January 22, 2014

Message from the Director

The University of Washington Global Medicines Program was formally launched in mid-2010 as an inter-school, inter-departmental initiative supported, in part, through the Department of Global Health’s competitive  process for identifying new, signature programs and centers.   Administratively based in the Department of Global Health, the Program is closely affiliated with the faculty and trainees at the School of Pharmacy, University of Washington.

We are intent on attracting and integrating faculty and trainees from additional fields, including public health, medicine, and nursing and establishing strong affiliations with global stakeholders.  Our programmatic goal is to improve the use, safety and risk-benefit profile of medicines by generating and disseminating new methods and knowledge on assessing and improving the safe and rational use of medicines in resource-poor countries.  We also strive to achieve this goal through the education and training to develop the next generation of academics and practitioners in global medicines safety, cost-effectiveness and risk-benefit analysis.

While a number of us have active research programs in the evaluation of medicines, up until now there is no institutional focus on the major themes of this proposed Program, namely post-approval drug safety, risk-benefit profiles, cost-effectiveness, and medicines policy and practice for resource-poor settings.  My colleague Professor Lou Garrison and I look forward to keeping you informed of our progress as we move forward with our ambitious, yet much-needed activities.

Andy Stergachis, PhD, RPh
Professor of Epidemiology and Global Health
Director of the Global Medicines Program
University of Washington