A team of Pitt Pharmacy researchers, including graduate student and primary author Morgan Casal, PharmD (’19), and faculty members Jan Beumer, PharmD, PhD, and Thomas Nolin, PharmD (’99), PhD (’03) recently published a study in Lancet Oncology. The work evaluated the impact of removing the race factor from kidney function-estimating equations on anticancer drug selection and dosing. The analysis showed that removing the race term from the CKD-EPI equation will calculate a lower kidney function estimate for Black patients, which would make more patients ineligible for cancer treatments and may lead to prescription of lower doses of anticancer medications than clinically needed. The study was performed with the goal of expanding discussion on racial disparities in health and promoting accurate kidney function estimation, personalized pharmacotherapeutic decision-making, and equitable care in all patient populations.
Morgan Casal is a third year PhD student in the PittPharmacy Clinical Pharmaceutical Scientist track. Her primary advisor is Thomas Nolin, who is Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacy and Therapeutics and in the Department of Medicine Renal-Electrolyte Division. Jan Beumer is Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, the Department of Medicine Hematology/Oncology Division and in the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center.
