MIRECC / CoE

Biography: Dr. Lavigne earned her PhD (Health Services Research and Policy) and Master’s degrees (Public Health, Public Policy Analysis) from the University of Rochester and her undergraduate degree from Duke University (cum laude). She serves as Professor of Pharmacy Practice and Administration at the Wegmans School of Pharmacy, St John Fisher College and is co-Director of the Rochester Area Collaborative Center of Excellence in Pain Education (Director: OJ Sahler, MD, University of Rochester), funded by the National Institutes of Health Pain Consortium. She was previously a faculty member at the University of Rochester Medical School and the School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2012-2015 she was selected to serve as a technical reviewer for multi-million dollar proposals to implement health care system reform via the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation and made possible under the Affordable Care Act (2010).

Interests:  Dr. Lavigne currently works to: (1) Improve the safe and optimal use of medications to prevent suicide, and (2) prepare pharmacists to communicate with at-risk Veterans in community pharmacy settings. Examples of recent work include supporting projects to improve surveillance of drug safety for suicide risk, pharmacoeconomics, education, and comparative safety of medication regimens and suicide risk.  

PRACTICE & INNOVATION

Our team focuses on prevention of suicide and its antecedents by advancing the safe use of medications through a variety of projects and teams.  Our collaborators in include VA offices and external partners committed to leveraging pharmacy resources and medication safety to prevent suicide among Veterans.

Select Publications:

Gibbons RD, Hur K, Lavigne J, Mann JJ.  Drugs and self-harm.  Technical Report, Center for Health Statistics, University of Chicago, 2017.

Lavigne JE. Suicidal Ideation and Behavior as Adverse Events of Prescribed Medications: An Update for Pharmacists. Journal of the American Pharmacists’ Association. 2016;56(2):203–206

 Bishop T,** Lavigne JE, Pigeon W. Epidemiology of traumatic injury, overdose and suicide associated with the z-drugs. In Zolpidem: Clinical Therapeutics, Epidemiology and Toxicology. Nova Science Publishers, New York. 2016.

 Lavigne JE, McCarthy M, Wagoner L, Chapman R, Knox KL. Exposure to prescription drugs with warnings for suicide among Air Force personnel who died by suicide, 2006 – 2009. Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior. 2012. 42(5): 561-566.

Lavigne JE, Au A,** Jian R, Wang Y, Good CB, Glassman PA, Cunningham F. Utilization of prescription drugs with warnings of suicidal thoughts and behaviors in the US and the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), 2009. Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research. 2012. 3:157-63.

Lavigne JE, Mathews J, Knox KL. Post-market surveillance for suicide: The case of gabapentin. Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research. 2010, 1:47-51.

Knox, KL, Phlanz S, Talcott GW, Campise RL, Lavigne JE, Bajorska A, Caine ED. The Air Force suicide prevention program: Implications for public health policy worldwide. American Journal of Public Health. Published on-line ahead of print May 13, 2010.

 Lavigne JE. Smoking cessation agents and suicide. BMJ. 2009 Nov 5;339-b4360.

Lavigne JE (Ed). Frontiers in Suicide Risk: Research, Treatment and Prevention. Nova Science Publishers. 2012.

Select Presentations:

Lavigne JE, Hur K, Kane C, Au A, Bishop T, Pigeon W. Comparative Safety of Prescription Medications for the Treatment of Insomnia and Risk of Suicide Attempt. ISPOR. Baltimore, May 2018.

Lavigne JE, Kane C, Bishop T, Pigeon W. Suicide Attempts among Veterans Exposed to Medications to Induce or Maintain Sleep: Preliminary Results. Department of Defense/Department of Veterans Affairs Suicide Prevention Conference. Denver, CO, August 2017.

Lavigne JE, Kane C, Falbo K, Gutierrez P. Cost-Utility Analysis of Blister Packaging vs. Dispensing as Usual All Medications for Veterans with Conditions Associated with Suicide Risk: Results from a Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial. Webinar, Health Services Research and Development, Department of Veterans Affairs. November 13, 2017.

Lavigne JE, Walsh P, Zhou MS, Gutierrez P. Cost-effectiveness of blister packaging of medications for veterans with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, substance use disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder. Department of Defense/Department of Veterans Affairs Suicide Prevention Conference. Denver, CO, August 2017.

Pigeon, WR, Kane, C, Bishop, T, Lavigne JE. Suicide Attempts in the 12 Months Following Incident Prescriptions of Sedative-Hypnotic Medications in a Large Healthcare System. Sleep. June 2017.

Lavigne JE, Zhou MS, Brown T, Gutierrez P. Cost-effectiveness of unit of use blister packaging versus bulk packaging of all prescription medications for veterans with serious mental illness or post-traumatic stress disorder. Accepted for presentation at the annual meeting of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research, Boston, May 2017.

Lavigne JE. Cost-Utility and Budget Impact Analyses of Blister Packaging versus Dispensing as Usual All Medications for Veterans with Serious Mental Illnesses of Substance Abuse: Methods for Analyzing Randomized Controlled Trial Data. Military Suicide Research Consortium Annual Meeting. Denver, Colorado. July 2016.

Cole J, Lavigne JE. Using GIS and Emergency Planning Methods to Map Household Access to Community Pharmacies by Poverty and Veteran Status. ESRI Annual Meeting. San Diego, CA. June 2016.

Lavigne JE, Au A, Jian R, Wang Y, Good CB, Glassman PA, Cunningham F. Utilization of Prescription Drugs with Warnings of Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors in the US and the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), 2009. International Society for Phamacoepidemiology and Therapeutic Risk Management, Chicago, Illinois, August 2011.

 
Bishop T,** Lavigne JE, Titus C. Pigeon W. Epidemiology of traumatic injury, overdose and suicide associated with the z-drugs. In Zolpidem: Clinical Therapeutics, Epidemiology and Toxicology. Annual Sleep Meeting. June 2016.

 Lavigne JE, King DA, Lu N, Knox KL. Pharmacist and pharmacy staff knowledge and attitudes towards suicide and suicide prevention: Lessons from a national training program in the US Department of Veterans Affairs. International Society of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research, Baltimore, MD, May 2011. Value in Health. 2011. 14(3):A199-A200.

Recent Grants:

Title:  Rochester Area Collaborative Center of Excellence in Pain Education (RACCoEPE) 
Source:  National Institutes of Health Pain Consortium
Dates:  2015-2020
Current Total Cost Estimate (TPC):  $441,850 (Positive technical review, contract in negotiation)
Role:  Co-Principal Investigator (PI: Sahler, O. University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry)