Symposium 5: Counting What We Stop: Measuring Deprescribing in Older Adults with Real-World Data — from Global Methods to Asia-Pacific Practice
Tracks
Track 2
| Saturday, October 31, 2026 |
| 15:30 - 17:00 |
| Lecture Theatre 1 |
Details
Populations across the Asia-Pacific and globally are ageing rapidly, and polypharmacy with potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) imposes a growing clinical and economic burden. Deprescribing can reduce adverse drug events, yet clinicians and health systems lack standardised, validated ways to measure medication reduction and its outcomes using routinely collected data, and reporting of deprescribing studies remains inconsistent — limiting the real-world evidence needed to safely taper therapies in complex older adults.
This symposium unites international methodologists with Asia-Pacific implementation leaders around a shared question: how do we reliably count what we stop, and what happens when we do? Anchored in pharmacoepidemiology and routinely collected data, it addresses the intersection of geriatric pharmacoepidemiology, digital-health infrastructure and AI-driven medicine management through a cross-border lens spanning Sydney, Harvard, Kentucky, and Monash's campuses in Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia.
The programme moves from foundational concepts and measurement methods (including target-trial emulation), through real-world outcome evaluation in high-risk populations such as people living with frailty and dementia, to digital-health, AI and health-economic applications in the Asia-Pacific, before closing on internationally endorsed reporting standards. It is structured as approximately 60 minutes of short talks followed by a 30-minute forum-style panel discussion and audience Q&A (full running order below).
Speakers and their contributions:
● Prof. Danijela Gnjidic (University of Sydney, Australia) — Setting the stage — deprescribing and the role of pharmacoepidemiology, and capturing medication reduction using routinely collected data.
● Dr. Joshua Lin (Harvard University, USA) — Capturing medication reduction from routinely collected clinical data using target-trial emulation methodology.
● Dr. Mouna Sawan (University of Sydney, Australia) — Real-world evidence to assess health outcomes of deprescribing in older adults living with dementia.
● Prof. Shaun Lee (Monash University Malaysia) — Design and implementation of digital-health interventions and AI-driven decision-support tools to optimise medication regimens and identify high-risk polypharmacy patients in Asia-Pacific practice.
● A/Prof. Grace Wangge (Monash University Indonesia) — Tracking real-world medicine management, health technology assessment (HTA) and health-economic impact for geriatric populations in rapidly evolving, developing Asian health systems.
● Dr. Daniela Moga (University of Kentucky, USA) — REMROSE-D — Reporting and Methodological Recommendations for Observational Studies Estimating the effects of Deprescribing medications; an ISPE-endorsed guidance.
● Dr. Shin Liau (Centre for Medicine Use and Safety, Monash University Australia) — forum discussant — Clinical pharmacoepidemiology perspectives drawn from aged-care cohorts across the Asia-Pacific, helping to field methodological questions during the forum.
● Describe how routinely collected / real-world data can be used to measure medication reduction (deprescribing) exposure and outcomes in older adults.
● Appraise methodological approaches — including target-trial emulation — and the ISPE-endorsed REMROSE-D reporting standards for observational deprescribing studies.
● Understand the aged-care landscape of the Asia-Pacific and the opportunities for digital-health, AI and health-economic approaches to safely monitor and implement medication discontinuation in older adults.
Target audience: pharmacoepidemiologists, clinical pharmacists, data scientists, health economists and healthcare researchers looking to design observational studies or implement digital-health interventions in geriatric care.
Speaker
Prof Danijela Gnjidic
The University of Sydney
Symposium Moderator and Presenter
Biography
Dr Pui San Saw
Monash University
Symposium Moderator
Biography
Dr Saw Pui San is the Discipline Head of Pharmacy Practice and Senior Lecturer at the School of Pharmacy, Monash University Malaysia. A registered pharmacist with a PhD in Public Health, her research spans healthcare services, person-centred primary care, pharmacy practice, and health-system improvement. She has contributed to national and international health initiatives, including Malaysia’s National Strategic Plan on Elderly, the WHO-supported Primary Care Systems (PRIMASYS) Country Report, and national safe medicine disposal initiatives. She is also a partner and reviewer with the Malaysian Alliance for Embedding Rapid Reviews in Health Systems Decision-Making (MaERA). Her work reflects a strong commitment to translating research evidence into meaningful improvements in healthcare practice and policy.
Dr. Daniela Moga
Professor
University of Kentucky
Symposium Moderator and Presenter
Biography
Dr. Daniela Moga is a professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science, an affiliated faculty member in the Institute for Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy (IPOP), and Larry H. Spears Endowed Chair in Pharmacogenetics in the College of Pharmacy. Dr. Moga is also jointly appointed as a professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health in the College of Public Health and serves as a faculty associate with the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging.
Dr. Moga's areas of interest include geriatric pharmacoepidemiology and health outcomes research, and lie at the intersection of aging, multimorbidity and brain health. Dr. Moga’s research focuses on using real-world data to evaluate health effects of potentially inappropriate medications, as well as developing and evaluating deprescribing interventions to optimize treatment regimens in older adults at risk.
Associate Professor Joshua Lin
Investigator
Harvard Medical School
Symposium Presenter
Biography
Dr. Lin is a practicing hospitalist at the Massachusetts General Hospital and an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School. He is the Executive Director of the Mass General Brigham Center for Integrated Healthcare Data Research and the Director of the Program of Optimal and Safe Prescribing in the Elderly (PROSPER) in the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He has served as the PI for eight US NIH R01 research projects aiming to integrate insurance claims data with EHR data to improve the validity of comparative effectiveness research in vulnerable populations, including people living with dementia and older adults with high frailty or multiple co-morbidities. He has published extensively on real-world evidence generation using routinely collected healthcare data in numerous high-impact journals.
Dr Mouna Sawan
Senior Lecturer
The University of Sydney
Symposium Presenter
Biography
Dr Mouna Sawan is a pharmacist, senior lecturer, mid-career researcher and Dementia Fellow with expertise in medication safety and dementia, based in the School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney. Her research focuses on optimising medication management for older people, including individuals living with dementia across healthcare settings. Her research has generated new knowledge on health service delivery through integrating pharmacoepidemiology, person-centred care and co design to develop interventions the safe use of medicines across settings.
Professor Shaun Lee
Monash University
Symposium Presenter
Biography
Shaun Lee Wen Huey is Professor at the School of Pharmacy, Monash University Malaysia, where he leads research on evidence synthesis, health economics, and medicines use. His work focuses on ageing, with particular attention to how evidence translates into policy and practice in middle-income settings. A recurring theme in his work is the gap between globally produced evidence and the health systems expected to apply it particularly in countries ageing far faster than the systems supporting them.
A/Prof Grace Wangge
Academic
Monash University
Symposium Presenter
Biography
Grace Wangge is an associate professor at Monash University, Indonesia. Her research interests include health policy, digital health governance, pharmacovigilance, and health science communication. She has extensive experience in grassroots research, capacity building, and evaluating health and nutrition programs in primary health services throughout Indonesia.
Dr Shin Liau
Research Fellow
Monash University
Symposium Presenter
Biography
Dr Shin Liau is a pharmacist and Research Fellow at the Centre for Medicine Use and Safety, Monash University. She leads work on optimising medication management for older adults living with frailty and dementia in community and residential aged care settings across Australia, Asia and Europe. With a strong commitment to improving medication safety and effectiveness, her current research addresses the unique challenges of appropriate prescribing by incorporating deprescribing recommendations into clinical practice guidelines.
