School of Pharmacy

Radhika Devraj, PhD

Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Biography

Radhika Devraj, Professor of pharmaceutical sciences, received her PhD with an emphasis in Pharmacy Administration from Purdue University. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Toledo, and a BS in Pharmacy from the University of Bombay. Her research interests are in the broad area of patient-reported outcomes, health literacy and scholarship of teaching and learning. 

Research

My research interests can be broadly described as studying factors that prevent patients from having the best possible outcomes of therapy. Among the myriad factors that may contribute to poor patient outcomes, I have been involved with research in the areas of health literacy, and health-related quality of life. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is another area of interest. I received the AACP SoTL grant to design a mobile serious game app to enhance instruction in a pharmacy management course. Recently, I have also been involved in qualitative research in leadership, and gender equity.

Health Literacy: My current research interests focus in the area of health literacy. Health Literacy refers to patients’ ability to read, understand and act on their understanding of information provided to them by health care practitioners. I have worked on research projects examining health literacy in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), as well as studying pharmacists’ understanding of health literacy. I am interested in developing interventions to help patients with low health literacy, as well as studying the role of pharmacists in enhancing health literacy. This may be via tailored interventions directed towards pharmacists in their routine practice and studying the impact of such interventions. I am also interested in demonstrating the effect of health literacy on significant outcomes of care. Further, I am interested in developing innovative teaching methods to enhance knowledge and awareness about health literacy among current pharmacy students.

Source: http://www.ashpintersections.org/2009/10/speaking-the-language-of-health-literacy/

Health-related quality of life: I have previously been involved in research examining the relationship between health-related quality of life (HRQOL) as a patient outcome, and its relationship with health care resource utilization in patients with COPD. I continue to have an interest in evaluating the impact of interventions, diseases or medications on patients’ health-related quality of life.

Selected Publications

Devraj R, Wilhelm M, Deshpande M. Consumer perceptions of a shingles infograph intervention and vaccination plans in community pharmacy settings. Submitted to J of Pharmacy Practice)

 Devraj R, Colyott L, Cain J. Design and evaluation of a serious mobile game app to supplement instruction. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning. 2021; 13(9): 1228-1235.

Chen AMH, Armbruster AL, Buckley B, Campbell JA, Dang DK, Devraj R, Drame I, Edwards A, Haack SL, Ma Q, Petry N, Planas LG, Sadowski CA, Santee J, Wade L, Borja-Hart N. Curricular inclusion of health disparities/cultural competence and health literacy in U.S. and Canadian Pharmacy Programs. Am J of Pharm Educ Jan 2021; 85(1): 8200

Devraj R, Deshpande M. Demographic and health-related predictors of proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use and association with chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage in NHANES population. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy 2020;16(6): 776-782.

Devraj R, Gupchup GV, Henson D. Mental Health Literacy of pharmacy students compared to nursing and medical students. Innov Pharm 2019; 10(4): Article 2

Poirier TP and Devraj R. Pharmacy in an improved healthcare delivery model: Meeting Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Am J Pharm Educ. Oct 2019; 83(8):7627

Devraj R, Borrego M, Vilay AM, Pailden J. Awareness, Self-management Behaviors, Health Literacy, and Kidney Function Relationships in Specialty Practice. World J of Nephrology 2018; 7(1): 41-50.

Devraj R and Young HN. Pharmacy language assistance resources and their association with pharmacists’ self-efficacy in communicating with Spanish-speaking patients. Res Soc Adm Pharm 2017; Jan-Feb; 13(1): 123-132

Poirier TP, Devraj R, Blankson F, Xin H (2016). Interprofessional online global health course. Am J Pharm Educ. 2016; 80(9):155

Devraj R and Gupchup GV. Health literacy-based communication by Illinois pharmacists. Innov Pharm. 2015; 6(3):1-8.

Poirier TP, Devraj R. Time for consensus on a new approach for assessments. Am J Pharm Educ 2015; Feb 17;79(1):02.

Devraj R, Borrego M, Vilay AM, Gordon EJ, Pailden J. Relationship between health literacy and kidney function. Nephrology 2015; 20(5): 360-367