Dana Bowers

Assistant Professor, Pharmacotherapy dana.bowers@wsu.edu 509-494-7948 Cadwell 104 Yakima

Education and Certifications

Bachelor of Arts, Biology, Central Washington University
Doctor of Pharmacy, Washington State University College of Pharmacy
BCPS (AQ-ID) – Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist with added qualifications in infectious diseases
BCIDP – Board Certified Infectious Diseases Pharmacist

About Me

I am from Washington and have lived all over the state. I moved to Spokane in high school and that’s where I consider myself from. Ever since high school, I knew that I wanted to become a pharmacist. I realized during pharmacy school that I wanted to specialized in infectious diseases and teach pharmacy students. After graduation, I completed a one-year general pharmacy residency in a hospital, then I completed a two-year clinical research fellowship in infectious diseases. I practiced as a clinical pharmacist, infectious diseases specialist and residency program director in Arizona for 4 years before moving back home to Washington. Currently, I teach in all four years of the doctor of pharmacy program including Pharmacokinetics, Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience, Pharmacotherapy (I and IV), Advance Infectious Diseases and an elective academic teaching rotation for PY4 students on rotation.

As an infectious diseases (ID) pharmacist, I am passionate about antimicrobial stewardship. Antimicrobial stewardship is ensuring that antibiotics are used appropriately. This includes starting the correct antibiotic for the most likely bacteria causing the infection, while minimizing patient harm. Additionally, this includes stopping antibiotics when they are unlikely to benefit the patient, such as in viral infections. This is the focus of ID pharmacists, because antibiotics are frequently prescribed inappropriately which can result in patient harm and contribute to the development of antibiotic resistance. When resistance occurs, we are left with limited treatment options or there aren’t any antibiotics left that can kill the bacteria. My current research focuses on appropriate use of antibiotics through antimicrobial stewardship and also teaching antimicrobial stewardship principles to pharmacy students.

In my spare time I like to…

I enjoy spending time with my family, exercising and cooking healthy food. I am currently learning how to golf, which is better some days than others.

Why WSU?

I knew that I wanted to teach pharmacy school at WSU while I was in pharmacy school. It was important for me to gain clinical experience and expertise before becoming a faculty member. I specifically wanted to teach infectious diseases pharmacotherapy and an infectious diseases elective, which are both courses that I currently teach. This is the career that I always wanted and I am so happy to be part of the WSU CPPS.

Awards

WSU College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Teacher of the Year 2019 – 2020
Teacher of the Year 2017 – 2018

Selected Publications

Bowers DR, Cao H, Zhou J, Ledesma KR, Dongxu S, Lomovskaya O, Tam VH. Assessment of Minocycline and Polymyxin B Combination against Acinetobacter baumannii. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2015; 59(5): 2720 – 2725.

Bowers DR, Liew YX, Lye DC, Kwa AL, Hsu LY, Tam VH. Outcomes of Appropriate Empiric Combination Versus Monotherapy for Pseudomonas aeruginosa Bacteremia. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2013; 57(3): 1270 – 1274.

Dilworth TJ, Casapao AM, Ibrahim OM, Jacobs DM, Bowers DR, Beyda ND, Mercier RC. Adjuvant β-Lactam Therapy Combined with Vancomycin for Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia: Does β-Lactam Class Matter? Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2019; 63(3): e02211-18.

Phe K, Bowers DR, Babic JT, Tam VH. Outcomes of empiric aminoglycoside monotherapy for Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteremia. Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis. 2019; 93(4):346-348.

Jacobs DM, Dilworth TJ, Beyda ND, Casapao AM, Bowers DR. Overtreatment of Asymptomatic Candiduria among Hospitalized Patients: A Multi-institutional Study. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2018; 62(1): e01464-17.

Casapao AM, Jacobs DM, Bowers DR, Beyda ND, Dilworth TJ. Early Administration of Adjuvant Beta Lactam Therapy in Combination of Vancomycin among Patients with Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Bloodstream Infection: A Retrospective, Multicenter Analysis. Pharmacotherapy. 2017: 37(11): 1347 – 1356.

Diep J, Jacobs DM, Sharma M, Covelli J, Bowers DR, Russo TA, Rao GG. Polymyxin B in Combination with Rifampin and Meropenem against Polymyxin B-Resistant KPC-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2017; 61(2): e02121-16.

Tam, VH, Ledesma KR, Bowers DR, Zhou J, Truong LD. Kidney Injury Associated with Telavancin Dosing Regimen in an Animal Model. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2015; 59(5): 2930 – 2933.