News

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Radhika Devraj, PhD, has been selected to the U.S. Pharmacopeial (USP) Convention Expert Panel on Health Literacy. The associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences in the SIUE School of Pharmacy (SOP) will serve a five-year term on the volunteer panel.  

USP’s mission is to create a world in which all have access to quality, safe and beneficial medicines and foods. The expert panel’s purpose will be to develop recommendations and continue to revise standards to promote health literacy. Standard development will continue with respect to general chapter, prescription container labeling to support labeling methodologies such as the Universal Medication Schedule (UMS), metric dosing of oral liquid medications and indication based dosing. The panel will also update and revise the USP pictograms.

“I hope to contribute my expertise related to the health literacy considerations involved in the use of pictograms, labeling and oral dosing to create health friendly standards that will eventually benefit patients of all literacy levels,” said Devraj, whose publications in the health literacy area and academic expertise made for a natural fit on the panel. 

The scope of recommendations for standards to the Healthcare Quality Expert Committee will help patients:

• Navigate the healthcare system such as reading a patient centered prescription label, understanding medication guides and other forms, and using graphic messaging with text
• Engage in self-care and chronic disease management through patient portals
• Understand mathematical concepts such as risk and probability

“Dr. Devraj’s appointment to the USP expert panel is a significant recognition for her and for the School of Pharmacy,” said Gireesh Gupchup, dean of the SIUE SOP. “It indicates that USP has recognized her important work in the area of health literacy.”

Qualifications required to serve on the panel include English as a second language educators, health literacy experts, graphic messaging experts and practitioners who serve communities in need of adequate health literacy.

An SOP faculty member since July 2007, Devraj earned a PhD with an emphasis in pharmacy administration from Purdue University. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Toledo and a bachelor’s in pharmacy from the University of Bombay. Prior to joining SIUE, she was a research scientist at the BJC HealthCare Center for Healthcare Quality and Effectiveness and at Washington University School of Medicine.

The U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention is a scientific nonprofit organization that sets standards for the identity, strength, quality and purity of medicines, food ingredients and dietary supplements manufactured, distributed and consumed worldwide. USP’s drug standards are enforceable in the U.S. by the Food and Drug Administration, and these standards are used in more than 140 countries. Since its founding in 1820, USP has helped secure the quality of the American drug supply. Building on that legacy, USP today works with scientists, practitioners and regulators of many nations to develop and revise standards that help protect public health worldwide.

Photo:  Radhika Devraj, an associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences in the SIUE School of Pharmacy.