HERE TO TALK ABOUT THESE IMPORTANT FINDINGS AND HOW THEY MAY HELP ADDRESS AN ONGOING AND UNMET NEED IN THE HIV COMMUNITY IS DR. HARMONY GARGES (GAR-JES), CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER FROM ViiV (VEEV) HEALTHCARE.

BIO:

Dr. Harmony Garges is the Chief Medical Officer at ViiV Healthcare – the only pharmaceutical company 100% dedicated to HIV – where she is responsible for Regulatory, Safety and Medical Affairs across the company’s innovative pipeline and portfolio. Just like the company she works for, Harmony’s guiding mission is to ensure that no person living with HIV is left behind.

After obtaining her MD degree and completing her pediatrics residency at Duke University, Harmony pursued her interest in infectious diseases further with fellowships in Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology at Duke, along with her MPH in Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Following her training, Harmony maintained an active clinical practice, providing care to children and adolescents living with HIV and other infectious diseases.

In 2005, Harmony joined GSK’s HIV program in the Infectious Diseases group, working on global development programs as a project physician leader. In this role she oversaw three successful New Drug and Marketing Authorization Applications and provided medical leadership and strategy for the development of various other anti-infectives including the first human trials of dolutegravir – the most prescribed HIV medicine in the world.

Subsequently, Harmony joined the Global Clinical Safety and Pharmacovigilance team at GSK, where she provided safety strategy and governance for several large global clinical development programs in the pharmaceutical space. She then led a large, global team overseeing the safety aspects of GSK’s large Classic and Established Medicines portfolio. From there, she joined the GSK Consumer Health business, where she spent three years as the Chief Medical Officer. She then joined ViiV Healthcare in 2016 and has held several roles in Global Medical Affairs before assuming her current role of Chief Medical Officer at the company in 2019.

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Clinical Pharmacist talks about ways seniors with cognitive disabilities can avoid medication errors

Seniors who take multiple medications are seven times more likely to require hospitalization because of an adverse drug event, say experts at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) and the ASHP Research and Education Foundation. During National Patient Safety Awareness Week (March 3-19), the pharmacist groups want the public to know that pharmacists are crucial resources for managing medications correctly and avoiding problems, and they are sharing important tips that can help family caregivers protect their elderly loved ones from dangerous medication errors.

The risk of a medication error increases when cognitive disabilities, such as dementia, are involved. The Alzheimer’s Foundation estimates that as many as 5.1 million Americans may have Alzheimer’s disease and that about a half million Americans younger than age 65 have some form of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. According to the National Alliance for Caregiving, more than 65 million people (29 percent of the U.S. population) provide care for a chronically ill, disabled or aged family member or friend during any given year. Fifteen million Americans provide unpaid care for a person with Alzheimer’s or other dementias.

“These patients are at greater risk for having medication safety problems at home after hospital discharge,” says Dr. Allison Paquin, a clinical pharmacist at VA Boston Healthcare System in Massachusetts, who works regularly with older patients with cognitive difficulties. “They often have more complex medication regimens and a decreased ability to follow those regimens. It is important for caregivers to know how to help them use their medicines safely.”

Dr. Paquin and a multidisciplinary team at VA Boston Healthcare System were responsible for an initiative that helped seniors with cognitive disabilities manage their medications, greatly reducing the rate of hospital readmissions and emergency department visits. This initiative, The PILL Service, earned the VA Boston Healthcare System the ASHP Foundation’s 2012 Award for Excellence in Medication-Use Safety. The award is sponsored by a grant from the Cardinal Health Foundation.

This interview is sponsored by the ASHP Foundation and ASHP.

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