Joseph E. Rower

Joseph E. Rower, PhD

Languages spoken: English

Academic Information

Departments Primary - , Adjunct - Pediatrics

Divisions:

Academic Office Information

Joseph.Rower@hsc.utah.edu

Board Certification

  • American Board of Clinical Pharmacology

Dr. Joseph Rower is a Research Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Pharmacology and Toxicology, and Associate Director of the Center for Human Toxicology. Dr. Rower completed his graduate work at the University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Campus where his research focused on the unique pharmacology of nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors used to treat HIV. Some of this work supported the use of the drug combination tenofovir-emtricitabine for prevention of HIV transmission. His current work focuses on generating evidence based dose guidance within children. He has a particular interest in using dried blood spots (DBS) as an approach for generating pediatric pharmacokinetic data. Ongoing projects in the lab include:

1) Building a decision support tool (DST) guiding tacrolimus dosing in pediatric heart transplant. The immunosuppressant tacrolimus is a drug with a narrow therapeutic index which exhibits substantial inter-individual variability, complicating its clinical use. We previously constructed a population PK model of tacrolimus that provides the underlying mathematics of a DST that is currently being prospectively tested in children following heart transplant. We anticipate that the DST will help clinicians efficiently determine a therapeutic dose of tacrolimus in this population, and in doing so, improve clinical outcomes.

2) Determining the safety/efficacy of valganciclovir in asymptomatic congenital CMV infection. The laboratory is providing pharmacology support for a multi-center study of valganciclovir to prevent hearing loss in newborns congenitally infected with CMV, using samples collected via DBS.

3) Determining the safety/efficacy of oxandrolone to promote weight gain following congenital heart defect repair in newborns.

Dr. Rower’s current research focuses on improving the clinical care of children. Specifically, his research focuses on validating bioanalytical methods for determining drug concentrations from small blood volumes. This research has the potential to revolutionize pediatric clinical pharmacology studies, especially in neonates and other populations where blood volume is limited. These advances will enable future studies which can better define the impact of age on the pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic relationships. Dr. Rower is especially interested in defining these relationships for drugs used to treat infectious diseases and in transplantation.

Education History

Postdoctoral Fellowship University of Utah
 Postdoctoral Fellow
Postdoctoral Fellowship University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
 Postdoctoral Fellow
Postdoctoral Fellowship University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
 Postdoctoral Fellow
Doctoral Training University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
 PhD
Undergraduate California Lutheran University
 BS

Selected Publications

Journal Article

  1. Biltaji E, Enioutina EY, Yellepeddi V, Rower JE, Sherwin CMT, Ward RM, Lemons RS, Constance JE (2020). Supportive care medications coinciding with chemotherapy among children with hematologic malignancy. Leuk Lymphoma, 61(8), 1920-1931.
  2. Rower JE, King AD, Wilkins D, Wilkes J, Yellepeddi V, Maese L, Lemons RS, Constance JE (2020). Dronabinol Prescribing and Exposure Among Children and Young Adults Diagnosed with Cancer. J Adolesc Young Adult Oncol, 10(2), 175-184.
  3. Rower JE, Nielson C, Shi K, Park AH (2020). Validation of an assay for quantifying ganciclovir in dried blood spots. J Pharm Biomed Anal, 184, 113181.
  4. McEvoy CT, Ballard PL, Ward RM, Rower JE, Wadhawan R, Hudak ML, Weitkamp JH, Harris J, Asselin J, Chapin C, Ballard RA (2020). Dose-escalation trial of budesonide in surfactant for prevention of bronchopulmonary dysplasia in extremely low gestational age high-risk newborns (SASSIE). Pediatr Res.
  5. Linakis MW, Rower JE, Sorenson S, Reilly CA, Lambert LM, Williams RV, Burch PT (2020). Stability of Oxandrolone in Medium-Chain Triglyceride Oil and Pharmacokinetics Following Buccal Administration of the Extemporaneous Formulation in Neonates and Adults. J Pediatr Pharmacol Ther, 25(3), 220-227.
  6. Hill AC, Rower JE, White HS (2019). The pharmacokinetics of oral carbamazepine in rats dosed using an automated drug delivery system. Epilepsia, 60(9), 1829-1837.
  7. Reilly AM, Ding MX, Rower JE, Kiser TH (2019). The Effectiveness of a Vancomycin Dosing Guideline in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for Achieving Goal Therapeutic Trough Concentrations. J Clin Pharmacol, 59(7), 997-1005.
  8. Rower JE, Anderson DJ, Sherwin CM, Reilly CA, Ballard PL, McEvoy CT, Wilkins DG (2019). Development and validation of an assay for quantifying budesonide in dried blood spots collected from extremely low gestational age neonates. J Pharm Biomed Anal, 167, 7-14.
  9. Becker SM, Job KM, Lima K, Forbes TJ, Wagstaff J, Tran NK, Sherwin CM, Nelson DS, Johnson MD, Rower JE (2018). Prospective study of serum and ionized magnesium pharmacokinetics in the treatment of children with severe acute asthma. Eur J Clin Pharmacol, 75(1), 59-66.
  10. Lanke S, Yu T, Rower JE, Balch AH, Korgenski EK, Sherwin CM (2016). AUC-Guided Vancomycin Dosing in Adolescent Patients With Suspected Sepsis. J Clin Pharmacol, 57(1), 77-84.
  11. Job KM, Olson J, Stockmann C, Constance JE, Enioutina EY, Rower JE, Linakis MW, Balch AH, Yu T, Liu X, Thorell EA, Sherwin CM (2016). Pharmacodynamic studies of voriconazole: informing the clinical management of invasive fungal infections. Expert Rev Anti Infect Ther, 14(8), 731-46.