PEOPLE

Aquilante honored with teaching award

By Staff
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Christina Aquilante
Christina Aquilante

Christina Aquilante, PharmD, professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Skaggs School of Pharmacy at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, has received the 2019 Chancellors Teaching Award from the Graduate School of CU Denver.

Aquilante was nominated by graduate students in Pharmaceutical Sciences and Toxicology, and her letter of nomination was supported by her students in Egypt, Singapore and Canada as well as PharmD students from CU Denver.

Her patient-oriented clinical research program is aimed at identifying pharmacogenetic determinants of drug disposition, response, and adverse effects in cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, American Heart Association, American College of Clinical Pharmacy, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, pharmaceutical industry and private foundations.

Aquilante’s clinical studies are focused on heart transplant recipients and patients with advanced heart failure. The primary goal of her work is to identify genetic predictors of drug disposition (pharmacokinetics), response (pharmacodynamics) and adverse effects in heart transplant recipients. She is also interested in identifying factors that influence medication regimen complexity and adherence in the heart transplant population.

Recently, Aquilante has expanded her research program to include a cross-disciplinary and translational component. This approach is being used to elucidate mechanisms underlying left ventricular assist device (LVAD)-related adverse effects in patients with advanced heart failure.