Diabetes

Professor of Clinical Pharmacy
Associate Dean for Student Affairs
Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Dr. Morello's research program involves exploring both clinical outcomes in diabetes patients and educational outcomes in student pharmacists who attend her diabetes educational programs. Dr. Morello maintains a clinical practice at the Veterans Affairs San Diego Health System where she is Director of the Diabetes Intense Medical Management Clinic. She is studying the effect of pharmacist-run diabetes medication management services on the 1) metabolic, 2) quality of life, 3) patient satisfaction 4) adherence rate outcomes in diabetes patients, 5) pharmacoeconomics and 6) medication complexity.
Dr. Morello also conducts research on the effectiveness of the educational models such as diabetes self-care educational program, currently collaborating on a project using videos to enhance educational training as well as the impact of student wellness.
Education:
B.A. in Chemistry with a minor in Socio- cultural Anthropology (1991) UC Davis; Pharm.D. (1996) UC San Francisco; National Board Certification in Diabetes Education (1999) (CDE).
Awards and Honors:
San Diego Society of Health- System Pharmacists Pharmacist of the Year Award (2002); Excellence in Teaching Faculty Award (2003, 2005, 2006); Valedictorian for UCSD National Leadership in Academic Medicine Award (2005); American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Foundation Literature Award for Innovation in Pharmacy Practice for diabetes clinical outcomes research (2007); American Pharmacist Association Merit Award for diabetes education research (2008), San Diego Business Journal “Women Who Mean Business” Award, finalist (2013); American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Teaching Award (2015); American Association of Diabetes Educators Pharmacy Community of Interest Pharmacy Best Practices in Diabetes Care Award (2016); CSHP Innovative Pharmacy Practice Award Honorable Mention (2017); Excellence in Teaching Award, UC San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (2019)
Leadership Experience:
Phi Lambda Sigma National Pharmacy Leadership Society (1995); Fellow of the California Society of Health-System Pharmacists (2003), Fellow of American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (2013); Department Mentor Director, Health Sciences Faculty Mentoring Program (2017-2020), Health Sciences Faculty Equity Advisor (2018- present)
- Pharmacy: Pharmacy Practice (SPPS 202)
- Therapeutics (SPPS 212A)
- Diabetes; pharmacology, electives and various APPEs and IPPEs
- Development of Student Wellness Program within Office of Student Affairs.
- Effective use of diabetes education and clinical treatment to help patients with diabetes achieve metabolic goals.
- Established the Pharmacist-Run Diabetes Intense Medical Management clinic at the Veterans Affairs San Diego Health System.
- Clinical research in diabetes patients in pharmacist led-ambulatory care clinics at two government facilities (Naval Medical Center and VA).
- Morello CM et al. (2011). Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of insulin analogs in special populations with T2DM.International Journal of General Medicine.4:827-835.
- Morello CM et al. (2013). Navigating complex patients using an innovative tool: The MTM Spider Web. J Am Pharm Assoc 53:530-8.
- Morello CM et al. (2016) Clinical outcomes associated with a collaborative pharmacist-endocrinologist diabetes intense medical management "tune up” clinic in complex patients. Ann Pharmacother, 50(1):8-16.
- Hirsch JD, et al. (2017) Estimated Cost-Effectiveness, Cost Benefit, and Risk Reduction Associated with an Endocrinologist-Pharmacist Diabetes Intense Medical Management "Tune-Up" Clinic. JMCP 23:318-326.
- Morello CM, Rotunno T, Khoan J, Hirsch JR. (2018) Improved glycemic control with minimal change in medication regimen complexity in a pharmacist-endocrinologist diabetes intense medical management (DIMM) “tune up” clinic. Ann Pharmacotherapy 52(11):1091-97.
- Singh RF, Kelly P, Tam A, Bronner J, Morello CM, Hirsch JD. (2018) Evaluation of a short, interactive diabetes self-management program by pharmacists for patients with type 2 diabetes. BMC Res Notes. 11(1):828.
- Awdishu LA, et. al(2019) Advancing pharmacist collaborative care within academic health systems. Pharmacy. 7(4):142.
- Hirsch JD, Nemlekar P, Phuong P, Hollenbach KA, Lee KC, Adler DS, Morello CM. (2020) Patterns of stress, coping and health-related quality of life in doctor of pharmacy students: a five year cohort study. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education. 84 (3) Article 7547.
- Morello CM, Nguyen T, Tao L, Hirsch JD. (2020) Improved glycemic control outcomes regardless of mental health disorders in a pharmacist-endocrinologist diabetes intense medical management (DIMM) “tune up” clinic. Ann Pharmacotherapy. Feb 26.1-8.
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- Evaluating drug effectiveness or safety in patients with type 2 diabetes
- Developing service interventions (clinical or educational) patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus
- Developing novel practice models that will improve the treatment course of diabetes patients
- Developing and evaluating student wellness programs