Ivo Abraham

Ivo Abraham is a professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice, with joint appointments in the Department of Family and Community Medicine (College of Medicine – Tucson) and the Department of Clinical Translational Sciences (School of Health Professions). He has also served on the faculty of Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, OH), University of Virginia (Charlottesville, VA), and (part-time) KU Leuven (Leuven, Belgium); and as long-term visiting professor at Universiteit Maastricht (Maastricht, The Netherlands), University of Florida (Gainesville, FL), Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (Groningen, The Netherlands), New York University (New York, NY), University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA) Chang Gung University (Kwei-Shan Tao-Yuan, Taiwan), and Hyogo University (Akashi, Japan). He has lectured, consulted, and conducted research throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, Australasia, and Africa.

A nurse by profession and a health outcomes, effectiveness, and value researcher by trade, his research has been continuously funded since 1984 by public funding agencies, foundations, and corporations. He coordinates the Senza Nome (Italian, “without a name”) research group, which, on the outcomes and effectiveness side, studies how variability in (drug-centric) treatment regimens is associated with variability in patient outcomes; and how practicing in accordance with evidence-based guidelines is associated with patient outcomes. On the economics side – and focusing on pharmacotherapeutics, diagnostics, as well as models of care – his group tries to reconcile five questions: what is the clinical effect? how much does it cost? is it worth it? can we afford it? can we deploy it?

He has (co-)authored 550+ articles and 80+ chapters, and has (co-)edited 60+ books, monographs, journal issues, and reports. Having been a member of several editorial boards, he currently serves as the Quantitative Methods Editor of JAMA Dermatology and as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Medical Economics.

In the US, he has served as chartered or ad hoc study section member for NIH, NIMH, AHRQ, VA, and NSF since 1985. He has served as an expert adviser to the Health Research Executive Agency of the European Union since 2006; and to the Innovative Medicines and Innovative Health Initiatives, a joint 7.4 billion euro undertaking of the European Union and industry to stimulate research and innovation in human therapeutics, vaccines, as well as diagnostics and other technologies, from inception in 2008. He has also served as expert to various public and private funding agencies in European, Asian, and North American countries.

Educational and scientific honors and awards include several named lectureships in the US and abroad; and an invitational research fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (2007-2008), which he conducted at Hyogo University. He is most proud of honors awarded by the R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy, including Graduate Mentor of the Year (2017), the Theodore G. Tong Distinguished Leadership and Service Award (2018), the Findlay E. Russell, MD, PhD, Distinguished Citizen Award (2019), and the PharmD Class of 2025 Basic Science Teacher of the Year Award (2024).

Selected Awards:

• Basic Science Educator of the Year Award, Spring 2025
  • PharmD Class of 2025, R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy, University of Arizona, Spring 2024
• Fellow
  • Association of Community Cancer Centers, Spring 2023
• Jubiläum Festrede, 20 Jahre Institut für Pflegewissenschaft an der Universität Basel
  • University of Basel (Basel, Switzerland), Spring 2020
• Findlay E. Russell, PhD, Distinguished Citizen Award
  • College of Pharmacy, University of Arizona, Fall 2019
• Judy C. Kandzari Memorial Lecture
  • West Virginia University School of Nursing, Fall 2018
• Theodore G. Tong Distinguished Leadership and Service Award
  • College of Pharmacy, University of Arizona, Spring 2018
• Graduate Mentor of the Year
  • College of Pharmacy, Spring 2017
• Pharmacy Practice Research Award
  • American Healthsystem Pharmacy Research and Education Foundation, Spring 2011 (joint award)

Representative Publications (past 5 years):

Abraham I, MacDonald K. Biosimilars, biobetters, and bioparallels: the evolving landscape of biologics. JAMA Dermatology 2025;161:355-357. PMID: 40042861 DOI: 10.1001/jamadermatol.2025.0049

Abraham I, Beddor AN, MacDonald KM. The clinical and economic value of follow-on biologics: biosimilars, biobetters, and bioparallels. British Journal of Hospital Medicine 2025;86(6):1-7. PMID: 40554440 DOI: 10.12968/hmed.2024.1036

Mesgarzadeh S, Amamoo R, Ameneni G, Gong A, Ayoade Y, Stratton D, Latour E, Wesley Yu, Curiel-Lewandrowski, Abraham I, Fazel M. Southern Arizona validation of risk prediction models for sentinel lymph node metastasis in melanoma. JAAD International 2025;21;61-69. PMID: 40677730 DOI: 10.1016/j.jdin.2025.04.012

Abraham I, Martin P, Vaghela S, Klein T, Chow E, Rush M, Morlock R, Huang H. Budget impact analysis of revumenib for the treatment of relapsed or refractory acute leukemias with a KMT2A translocation in the United States. Journal of Managed Care and Specialty Pharmacy 2025;31:680-693. PMID: 40459635 DOI: 10.18553/jmcp.2025.25027

Abraham I, Calamia M, Pondel M, MacDonald K. Budget impact analysis of pembrolizumab versus the novel PD-1 inhibitor toripalimab in locally advanced or metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer. Journal of Medical Economics 2024;27(Suppl.3):36-50. PMID: 39359042 DOI: 10.1080/13696998.2024.2411877 

Abraham I, Calamia M, Alkhatib NS, Pondel M, MacDonald K. Budget impact analysis of the novel PD-1 inhibitor toripalimab versus pembrolizumab in recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Journal of Medical Economics 2024;27(Suppl.3):9-23 (Correction published: Journal of Medical Economics 2024;27(Suppl.3):34-35). PMID: 39359042 DOI: 10.1080/13696998.2024.2411877

Obeng-Kusi M, Roe D, Erstad B, Abraham I. Comparative efficacy of later-line therapies for metastatic colorectal cancer: a network meta-analysis of survival curves. Expert Review of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research 2024;24:923-932. PMID: 38845342 DOI: 10.1080/14737167.2024.2365993   

Abraham I, Crawford J, Schwartzberg L. On-body injector pegfilgrastim for chemotherapy-induced neutropenia prophylaxis: current status. Cancer Treatment and Research Communications 2024;40:100824. PMID: 38865836 DOI: 10.1016/j.ctarc.2024.100824

Obeng-Kusi M, Martin J, Abraham I. The economic burden of ebola virus disease: a review and recommendations for analysis. Journal of Medical Economics 2024;27:309-323. PMID: 38299454 DOI: 10.1080/13696998.2024.2313358

Stocking JC, Taylor S, Fan S, […] Garcia JGN, Abraham I. A Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator-derived predictive model for postoperative respiratory failure in a heterogeneous adult elective surgery patient population. CHEST Critical Care 2023;1:1000025. PMID: 38434477 DOI: 10.1016/j.chstcc.2023.100025

Calamia M, Abraham I. The economics of biosimilars and challenges to biosimilar adoption in low- and middle-income countries. Expert Opinion on Biological Therapy 2023;23:653-657. PMID: 37578070 DOI: 10.1080/14712598.2023.2247972

Abraham I, Calamia M, MacDonald KM. Should a systematic review be required in a clinical trial report? Perhaps, but not yet. JAMA Network Open 2023;6:e234226. PMID: 36951867 DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.4226

Oh M, McBride A, Bhattacharjee S, Slack M, Jeter J, Abraham I. Economic value of knowing BRCA status: universal BRCA testing for breast cancer prevention. Expert Review of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research 2023;23:309-316. PMID: 36637419  DOI: 10.1080/14737167.2023.2169135

Oh M, McBride A, Bhattacharjee S, Slack M, Jeter J, Abraham I. Economic value of knowing BRCA status: BRCA testing for optimizing treatment in recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer. Expert Review of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research 2023;23:317-325. PMID: 36691923 DOI 10.1080/14737167.2023.2169136

Oh M, McBride A, Bhattacharjee S, Slack M, Jeter J, Abraham I. Economic value of knowing BRCA status: BRCA testing for prostate cancer prevention and optimal treatment. Expert Review of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research 2023;23:297-308. PMID: 36649640 DOI: 10.1080/14737167.2023.2169137

Abraham I. Trends, changes, and disruptions: the fragile economics of cancer treatments. The Oncologist 2023;28:193-195. PMID: 36640143  DOI: 10.1093/oncolo/oyac258

Alrawashdh N, McBride A, Erstad B, Sweasy J, Persky DO, Abraham I. Cost-effectiveness and economic burden analyses of all first-line treatments of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Value in Health 2022;25:1685-1695. PMID: 35537984  DOI: 10.1016/j.jval.2022.04.001

Obeng-Kusi M, Habila M, Roe D, Erstad B, Abraham I. Economic evaluation using dynamic transition modeling of ebola virus vaccination in lower-and-middle-income countries. Journal of Medical Economics 2021;24(Suppl 1):1-13. PMID: 34866541  DOI: 10.1080/13696998.2021.2002092

Choi BM, Abraham RB, Halawah H, Calamia M, Obeng-Kusi M, Alrawashdh N, Arku D, Abraham I. Comparing jurisdiction-specific pharmaco-economic evaluations using medical purchasing power parities. Journal of Medical Economics 2021;24(Suppl 1):34-41. PMID: 34866529  DOI: 10.1080/13696998.2021.2007705