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 on Feb. 4: Host David Hill chats with architecture professor Joyce Hwang, whose work over the past two decades incorporating wildlife habitats into the built environment challenges humans’ notions of what it means to coexist with animals, whether they’re creepy and crawly or cute and cuddly. Hwang’s work has been featured by the Museum of Modern Art and exhibited around the world.