The American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (ASCPT) selected Cara McDermott, PhD, PharmD, MSc, assistant professor of medicine and population health sciences, as the recipient of the 2025 William B. Abrams Award in Geriatric Clinical Pharmacology.
“Winning this award is an incredible honor. I am fortunate to be recognized for my research this early in my career,” McDermott said.
As a researcher with a passion for improving the care of older adults with serious illnesses, many of the publications McDermott led or co-authored focus on enhancing medication safety and symptom management, lowering costs, and reducing caregiver burden. Additionally, she’s used administrative claims to assess methods for evaluating medication use and used electronic health records and novel database linkages to examine patient outcomes for older adults.
“Most of the award winners to date have been physicians and being honored as a pharmacist highlights our contributions to the field,” McDermott said.
She has also held leadership positions at the American Geriatrics Society, American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, and the Society for Medical Decision Making.
Before arriving at Duke University’s School of Medicine in 2022, McDermott received her PharmD and PhD from the University of Washington where she completed her postdoctoral fellowship and served as an acting instructor during her K12 fellowship.
McDermott will be presented with a plaque and a monetary prize during the ASCPT’s Annual Meeting in May 2025.
“Dr. Abrams was an illustrious researcher in geriatric clinical pharmacology, and many previous Abrams award winners are people whose research I have long admired,” she said.
The award was established by Abrams in 1996 to honor investigators for outstanding contributions in geriatric clinical pharmacology and encourage other young professionals to enter the field.
Dr. Abrams spent most of his career at the Merck Company Foundation, served as president of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics organization, was a founding co-editor of the Merk Manual of Geriatrics, created the Scientific Section on Geriatric Clinical Pharmacology of ASCPT, and developed and funded post-doctoral training programs in geriatric clinical pharmacology.