KTRE-TV - Lufkin/Nacogdoches, TX - Math Student Gets International ...
07/28/06 - Lufkin
Math Student Gets International Attention for His Calculation
by Ramonica R. Jones

An East Texas math major is getting international attention for a 
calculation formula he designed for a popular drug. 
Fred Poage is a Certified Pharmacy Technician at Woodland Heights 
Medical Center in Lufkin. He came up with a much quicker way to 
measure the amount of Xigris a patient should get. Xigris is a drug for severe sepsis. 
It can take as long as an hour to determine the accurate dosage. 
Poage's formula saves a lot of time and about $500 a patient. 
Poage said, "By having this formula here, all you have to do is enter in the patient's weight. Less 
than a second later, you have exactly what you need. So it takes all that time for calculations all 
out." 
It took Poage about four months off and on to come up with the formula. The 23-year-old 
Stephen F. Austin State University student was recently recognized by the Math Association of 
America for his hard work. He's gotten calls from doctors in India, Paris, Germany, and Portugal 
praising his formula. 

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