Amy C Donihi

Amy Donihi, PharmD, is a Professor and Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in the Department of Pharmacy and Therapeutics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy (PittPharmacy) and a Diabetes Care and Education Specialist with the Division of Endocrinology. Dr. Donihi is a Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist (BCPS) and a fellow of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP). Her clinical practice and research interests focus on inpatient diabetes management, diabetes education, and facilitation of safe transitions for patients from hospital to home.

Dr. Donihi received her BS in pharmacy from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, College of Pharmacy and her PharmD from the State University at Buffalo. She completed a pharmacy practice residency at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Presbyterian. She has been a faculty member at PittPharmacy since 1999.

Dr. Donihi has been a member of the UPMC Diabetes Patient Safety Committee (DPSC) since its inception in 2001, and she has served as co-chair of this system-wide committee since 2010. Through her work with the DPSC, she has collaborated with physicians, nurses, and other healthcare providers to develop, implement, and assess hospital-wide standardized protocols that target inpatient diabetes and hyperglycemia management. In addition, she has worked directly with other hospitals within the health system and beyond to aid in their implementation of the standardized protocols developed by her in collaboration with the DPSC. Eight of the hyperglycemia management protocols that Dr. Donihi designed and tested at UPMC are currently posted to the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) Inpatient Diabetes Resource Center.

Dr. Donihi has been an investigator or co-investigator on seven research grants, published more than 20 peer-reviewed papers and presented over 25 abstracts at national meetings describing the development and outcomes of diabetes protocols and programs. Her work has been cited within the American Diabetes Association Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes as well as the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and American Diabetes Association Consensus Statements on Inpatient Glycemic Control.

Dr. Donihi has been recognized by the leadership of UPMC for her work to improve the quality of diabetes care in the hospital. She was on the winning team at the UPMC Quality Fair five times for five different diabetes-related projects between 2004 and 2013. In 2015, she was awarded the Richard L. Simmons, MD, Speak Up for Patient Safety Award in recognition of 15 years of work as a member of the DPSC to improve the glycemic management and safety of people with diabetes or newly recognized hyperglycemia in the hospital setting.

Dr. Donihi is a member of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP). Among her other roles, she served as the Chair of the ACCP Endocrine & Metabolism Practice and Research Network (PRN) from 2015-2016.