISPOR this year. We are all still smiling at the re-connections made!

Health Outcomes ISPOR Reception 2022

 

Health Outcomes ISPOR 2022 Presentations, May 15-18, 2022

HOD faculty, fellows, and students attended the 2022 ISPOR Conference (The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research).  Division presentations included both posters and podia (view presentation list).

Selected division posters from ISPOR 2022 are available to view and download.

Student presenting poster at ISPOR 2022

 

Student presenting at ISPOR 2022 podium

 

Fellow presenting poster at ISPOR 2022
Health Outcomes Graduate Student Celebration, May 6, 2022

Each year, HOD recognizes graduate student accomplishments and celebrates those achievements. They have also participated in mentoring graduate students, attending workshops, assuming leadership positions in college and national organizations, as well as providing service in many other areas. See below for highlights:

Accomplishments of Health Outcomes graduate students (29 posters, 5 podia, 15 manuscripts, 5 awards)
Health Outcomes graduate student celebration group photo

 

Students at Health Outcomes graduate student celebration
TxCORE Outstanding Graduate Student Award, May 6, 2022

This award is given to a graduating doctoral student who has achieved excellence in the areas of research, teaching, and service.  

Winner: Hanxi “Molly” Zhang:

Co-Supervisors: Jamie C. Barner and Leticia R. Moczygemba

Finalists: Chinelo Orji, Yogesh Vohra

Supervisor: Carolyn M. Brown

Also pictured, Mike Johnsrud, TxCORE Executive Director

Hanxi Zhang receiving TxCORE student award

 

Hanxi Zhang with Drs. Moczygemba, Barner, and Johnsrud

 

TxCORE award finalists with Dr. Brown and Dr. Johnsrud

Health Outcomes Division Updates

Fiercely Focused | iCAN

Dr. Moczygemba wearing pearls and a dark outfit.
March 15, 2023
Dr. Leticia R. Moczygemba in the Division of Health Outcomes talked to ECHO, an agency that plans and implements community-wide strategies to end homelessness in Austin and Travis County, about the Interactive Care Coordination and Navigation (iCAN) program that studies how getting phones to more people living outside impacts their lives and health outcomes.

Moczygemba and Janzen Earn Promotions

Dr. Moczygemba and Dr. Janzen smiling while both wear dark clothing.
Feb. 27, 2023
Two of the college's distinguished faculty in the Division of Health Outcomes and Division of Pharmacy Practice were recommended for promotion by President Hartzell due to their outstanding accomplishments in research, outreach and education. Dr. Tish Moczygemba will assume the rank of professor and Dr. Kristin Janzen will become a clinical associate professor.

Improving Health Outcomes for People Experiencing Homelessness is Focus of New Study

Five people holding cell phones and wearing masks.
April 30, 2021
Combining mobile health technology, or mHealth, and community outreach to improve the health outcomes of people experiencing homelessness is the target of a new study led by Division of Health Outcomes Associate Professor Leticia Moczygemba, Pharm.D., Ph.D., thanks to a five-year research grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.