2023-24 Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, USA
Eliška Mašková, PhD Fulbright-Masaryk Internship
During a 10-month PhD internship at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, U.S., I had the privilege of working with the Duke Cancer Institute and the Department of Population Health Sciences. From November 1st, 2023, to August 31st, 2024, I was guided by Professor Leah L. Zullig, alongside a supportive team, including Kevin C. Oeffinger, Renee Avecilla, Yan Li, and Mohammad Shahsahebi. This incredible opportunity was made possible through the Fulbright Committee in the Czech Republic.
The primary goal of the internship was to analyze medication adherence in cancer patients, focusing on their adherence to medications for cardiovascular comorbidities such as hypertension, high cholesterol, and diabetes after a cancer diagnosis. This involved leveraging a combination of self-reported surveys, pharmacy refill data, and laboratory measurements. This work contributed to the ONE TEAM study, a randomized-controlled trial, which explores TEAM-based care coordination between oncology and primary care providers. My responsibilities included preparing a Statistical Analysis Plan, cleaning and organizing datasets, addressing missing data, and drafting manuscript.
During the internship, I also refined my soft skills, particularly in communication and collaboration within a large multi-professional research team. Furthermore, I had the opportunity to attend various professional trainings and workshops, such as Duke University’s Summer Institute, and Statistical Analysis courses, as well as sessions on grant development and scientific manuscript publishing organized by the Fulbright Committee. Additionally, I attended a 16th Annual Conference on the Science of Dissemination and Implementation in Health in Arlington, Virginia, hosted for over a 2000 researches.
My time in the U.S. provided a rich cultural experience, from observing Americans’ passion for celebrations and lifestyle choices to learning about the contrasts in healthcare and everyday life. Outside of work, I traveled extensively, exploring natural wonders, experiencing historic sites, and engaging in various outdoor activities like hiking and visiting national landmarks.
My research led to the acceptance of abstracts for oral and poster presentations at the 28th ESPACOMP and XXVI. sympozium klinické farmacie René Macha conferences. Additionally, a publication is currently being drafted for submission to a peer-reviewed journal. The research will continue beyond my internship, with baseline data analysis scheduled once the study's enrollment concludes in December 2024.
This internship has been a deeply enriching experience, both professionally and personally. I gained invaluable insights into medication adherence research, dissemination and implementation science, expanded my professional network, and grew as a researcher and individual. I am deeply grateful to my mentor, Prof. Leah Zullig, and the team at Duke University, the research team at Charles University, my husband, and the Fulbright-Masaryk scholarship for making this opportunity possible.
2023 Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium
Ondřej Tesař, PhD ERASMUS+ Traineeship
I had the honor of receiving an invitation for a four-month PhD traineeship at the Louvain Drug Research Institute of UCLouvain, under the supervision of Prof. Olivia Dalleur, to collaborate on the BE-SAFE project.
This opportunity allowed me to expand my knowledge in the area of medication safety - deprescribing potentially harmful medications, specifically benzodiazepines and sedative hypnotics (BSH). My primary research objective was to assist in the development of a Patient-Reported Experience Measures (PREM) questionnaire, which would later be used in the study to gather patient feedback on the BSH deprescribing process.
As both a practicing pharmacist and a researcher in medication safety, I was also fortunate to participate in a one-day traineeship at the pharmacy of Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc. This provided me with invaluable insights and new experiences in a different healthcare setting.
The internship exceeded my expectations. I felt warmly welcomed, collaborated with wonderful colleagues, and gained fresh ideas for my future career. I am looking forward to future collaborations.
2023 Fulbright-Masaryk scholarship at the Faculty of Pharmacy
The Fulbright-Masaryk scholarship supports long-term stays of Czech PhD students, scientists and university teachers in the USA. The programme is designed for those who are outstanding in their scientific field as well as active involved in the civic or public life of their institutions or communities, just as Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk was. Awarded persons may serve on an academic senate, work with a non-profit organization, local government, etc.
Mgr. Eliška Mašková (maden name Voříšková) is a second-year PhD student in the Clinical and Social Pharmacy programme and Vice-chair of the Academic Senate of Charles University. She will have the opportunity to conduct research at the collaborating Duke University in North Carolina under the supervision of Professor Leah Zullig, Ph.D., for 10 months. Eliška has been involved in research on medication adherence since her master's studies at the Department of Social and Clinical Pharmacy and defended her thesis on Consensus Translation of Czech Terminology of Medication Adherence. She also successfully presented her thesis at the Student Scientific Conference (the first prize) and she co-authored two scientific articles. Under the supervision of Kateřina Malá, PharmD, PhD, she continues related research area in her doctoral studies (Multilevel analysis of adherence to treatment), focusing mainly on patients with anticoagulation therapy. Professor Leah Zullig, as an internationally recognized expert in implementation science in medication adherence, has invited Eliška to participate in the multidisciplinary ONE TEAM study, where she will be able to apply the same research principles to cancer patients. However, adherence will be uniquely investigated to treat associated diseases in this cohort of patients.
2022 Utrecht University, the Netherlands
Zuzana Očovská, PhD ERASMUS+ traineeship
Zuzana Očovská, PharmD, completed a 5-month PhD traineeship at the Utrecht University (from May to September 2022). Her traineeship was under the guidance and supervision of Dr. Daniala L. Weir, an assistant professor in the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology & Clinical Pharmacology at the Utrecht University, the Netherlands.
During her ERASMUS+ traineeship, Zuzana focused her research efforts on assessing the sensitivity and specificity of drug-related International Classification of Diseases (ICD) code sets in detecting adverse drug event-related hospital admissions. This project was made possible through the collaborative efforts of Dr. Daniala L. Weir and Dr. Fatma Karapinar-Çarkit. The evaluation was conducted using datasets from the University Hospital Hradec Králové in the Czech Republic (Očovská et al., 2022) and the OLVG hospital in Amsterdam, the Netherlands (Uitvlugt et al., 2021). The aim was to determine any differences in accuracy between adverse drug events detected using administrative healthcare data and those identified through clinically adjudicated adverse drug events. The findings from this project provide insights into the strengths and limitations of using ICD code sets for the surveillance of medication-related hospital admission. The abstract entitled "Sensitivity and specificity of International Classification of Diseases (ICD 10) codes to identify medication-related hospital admissions" was accepted as an oral presentation for the ISoP Mid-Year Symposium 2023 – Pharmacovigilance: where science meets clinical practice. The team's findings emphasize the underestimation of medication-related hospital admissions when relying solely on narrow medication-related ICD code sets and highlight the potential applications of broadened ICD code sets in detecting adverse drug event-related hospital admissions. The team is planning to expand the analysis to one more dataset of clinically adjusted adverse drug events from Canada.
In addition to her traineeship, Zuzana had the opportunity to attend Utrecht Summer School in Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety. This intensive course covered various topics relevant to pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety by several distinguished experts in the field, including Prof. Samy Suissa, who discussed several time-related biases that have been identified in observational studies.
Zuzana Očovská's ERASMUS+ traineeship experience at the Utrecht University provided her with excellent networking opportunities. During her time at the Utrecht University, Zuzana had the privilege of collaborating with experts from pharmacoepidemiology and clinical practice, which will support the completing of her PhD thesis. These interactions not only fostered meaningful connections but also exposed her to diverse perspectives and ideas within the field.
As part of the future collaboration, a scoping review will be conducted to explore the differences, challenges, and added value of different methods for measuring adverse drug event-related hospital admissions, readmissions, and emergency department visits. This review will provide a comprehensive overview of existing literature, identify gaps, and highlight potential opportunities for further research. Another planned collaboration involves the participation in individual patient data (IPD) meta-analysis that will pool different datasets to investigate clinically adjudicated adverse drug events.
2022 Oxford University Hospitals, United Kingdom
Anna Rejman Patková, senior research internship
PharmDr. Anna Rejman Patková, Ph.D. undertook a 2-month overseas placement (from June to August 2022) at the University Hospitals in Oxford. This placement encompassed three health care facilities: Churchill Hospital, John Radcliffe Hospital, and Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre. Anna's internship was conducted under the guidance and supervision of Peter Austin, MRPharmS, IPresc, DipClinPharm, MSc, PhD, Consultant Pharmacist and Team Pharmacist Lead at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University College London School of Pharmacy.
During her tenure, Anna actively participated in a collaborative research initiative that predominantly involved working with data and information sources. This research represented a continuation of a partnership that had commenced five years earlier during Anna's postgraduate studies. The project focused on monitoring fluid and sodium balances in patients undergoing surgical procedures, aiming to highlight the substantial contribution of intravenously administered drugs to daily water and sodium intake, because these contributions are frequently overlooked in clinical practice, both during fluid balance assessments and therapeutic interventions. This time, parenteral nutritional support was investigated as an essential source of the aforementioned sodium and fluid intake.
Throughout the internship, Anna gained insights into healthcare system and the role of clinical pharmacy services in the United Kingdom. As an observer, she had the opportunity to participate in ward rounds, outpatient clinics, multidisciplinary team discussions and learn about local guidelines.
In addition to Oxford, Anna spent two days in London. One day she visited the University College London School of Pharmacy, where she gained a basic understanding of the UK's pharmacy education system. Furthermore, she had the opportunity to learn about some of the research projects carried out at the university by academic staff and PhD students. On another day, Anna visited St Thomas' Hospital, where she observed the clinical pharmacists’ involvement within an alternative healthcare facility.
Another invaluable aspect of Anna's experience was participation in the “journal club”. This platform facilitated in-depth analysis of scientific publications and robust discussions about their interpretations.
One of the most rewarding outcomes of this internship was the reinvigoration of an already established collaboration. Anna had the privilege of actively contributing to quality research while simultaneously gaining insights into the daily practices of experts in the field. This unique blend of scientific exposure and clinical observation not only expanded her scientific skill set but also enriched her understanding of clinical practice.
The internship was supported by the Charles University Mobility Fund.
2019 University of Basel, Switzerland
Barbora Košťálová (Vaňková), PhD internship
I really wanted to go to Basel for a PhD internship. And that is because the director of the Institute of Nursing Science at the University of Basel, Professor Sabina M. De Geest. She is one of the most famous researchers in her field all over the world, and coincidentally, my doctoral research fell under her focus.
I approached Professor De Geest at the ESPACOMP conference, where I presented our research poster. She was friendly, polite, and at the same time very dutiful. Over time, it turned out that she was a reflection of all my Basel colleagues. I secured funding for my internship, the continuation of research in the Czech Republic during my absence, and set out for new experiences.
The main goal of the internship was to refine the methodology of my scientific project on the topic of medication adherence in kidney transplant patients. Like other doctoral students at the university, I regularly discussed my project at the so-called Research Roundtable Meetings and at the individual research groups (in my case the Transplant group). At the same time, I took part in semester classes, got involved under the guidance of Dr. Kris Denhaerynck in the international project called BAASIS (Basel Assessment of Adherence with Immunosuppressive medication Scales) and started a systematic review with the then-doctoral student and now my beloved friend Dr. Janette Ribaut.
As a practicing pharmacist, I also wanted to meet colleagues from my field. In the form of day internships, I had the opportunity to visit the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Basel, the outpatient department of the Transplantation Clinic, and the Hospital Pharmacy of the University Hospital in Basel.
I also got involved in extracurricular activities. I met a lot of foreign students within the ESN group as well as local students from the dormitories. Together we traveled for Swiss culture and took trips to beautiful alpine nature. Basel is a wonderful city especially at this time of year, when it hosts its autumn festivities, followed by the Christmas markets.
My internship at the University of Basel completely exceeded my expectations. This workplace has high demands on students, but they balance this with their professionalism and friendly attitude. My enthusiasm for the internship continues to this day, as well as our scientific collaboration.
Barbora Vaňková, MSc., completed a 3-month PhD internship at the University of Basel, Switzerland (from September to December 2019) which was supported by international cooperation between Charles University and University of Basel.
