Pharmacist and Community Health Worker support to help people stick to blood pressure medicines
Official title: Pharmacist-CHW Team to Improve Medication Adherence and Reduce Hypertension Disparities
Funded at University of Arizona · NIH-11141694 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project aims to help African-American, Latino, and Vietnamese adults with high blood pressure take their medications more regularly by pairing pharmacists with community health workers.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Arizona NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Tucson, United States) |
| Project start | September 6, 2021 |
| Project end | June 30, 2026 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $565,500 |
| NIH project number | 5R01HL151772-05 |
| Project ID | NIH-11141694 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are adults from African-American, Latino, or Vietnamese communities with high blood pressure who are taking multiple medications and have low medication adherence.
✕Less likely to help
People without high blood pressure, those who already take their medicines reliably, or those outside the targeted communities are unlikely to receive direct benefit from this intervention.
What this research studies
You would be invited into a practice-based randomized trial comparing usual care to a coordinated team made up of a clinical pharmacist and a community health worker (CHW). The pharmacist reviews medicines and collaborates with your clinicians while the CHW serves as a cultural broker and navigator to address beliefs, transportation, food insecurity, and other barriers. The program is tailored to each person's culture, language, and social needs and focuses on people with high blood pressure who take many medicines but struggle with adherence. Researchers will track medication-taking and blood pressure over time to see if the team improves blood pressure control.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the intervention could help patients take blood pressure medicines more consistently and improve blood pressure control, especially in underserved racial-ethnic groups.
How similar studies have gone: Previous pharmacist-led and community health worker programs have improved adherence in some settings, but combining them in a culturally tailored, practice-based randomized trial for these specific communities is relatively novel.
Where this research is happening
-
University of Arizona
Tucson, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Lee, Jeannie Kim — University of Arizona
- Study coordinator: Lee, Jeannie Kim
Related research
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Pharmacist and community health worker team to help people with high blood pressure take their medicines
A pharmacist paired with a community health worker will work with African-American, Latino, and Vietnamese patients who have high blood pressure and trouble taking multiple medicines to help them stick to their prescriptions.
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.