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Jonathan D. Alpern MD
Former Research Investigator
About

Academic appointment: Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Minnesota; Core faculty, University of Minnesota Global Health Course

Joined the Institute: 2017

Education and training: MD, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA; residency in internal medicine, University of Minnesota Minneapolis; chief residency, Regions Hospital, St. Paul; fellowship in infectious diseases, University of Minnesota Minneapolis.

Overview/research interests: Dr. Alpern’s research interests include travel and tropical medicine, and the cost and availability of prescription drugs in the United States, with a focus on anti-infective drugs and low socioeconomic status populations.

Current research activities and funding:

• Sole-source, Off-patent Drugs in the United States: Prevalence, Pricing, and Populations Affected
• Stamaril Expanded Access Protocol

Publications
Publications While At HealthPartners
Highlights
selected publications
Journal Article
  • Cost-effectiveness of treatment strategies for populations from strongyloidiasis high-risk areas globally who will initiate corticosteroid treatment in the USA. 
    Journal of Travel Medicine. 2024
  • Conflicts of interest among infectious diseases clinical practice guideline authors and the pharmaceutical industry. 
    JAMA network open. 2023
  • Costs of malaria treatment in the United States. 
    Journal of Travel Medicine. 2023
  • Evaluation of preferred language and timing of COVID-19 vaccine uptake and disease outcomes. 
    JAMA network open. 2023
  • Food and Drug Administration approval of artesunate for severe malaria: enough to achieve best practice?. 
    Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2023
  • Understanding COVID-19 health disparities with birth country and language data. 
    American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2023
  • Antifungal drug price increases in the United States, 2000-2019. 
    Mycoses. 2022
  • Antimalarial chemoprophylaxis and treatment in the USA: limited access and extreme price variability. 
    Journal of Travel Medicine. 2022
  • Characteristics of state legislation addressing prescription drug price increases in the United States, 2020. 
    Journal of General Internal Medicine. 2022
  • Health care utilization in the 6 months following SARS-CoV-2 infection. 
    JAMA network open. 2022
  • Incidence of Guillain-Barré syndrome after COVID-19 vaccination in the Vaccine Safety Datalink. 
    JAMA network open. 2022
  • Low treatment rates of parasitic diseases with standard-of-care prescription drugs in the United States, 2013-2019. 
    American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 2022
  • Low use of standard-of-care antiparasitic drugs and increased estimated outpatient payments for treating schistosomiasis in the United States, 2013-19. 
    American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 2022
  • Trends in pricing and out-of-pocket spending on entecavir among commercially insured patients, 2014-2018. 
    JAMA network open. 2022
  • A 29-year-old with chronic abdominal pain; beyond helicobacter pylori. 
    Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2021
  • Drug-dispensing limits within Medicaid during the COVID-19 pandemic. 
    Journal of managed care & specialty pharmacy. 2021
  • Increases in anti-infective drug prices, subsequent prescribing, and outpatient costs. 
    JAMA network open. 2021
  • Population characteristics, use, and spending on sole-source, off-patent drugs among commercial insurance members in the United States—an analysis of outpatient claims data at a single health plan. 
    Journal of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy. 2021
  • The effect of drug pricing on outpatient payments and treatment for three soil-transmitted helminth infections in the United States, 2010-2017. 
    American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 2021
  • The erosion of public trust and SARS-CoV-2 vaccines -more action is needed. 
    Open forum infectious diseases. 2021
  • Antiparasitic drugs in the United States--two roads to high prices. 
    Front Sociol. 2020
  • Barriers to malaria prevention among immigrant travelers in the United States who visit friends and relatives in sub-Saharan Africa: a cross-sectional, multi-setting survey of knowledge, attitudes, and practices. 
    PloS One. 2020
  • COVID-19 and dexamethasone: a potential strategy to avoid steroid-related strongyloides hyperinfection. 
    JAMA. 2020
  • Characteristics and price increases among sole-source, off-patent drugs in the United States, 2008 to 2018. 
    JAMA network open. 2020
  • Cutaneous leishmaniasis. 
    New England Journal of Medicine. 2020
  • Impact of anthelmintic price increases on practice patterns of healthcare providers caring for immigrant and refugee populations in the United States. 
    American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 2020
  • Improving hepatitis b care in the US: a case for a new "Ryan White" program. 
    Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved. 2020
  • Off-label therapies for COVID-19--are we all in this together?. 
    Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. 2020
  • Travel-associated chikungunya acquired in Myanmar in 2019. 
    Euro Surveillance. 2020
  • Broken drug markets in infectious diseases: opportunities outside the private sector?. 
    PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. 2019
  • Case report: epididymo-orchitis due to mycobacterium tuberculosis. 
    American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 2019
  • Prescription drug-dispensing limits in the USA-implications for malaria chemoprophylaxis among VFR travellers. 
    Journal of Travel Medicine. 2018
  • Access to benznidazole for Chagas disease in the United States-cautious optimism?. 
    PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. 2017
  • Incentives for bushmeat consumption and importation among West African immigrants, Minnesota, USA. 
    Emerging Infectious Diseases. 2017
  • Minocycline-induced skin hyperpigmentation. 
    Postgraduate Medical Journal. 2017
  • Prosthetic joint infection due to mycobacterium avium-intracellulare in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis: a case report and review of the literature
    2017
  • Strongyloides hyperinfection following hematopoietic stem cell transplant in a patient with HTLV-1-associated T-cell leukemia. 
    Transplant Infectious Disease. 2017
  • Trends in pricing and generic competition within the oral antibiotic drug market in the United States. 
    Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2017
  • Diagnostic delay and antibiotic overuse in acute pulmonary blastomycosis. 
    Open forum infectious diseases. 2016
  • Ozena in immigrants of differing backgrounds. 
    American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 2016
  • Perceived barriers to success for resident physicians interested in immigrant and refugee health. 
    BMC Medical Education. 2016
  • A closer view. The realities of practicing medicine in Tanzania. 
    Minnesota Medicine. 2014
  • High-cost generic drugs--implications for patients and policymakers. 
    New England Journal of Medicine. 2014
  • Variables associated with utilization of a centralized medical post in the Andean community of Pampas Grande, Peru. 
    Journal of Rural Health. 2012
    • Editorial Article
  • Hepatitis B vaccination, screening, and linkage to care [editorial]. 
    Annals of Internal Medicine.  168. 2018
  • Medical misinformation targets vulnerable populations and threatens the nation's health [editorial]. 
    Minnesota Medicine.  100. 2017
  • Access to essential medicines in the United States [editorial]. 
    New England Journal of Medicine.  375. 2016
  • Essential medicines in the United States--why access is diminishing [editorial]. 
    New England Journal of Medicine.  374. 2016
  • High-cost generic drugs--implications for patients and policymakers [editorial]. 
    New England Journal of Medicine.  372. 2015
    • Conference Poster
  • Economics, knowledge, attitudes and use of West African bushmeat in Minnesota: an interdisciplinary approach to health [poster]
    2016
  • Knowledge, attitudes, practices, and economics of West African bushmeat imported into Minnesota [poster]
    2016
  • Pulmonary nocardiosis: uncommon but fatal if untreated [poster]
    2014
    • Review
  • Blastomycosis-some progress but still much to learn [review]. 
    Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland). 2022
  • Personal protection measures against mosquitoes, ticks, and other arthropods [review]. 
    Medical Clinics of North America. 2016
    • presentations
    Research
    keywords
  • off patent drugs
    infectious disease
    travel medicine
    • Contact
    full name
  • Jonathan D. Alpern, MD
    • Quick Info
    Publications
    Publications in the past 10 years based solely on publications while at HealthPartners. Publications in prior years appear in grey.
    Collaboration