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Dr Shakti Shrestha

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

School of Pharmacy
Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences
shakti.shrestha@uq.edu.au
+61 7 334 61940

Overview

I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with academic role at the School of Pharmacy of The University of Queensland. My Postdoctoral position is funded by 2020 Dementia Ageing and Aged Care Mission Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) on Quality Use of Medicine for Residential Aged Care. I have research expertise in the field of geriatric and palliative medication use and safety, quality use of medicine, pharmacy practice and health services. I have research methodology expertise on systematic review, clinical research design, predictive model development, meta-analysis, medical statistics and qualitative research. I have more than 10 years of experience working in research, academic and clinical roles nationally and internationally.

My PhD at the University of Queensland (UQ) focused on optimising medication use in older adults with limited life expectancy, drawing my extensive experience working and researching in a clinical medicine and aged care environment. I received my postgraduate degree in Clinical Pharmacology from the University of Aberdeen (UK) in 2010 and had an opportunity to work with the International Stroke Registry data called SITS-ISTR (Safe Implementation of Thrombolysis in Stroke-International Stroke Thrombolysis Registry) in National Health Service (NHS) Grampian Hospital, UK. I received my undergraduate Pharmacy degree from Pokhara University (Nepal) in 2007.

I was a recipient of the 2018 Australian Research Training Scholarship at the University of Queensland for my doctoral degree. I also received the 2022 Career Development Scholarship from the University of Queensland that allowed me to develop clinical trial skills at Queensland Health - Office of Precision Medicine and Research (OPMR) within the Queensland Clinical Trial Coordination Unit (QCTCU) as well as Queensland's Sunshine Coast University Hospital, Townsville University Hospital and Gold Coast Private Hospital.

Research Interests

  • Deprescribing
    Deprescribing in older adults and more specifically in those with limited life expectancy.

Research Impacts

One of my PhD works on a conceptual medication categorisation for deprescribing decision aid tool for use in older adults with limited life expectancy published in BMJ Open (https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-043766) has been utilised by the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia in its Essential Continuing Pharmacy Education program module on deprescribing. Another tool to assess attitude of health care professional towards deprescribing in older adults with limited life expectancy called the HATD (Health care professionals' Attitudes Towards Deprescribing) tool (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sapharm.2022.03.002) that I developed during my PhD has been given permission upon request to translate and utilise to conduct research in several other countries; the research are ongoing. One of my systematic reviews on outcomes of deprescribing in older adults with limited life expectancy (https://doi.org/10.1111/bcp.14113) was selected, reviewed and published by the Drug and Therapeutic Bulletin (DTB) of British Medical Journals (http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/dtb.2020.000041) highlighting that unless there is evidence of harm associated with stopping medication, the option of deprescribing should be discussed with people with limited life expectancy. DTB independently summarises the best evidence to enable doctors, pharmacists and other health care professionals to make informed and unbiased choices to help patients get the best care and has been providing healthcare professionals with practical and impartial advice on treatment for the last 60 years.

Qualifications

  • Master of Pharmacology, University of Aberdeen
  • Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Sciences(Honours), Pokhara University
  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland

Publications

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Publications

Journal Article

Conference Publication

Other Outputs

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Links

ORCID: 0000-0003-0344-091X

Scopus ID: 56669299200

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