Andrew S. Pumerantz, DO, MPH, is Professor of Population Health Science, Internal Medicine, and Infectious Disease at Western University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific (WesternU/COMP), where he also directs the Department of Population Health Science. Pumerantz holds an AB from Occidental College, a DO from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, and an MPH from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health. He completed internal medicine residency and chief residency at Beth Israel Medical Center/Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, and an infectious diseases fellowship at Yale School of Medicine. Pumerantz then spent the next dozen years as a clinical infectious disease specialist, first in Connecticut and then on Long Island, where he also founded a travel medicine clinic.
In 2007, he joined the full-time faculty at WesternU/COMP as Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and Chief of the Division of Infectious Disease. From 2008 through 2012, he served as Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine, during which time he led an interdisciplinary team to study and co-patent a novel formulation of pegylated liposomal vancomycin designed to target intracellular methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection of the lung. His team published their laboratory findings in several microbiology and pharmaceutical science journals, including Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. As Internal Medicine Chair, Pumerantz established the divisions of endocrinology, nephrology, and cardiovascular disease, which helped transform the WesternU/COMP curriculum and provide resources to launch the Western Diabetes Institute (WDI), an integrated practice and research unit, in 2009. At the WDI, he created the Diabetes Cross-Disciplinary Index (DXDI©), a balanced health scorecard and shared decision-making tool. Pumerantz oversaw the WDI’s diabetes research registry performing numerous observational studies designed to better understand the phenotypic heterogeneity of type 2 diabetes in populations facing significant health disparities while living within an urban environment. He collaboratively published a strategy for integrating standardized screening for periodontal disease as part of the management of adults with type 2 diabetes using the DXDI©, which in turn informed the first internationally standardized set of person-centric outcomes for diabetes.
In 2015, Pumerantz was promoted to Full Professor at WesternU. Three years later, he established the Department of Population Health Science. In fall 2021 as an Adjunct Professor at CGU/SCGH, he helped develop and launch the DO/MPH Dual Degree Program, which he co-directs. The program has enrolled 60 students over its first four annual cohorts, graduating the initial four DO/MPH recipients in May 2024. Professor Pumerantz is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and an Honorary Member of the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health.
Selected works
Nano J, Carinci F, Okunade O, Whittaker S, Walbaum M, Barnard-Kelly K, Barthelmes D, Benson T, Calderon-Margalit R, Dennaoui J, Fraser S, Haig R, Hernández-Jimenéz S, Levitt N, Mbanya JC, Naqvi S, Peters AL, Peyrot M, Prabhaharan M, Pumerantz A, Raposo J, Santana M, Schmitt A, Skovlund SE, Ulloa ACG, Wee H-L, Zaletel J, Massi-Benedetti M; on behalf of the Diabetes Working Group of the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM). A standard set of person-centred outcomes for diabetes mellitus: results of an international and unified approach. Diabet Med 2020; published online 2 March 2020, doi: 10.1111/DME.14286.
Wan SH, Pumerantz AS, Dong F, Ochoa C, Chen HH. Comparing the Influence of 2009 versus 2016 ASE/EACVI Diastolic Function Guidelines on the Prevalence and Echocardiographic Characteristics of Preclinical Diastolic Dysfunction (Stage B Heart Failure) in a Hispanic Population with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. J Diabetes Complications 2019; 33 (8): 579-584.
Pumerantz AS, Bissett SM, Dong F, Ochoa C, Wassall RR, Davila H, Barbee, Nguyen J, Vila P, Preshaw PM. Standardized Screening for Periodontitis as an Integral Part of Multidisciplinary Management of Adults with Type 2 Diabetes: An Observational Cross-Sectional Study of Cohorts in the USA and UK. BMJ Open Diab Res Care 2017; 5(1): e000413. doi: 10.1136/bmjdrc-2017-000413.
Bissett, SM, Pumerantz AS, Preshaw PM. Periodontal Disease and Diabetes. J Diabetes Nurs 2015; 19(4): 134-40.
Muppidi K, Pumerantz AS, Betageri G, Wang J. Development and Validation of a Rapid High- Performance Liquid Chromatography Method with UV Detection for the Determination of Vancomycin in Mouse Plasma. J Chromat Separation Techniq 2013; 4: 165.
Pumerantz AS. PEGylated Liposomal Vancomycin: A Glimmer of Hope for Improving Treatment Outcomes in MRSA Pneumonia. Recent Pat Antiinfect Drug Discov 2012; Vol. 7, No. 3: 205-212.
Muppidi K, Pumerantz AS, Wang J, Betageri G. Development and Stability Studies of Novel Liposomal Vancomycin Formulations. ISRN Pharmaceutics 2012; Volume 2012, Article ID 636743, 8 pages. doi:10.5402/2012/636743
Muppidi K, Wang J, Betageri G, Pumerantz AS. PEGylated Liposome Encapsulation Increases the Lung Tissue Concentration of Vancomycin. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 2011; 55(10): 4537- 4542.
Pumerantz A, Muppidi K, Agnihotri S, Guerra C, Venketaraman V, Wang J, Betageri G. Preparation of liposomal vancomycin and intracellular killing of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Int J Antimicrob Agents 2011; 37: 140-144.
Selwyn PA, Pumerantz AS, Durante A, Alcabes PG, Gourevitch MN, Boiselle PM, Elmore JG. Clinical Predictors of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, bacterial pneumonia and tuberculosis in HIV-infected patients. AIDS 1998; 12: 885-893.
Boiselle PM, Tocino I, Hooley RJ, Pumerantz AS, Selwyn PA, Nekiesa VP, Lange RC. Chest radiograph interpretation of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, bacterial pneumonia, and pulmonary tuberculosis in HIV-positive patients: accuracy, distinguishing features, and mimics. J Thoracic Imaging 1997; 1: 47-53.