This Week@WesternU, Dec. 5-9, 2011
From the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific:
Kudos on accomplishments
Radha J. Sarma, MD, Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Chief, Division of Cardiovascular Disease, is the editor of the book Genetic Diagnoses, published by Nova Science Publishers. Click here for more information.
From the College of Allied Health Professions:
Department of Physical Therapy Education News
Congratulations to Patti Nakagawa, PT, DPT ’03, for being recognized recently in “California PT Notes,” an electronic memo produced by the California Physical Therapy Association. Dr. Nakagawa had celebrated National Physical Therapy Month with her staff at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton for the past 13 years by giving out pens and buttons from the American Physical Therapy Association. This year she decided to honor their Director and the entire physical therapy staff by making a generous donation to the CAL-PT-FUND. The CAL-PT-FUND was established in 1977 as a nonprofit organization to advance evidence-based physical therapy practice in California by promoting the development of researchers and clinical scholars.
From the College of Veterinary Medicine:
Kudos on accomplishments
Veterinary Professor and animal behaviorist Dr. Victoria Voith offered a series of presentations at the Central Veterinary Conference (CVC) in San Diego Oct. 27-28, 2011. Her wide spectrum of topics included: cat elimination behaviors: the most common behavioral complaint; reducing development of aggression in dogs; managing separation anxiety in dogs; dog breed identification and what it means; effects of gonadectomy on behavior of dogs and cats; ethological and learning principles to understand companion-animal behavior; history taking techniques, behavioral analysis, and case examples.
Dr. Voith was also invited to speak at the Association of Professional Dog Trainers meeting in San Diego Oct. 16, 2011. At this meeting she discussed: Agreement Among Professionals’ Visual Identification of Breeds of Dogs and Relationship to DNA Identification. Dr. Voith has been a national leader in advising dog owners and civic leaders on the challenges of enforcing laws that prohibit certain dog breeds because the visual identification of breeds is often in conflict with DNA-based identification of breed. The actual problem of canine aggression is individual animal behavior that is the result of many genetic and environmental factors.
Veterinary Assistant Professor Dr. Kris Irizarry has been invited to present during the “Dog and Cat Workshop” section his study, “RUNX2 allelic variation in the Bullmastiff,” at the International Plant and Animal Genome Conference XX to be held in San Diego Jan. 15, 2012. This is a huge conference with a diverse international audience of agricultural genomics scientists. In addition, Dr. Irizarry will present a poster co-authored with other WesternU faculty members and a DVM student regarding: “Characterization of Bullmastiff Head Morphology and Identification of RUNX2 Allelic Variation within the Breed.” The authors are Dr. Kristopher Irizarry, Student Doctor Jennifer Scudder (DVM 2013), Dr. Katherine Mitsouras (COMP) and Dr. Josep Rutllant (CVM). Dr. Irizarry expresses special appreciation for the efforts of Dr. Rutllant in making the anatomical measurements of the bullmastiff head and also for suggesting ways to analyze the data.
Veterinary pathologist and Assistant Professor Dr. Suzana Tkalcic published an article titled, “Repeat breeder syndrome in dairy cows: influence of breed and age on its prevalence and the success of a hormone therapy.” The article is a collaboration with Croatian scientists who sought to establish the prevalence of repeat breeder syndrome (RBS) in different breeds and reproductive ages of cattle in central Croatia and to assess the effectiveness of hormone therapy as a treatment option. The term repeat breeder or repeat breeder syndrome (RBS) was created to describe cows that failed to conceive after three or four inseminations. Dr. Tkalcic is credited in this manuscript for her major contribution to this work that the authors report equal to the effort of the first author.
Veterinary Professor and virologist Dr. Ellen Collisson delivered a presentation to the Board of Directors of the Friends of Malawi foundation. Dr. Collisson serves as Grants Program manager for this organization and as a member of the Board. Her interest in Malawi began with her Peace Corps service in Africa some years ago when she taught physics, biology and languages to secondary students in Ghana and Malawi. Dr. Collisson also serves on the Board of “Frontiers of Knowledge (Uganda).” This year’s meeting of the Friends of Malawi Board was conducted during the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps in Washington, D.C. in September 2011.
From the College of Dental Medicine:
The Star-Spangled Banner
Assistant Professor/Clinical Managing Partner Robert D. Stevenson, DDS, is a Delegate to the California Dental Association House of Delegates. He sang the national anthem to open the House of Delegates this year in Sacramento on Nov. 11.
Click here to view a video (Dr. Stevenson is second from the left).
