More than 750 older Americans are hospitalized every day due to severe side effects from their medications. Many of them will die prematurely as a result. In this episode of Driven to Discover, host Laurie Kaiser talks to David Jacobs, an assistant professor of pharmacy practice at the University at Buffalo, about the systemic failures in our health care system driving this alarming trend, and how he and other members of an interdisciplinary initiative called Team Alice are working to reverse it. Jacobs recounts the story of Alice Brennan, the vibrant, 88-year-old woman for whom Team Alice is named; explains how the team has grown over the years to involve researchers from across the university as well as the greater community; and shares what individuals can do now to keep themselves and their loved ones safe from medication-related harm.

Credits: 

Host: Laura Kaiser
Guest: David Jacobs
Writer/Producer: Laura Silverman
Production and editing by UB Video Production Group 

Coming next year: Driven to Discover is taking a break over the summer. We will be back in late August with a whole new slate of UB experts and innovators discussing what drove them to focus their life’s work on their subject and what makes their research meaningful for the world at large.