Andrea J. Apter, MD, MA, MSc
| Office Location | 829, Gates Pavilion |
| Office Phone | 215-662-2425 |
| apter@mail.med.upenn.edu | |
| Personal Website | http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/lungctr/paccd/pulmonary/physicians_staff/faculty/aapter.html |
Faculty Information | |
| CCEB Appointment | Associate Scholar, Epidemiology |
| Primary Faculty Appointment | Professor of Medicine at HUP, Allergy and Immunology Division, University of Pennsylvania Perelman SOM |
Research Statement
Andrea Apter, MD, MSCE is Associate Professor of Medicine, in the Section of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania. She is board-certified in both internal medicine and allergy and immunology and holds a Masters Degree in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. At Penn she is Associate Scholar of the Center of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics and a Senior Scholar of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics and an Associate Scholar of the Center of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics. She is Associate Editor of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and a Director of the American Board of Allergy and Immunology. She served on the FDA Pulmonary Allergy Drug Advisory Committee and NIH study sections and DSMBs.
Dr. Apter’s research concentrates on eliminating health disparities focusing on asthma and barriers to adherence, as well as the patient-provider relationship, and the impact of the health system and the social environment on patient health. In 2000 Dr. Apter received a Mentored Clinical Research Scientist Award (K23) from the NHLBI to study modifiable predictors of adherence. This project has resulted in several publications and led to the awarding of an R01 in 2005, “Individualized Interventions to Improve Asthma.” This ongoing project will enroll 390 adults with moderate or severe persistent asthma from diverse primary care and specialty clinics serving minority and low-income patients with asthma.
Dr. Apter’s other research interest is drug allergy. She used a large clinical database to study readministration of penicillin to individuals with a history of events consistent with penicillin allergy and to study whether there is cross-reactivity between penicillins and cephalosporins. With Dr. Rebbeck and others she is studying genetic influences of penicillin allergy.
Selected Publications
George M, Freedman TG, Norfleet AL, Feldman HI, Apter AJ. Qualitative research allows better understanding of patients' beliefs: results of focus groups with low-income urban African American adults. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2003; 111: 967-73.
Apter AJ, Boston RC, George M, Norfleet AL, Tenhave T, Coyne JC, Birck K, Reisine ST, Cucchiara AJ, Feldman HI. Modifiable Barriers to Adherence to Inhaled Steroids Among Adults with Asthma: It's Not Just Black and White. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2003; 111: 1219-1226.
Strom BL, Schinnar R., Apter AJ, Margolis D, Lautenbach E, Hennessy S, Bilker WB. Absence of Cross-Reactivity Between Sulfonamide Antibiotics and Subsequent Sulfonamide Non-Antibiotics. N Engl J Med 2003; 349: 1628-35.
Apter AJ, Kinman JL, Bilker WB, Herlim M, Margolis DJ, Hennessy S, Lautenbach E, Strom BL. Re-administration of penicillin in patients who have had allergic-like events: examination of a large electronic medical record. J Allergy Clin Immunology 2004; 113: 764-70.
Bogen D, Apter AJ. An adherence logger for a dry-powder inhaler: a new device for medical adherence research. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2004; 114: 863-868.
Apter AJ, Kinman JL, Bilker WB, Herlim M, Margolis DJ, Hennessy S, Lautenbach E, Strom BL. Is There Cross-Reactivity between Penicillins and Cephalosporins? Investigation using a Large Electronic Medical Record Database. Am J Med. 2006; 119(4): 354.e11-9.
Apter AJ, Cheng J, Small D, Albert C, Fein D, Bennett IM, George M, Van Horne S. Asthma Numeracy Skill and Health Literacy. J Asthma. In press.
