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Welcome to the Pharmacoepidemiology Program pages, part of the Department of Epidemiology in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, the leading public school of public health in the U.S.!

Mission

The mission of the UNC Pharmacoepidemiology Program is to advance public health through educating diverse audiences, developing innovative methods, and disseminating robust evidence on the uses and effects of medical interventions.

UNC is advancing pharmacoepidemiology (PE) through innovation in methods, application of those methods to critical issues in the field, and training future leaders. PE is the third largest program area within Epidemiology at UNC. These pages list up-to-date information on activities in the program:

• Program: The epidemiology graduate programs (Masters and Doctoral) in the Department of Epidemiology provide rigorous training in epidemiology methods with program specific courses in pharmacoepidemiology for the design and analysis observational studies of medical interventions and the use of administrative healthcare utilization data for real world evidence.
• Faculty: Our current core of seven faculty work on a variety of topics of methodological and substantive interest with collaborations across the UNC system, nationally and internationally.
• Students: Our students, from a range of backgrounds and with varied research interests, come to explore the many opportunities that training in pharmacoepidemiology provides.
• Research: Research tools and resources including recent publications and the data sources we work with.
• CPE: The Center for Pharmacoepidemiology is a unique partnership between the Department of Epidemiology and industry stakeholders, helping to train researcher both within and outside of academia.
• Alumni: PE program graduates go on to a variety of roles including industry, contract research organizations, governmental agencies and academia.
• Resource: Introductory lectures on key concepts in pharmacoepidemiology
• Methods Symposium: Members of the Center for Pharmacoepidemiology can access recordings from the UNC Annual Pharmacoepidemiology Symposium.
• UNC at ICPE: The PE program is an active participant in the Annual International Conference on Pharmacoepidemiology and Therapeutic Risk Management (ICPE).
• HGML: The Harry Guess Memorial Lecture, in honor Dr Guess who built the UNC PE program and widely regarded as an outstanding teacher and mentor.

For additional information about degree programs, admissions, and research in the Pharmacoepidemiology Program  within the Department of Epidemiology, please visit our page at the Gillings School of Global Public health.

Recent News

		May 1, 2024 The 17th Annual Harry Guess Memorial Lecture will be given on May the 1st by Dr Sebastian Schneeweiss (Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Chief of the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology) titled “Learnings from emulating randomized trials for the conduct of pharmacoepidemiologic studies“. Read more here
		March 23, 2023 2nd Annual Pharmacoepidemiology Program Causal Pi(e) Day The baking prowess of students and faculty on the pharmacoepidemiology program were on full display: the reigning champion was defeated by a (potentially controversial but extremely tasty) grapefruit cheesecake (supposedly any crust with a filling counts…). Photo: Jeanny Wang (2nd year PhD student)
		March 7, 2024 Juan Hincapie-Castillo, PharmD, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health,received a career development K01 award from the National Institute of Dental & Craniofacial research for a 5-year project titled “Real-world Evidence Study with Patient Input to evaluate Treatment Effects in Trigeminal Neuralgia (RESPITE-TN).” Michele Jonsson Funk (Associate Professor) will serve as Juan’s primary mentor for this award.