The University of Houston College of Pharmacy (UHCOP) has welcomed Demi Martinez,
Pharm.D. (’19), BCACP, to its faculty as clinical assistant professor, bringing experience
in ambulatory care, chronic disease management and patient care within underserved
communities.
Martinez completed a PGY1 pharmacy residency with a mental health track at the Veterans Affairs Texas Valley Coastal Bend Health Care System in Corpus Christi, followed by a PGY2 residency in ambulatory care at Harris Health System in Houston. Following her PGY2 residency, Martinez remained with Harris Health, where she served as an ambulatory care clinical pharmacy specialist at Settegast Health Center and Acres Home Health Center.
Additionally, she served as a clinical pharmacist co-lead for virtual blood pressure management programs at both Settegast and Acres Home health centers, helping develop workflows, enroll patients and improve monitoring and follow-up for ambulatory care patients.
Her clinical work has included managing a range of chronic conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and anticoagulation. Those experiences helped shape her interest in ambulatory care and improving long-term health outcomes through medication management and patient-centered care.
Martinez joins the practice site with fellow UHCOP faculty at Vecino's Denver Harbor Family Health Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center serving underserved patient populations. Fluent in Spanish, Martinez is able to communicate directly with Spanish-speaking patients, helping foster trust, strengthen patient-provider relationships and support more personalized care. Her practice provides an opportunity to address barriers to healthcare access while working collaboratively with other health professionals to help patients manage chronic conditions and improve their overall health.
Her research interests similarly reflect a focus on improving medication use and outcomes among underserved populations. Among the previous projects she has undertaken are deprescribing inappropriate proton pump inhibitors in older adults, adverse effects associated with SGLT2 inhibitor therapy in a low-income patient population, and factors associated with deprescribing basal insulin in patients with type 2 diabetes.
In addition to in-service presentations to colleagues at her practice and residency sites, Martinez has presented projects at the Texas Society of Health-System Pharmacists Alcalde Southwest Leadership Conference, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Midyear Clinical Meeting, and the annual meeting of the College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacists (now American Association of Psychiatric Pharmacists).