Aya Ozaki, assistant professor of clinical pharmacy at the UC Irvine School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, aims to develop a multidisciplinary cardiovascular team care that focuses on vulnerable populations including underserved women.

“Gender disparities in cardiovascular care are well-documented,” says Ozaki. “Women are less likely to receive guideline recommended cardiovascular medications in many areas of cardiovascular disease. Also, women are less likely access to healthcare. Women remain underrepresented in major cardiovascular clinical trials, limiting the evidence and generalizability of cardiovascular evidence to women.”

Ozaki advocates for a greater awareness of disparities in healthcare. In her research, Ozaki and a team of researchers discovered that various efforts have been made by pharmacists to support underserved populations, yet there was a lack of pharmacist interventions to minimize health disparities in women.

“Pharmacists play important roles to reduce the gap of disparities in clinical care and health outcomes,” says Ozaki. She hopes her cardiovascular team will help provide individualized care with closer follow-up to provide support and education, and stronger monitoring of cardiovascular risk management to improve patient outcomes.

“We also aim to enhance communication to build trusting relationships with patients,” says Ozaki. “We strive to improve care by providing individualized care that targets risk factors, incorporates patient preferences, and helps patients address barriers related to social determinants of health.”