Ginette A. Pepper PhD, RN, FAAN, is the Helen Lowe Bamberger Presidential Endowed Chair in Gerontological Nursing and Associate Dean for Research and the PhD Program at the University of Utah College of Nursing in Salt Lake City. Her research relates to adverse drug effects on the functional status of older adults. As the nation's first Geriatric Nurse Practitioner she pioneered prescriptive authority for advanced practice nurses. A nurse pharmacologist who received her PhD in nursing and pharmacology from the University of Colorado, she currently is co-investigator and consultant on studies using eccentric exercise in fall prevention in frail elders, two meta-analysis studies of psychotropic drugs and falls and medication adherence, and the role of inter-professional communication in preventing adverse drug events in hospitalised older adults. Dr. Pepper directs the University of Utah Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence and is active in the University of Utah Interdisciplinary Personalised Medicine Initiative.