Dr. Lapane is currently a Professor in Quantitative Health Sciences and the Associate Dean of Clinical and Population Health Research.  Her primary research interests falls under the umbrella of medication issues in vulnerable populations.  She has performed drug utilization studies, often evaluating the contextual, organizational, policy impacts on patterns of prescription drug use among nursing home residents.  Dr. Lapane has also conducted a series of non-experimental comparative effectiveness research studies of medications in populations systematically excluded from clinical trials.  She has used large administrative claims databases to estimate the risks associated with appropriate medication use.  Dr. Lapane has conducted large scale intervention trials to improve medication related issues in marginalized populations.  She has led the development and implementation of two large nursing home trials in which she assembled separate expert panels to assist in reviewing the intervention materials and focus.  She has also participated in consensus panels related to inappropriate medication use in older adults. Collaborating with the National Osteoarthritis Initiative, she also has evaluated the use of complementary and alternative medicine and the effectiveness of these treatments in patients with osteoarthritis. Dr. Lapane’s methodological work has focused on the robustness of techniques and the appropriate application of techniques often used in non-experimental comparative effectiveness research.  Dr. Lapane has had ~15 years of uninterrupted federal support in conducting studies relating to medication use, as well as multisite randomized trials of novel care models.