A Kansas University researcher is attempting to create a statewide pharmacy network to provide access to patients for ongoing pharmacy research projects.

“We’re at the beginning stages, but I think it’s a resource that the state can use in doing some pretty innovative research,” said Dennis Grauer, KU associate professor of pharmacy practice.

He said he hopes to get at least 60 pharmacists from a mix of urban and rural areas to help determine how drug use varies among patients in different settings.

A network like the proposed one could bridge the gap between the research capacity at schools like KU Medical Center and the access to patients at pharmacies across the state, he said.

While the country has about 120 networks of physicians that accomplish similar goals, Grauer said only three or four similar networks exist among pharmacists.

Grauer is scheduled to present his idea today to the Kansas Pharmacists Association in Topeka. He said it could take one or two years before becoming fully operational.