R. K. Leedham Jr., Korey Kennelty, Kevin Look, Yu-Chieh (Jack) Chen, Mohamed Amin, and Addi Faerber, graduate students in the Social and Administrative Sciences (SAS) Division, were recognized at the 2010 Midwest Social and Administrative Pharmacy Conference.

Kennelty and Leedham and were honored with the Research In Progress Award. The Research in Progress honor is awarded to the top researchers with innovative proposed research or novel pilot research studies. Leedham received his award for the best podium presentation related to his dissertation proposal, entitled “Assessing work system factor that may differentiate innovation in Wisconsin community pharmacies.” Kennelty received the top award for her podium presentation, entitled “Factors predicting pharmacy involvement in the Medicare Part D plan choice.” Both Leedham’s and Kennelty’s research was selected as finalists for the Theory Award.

Kevin Look was selected as one of five finalists for the Consortium for Research on Administrative Pharmacy/Wiederholt Award. The award is named in honor of Joe Wiederholt, who taught in the Social and Administrative Sciences Division at the UW-Madison School of Pharmacy. Look’s podium presentation was titled, “Characteristics of Pharmacies Participating in the Wisconsin Medicaid Pharmaceutical Care Program Form 1996 to 2007.”

Yu-Chieh (Jack) ChenMohammed AminAddi FaerberYu-Chieh (Jack) Chen, Mohamed Amin, and Addi Faerber, were selected to give podium presentations. Chen’s presentation was titled, “A preliminary study using quantitative and qualitative approaches to explore the effect of Medicare Part D’s exclusion policy on benzodiazepine utilization.” Amin’s presentation was titled, “Factors associated with single source antidepressant drug use among older adult Medicare beneficiaries.” Faerber’s presentation was titled, “Trends in television advertising for biologics, prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs and other medical products, 1996-2009.”

The Midwest Social and Administrative Pharmacy Conference is the oldest regional conference for Social and Administrative Pharmacy. In 2010, nine graduate students and six faculty from UW-Madison were in attendance. There were 28 podium presentations and 30 poster presentations at this conference representing graduate programs in Pharmacy at Purdue University, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Iowa, University of Michigan, and the University of Minnesota, The conference is held every other year and was hosted by the University of Iowa in Iowa City July 28-30, 2010.

Social and Administrative faculty serve as advisors to the graduate students. David Mott, associate professor, is Leedham and Look’s advisor. Joshua Thorpe, assistant professor, is Kennelty’s advisor. David Kreling, professor and Social and Administrative Sciences Division chair, advises Yu-Chieh and Faerber. Betty Chewning, professor and Sonderegger Research Center Director, is Amin’s advisor.