This Week@WesternU, May 20-24, 2013

From the College of Pharmacy:

Scholarship Golf Classic

The College of Pharmacy will hold its inaugural Scholarship Golf Classic on May 23 at Morongo Golf Club at Tukwet Canyon. Registration begins at 9 a.m., and time of play will be 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Shotgun-play format will include contests for low score, longest drive, closest to the pin, and hole-in-one. Click here to read the full story.

Kudos on accomplishments

Anandi Law, PhD, Professor and Chair, Pharmacy Practice and Administration, is a major contributor to a new handbook for practitioners, payers, decision makers, and students that provides an overview of the sources of data for conducting real-world outcomes research.

The book, Reliability and Validity of Data Sources for Outcomes Research & Disease and Health Management Programs, is published by the International Society for Pharmacoeconomic Outcomes and Research (ISPOR).

Dr. Law is a co-editor for the section on Patient Reported Outcomes and author of three chapters: Patient Reported Outcomes Instrument Design and Development; Patient Satisfaction and Health and Disease Management; and Health-Related Quality of life/Functional Status and Health and Disease Management.

Steve O’Barr, PhD, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, has published two articles in the most recent edition of the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education. It should be noted that the white paper on graduate education has also been endorsed by the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists.

“Perceptions of Pharmacy Students, Faculty Members, and Administrators on the Use of Technology in the Classroom,” by Margarita V. DiVall, Mary S Hayney, Wallace Marsh, Michael W. Neville, Stephen O’Barr, Erin D. Sheets, Larry D. Calhoun. Volume 77, Issue 4, 2013: Article 75.
Full Text | PDF (455 KB)

“The Future of the Pharmaceutical Sciences and Graduate Education: Recommendations from the AACP Graduate Education Special Interest Group,” by Susanna Wu-Pong, Jogarao Gobburu, Stephen O’Barr, Kumar Shah, Jason Huber, Daniel Weiner. Volume 77, Issue 4, 2013: Article S2.
Full Text | PDF (473 KB)

From the College of Optometry:

Vision rehabilitation optometrists from the Eye Care Center (ECC) at Western University of Health Sciences are part of a new collaborative team helping patients with end-stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which is the leading cause of blindness or vision loss in older Americans. The ECC is in the early stages of being a regional CentraSight visual rehabilitation provider approved for evaluating patients for the FDA-approved Implantable Miniature Telescope (IMT). Click here to read the full story.

From the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific:

COMP-Northwest student Rebecca Corbett, OMS III, had her paper, “Teaching a Sonographically Guided Invasive Procedure to First-Year Medical Students Using a Novel Finger Transducer,” published in the Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine with the help of her mentor, Brion Benninger, MD, MSc. The paper was published in the April 1, 2013 edition of the journal. COMP-Northwest student Taylor Delamarter, OMS II, was also listed as an author.

From the College of Allied Health Professions:

Congratulations to Dean Stephanie Bowlin, EdD, PA, for 23 years of service in the College of Allied Health Professions.

Department of Physical Therapy Education News

Associate Professor Georgeanne Vlad, PT, MA, was an invited speaker at a recent panel presentation on “Physical Therapy as a Career Choice” for the Future Physical Therapists Organization (FPTO) at San Diego State University. The FPTO is a student lead organization with the mission to promote academic success, preparation for graduate school, professionalism and growth in the fields of physical therapy, occupational therapy, and the general study of kinesiology.

From the Graduate College of Biomedical Sciences:

Kudos on accomplishments

Fragile X syndrome is a genetic disorder that causes mental deficits and autistic behaviors. In previous studies from the Ethell group they showed the effectiveness of minocycline in treating the Fragile X -associated behaviors using a mouse model. Those studies resulted in clinical trials and currently minocycline is prescribed to many of the 70,000 people in the U.S. with this condition. In this new study co-authored by Graduate College of Biomedical Sciences Associate Professor Doug Ethell, PhD, this team reports that continuous administration is required to maintain these benefits in adult mice, but these effects are longer lasting in younger mice, which suggests lasting changes for the better. Long-lasting Effects of Minocycline on Behavior in Young but not Adult Fragile X Mice. Dansie LE, Phommahaxay K, Okusanya AG, Uwadia J, Huang M, Rotschafer SE, Razak KA, Ethell DW, Ethell IM. Neuroscience. 2013 May 6. doi:pii: S0306-4522(13)00391-6. 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2013.04.058. [Epub ahead of print].

From the College of Graduate Nursing:

Professor Rod Hicks, PhD, FNP-BC, FAANP, FAAN, co-authored the following professional standards of care released through the national organization of AORN (Association of Operating Room Nursing):

Denholm, B., Conner, R., & Hicks, R. W. (2013). Recommended Practice for Care of Patients Undergoing Pneumatic Tourniquet-Assisted Procedures. AORN Recommended Practices, e25-e49. Denver, CO: AORN, Inc.

These standards are legally enforceable through CMS (for reimbursement at any location where perioperative care is provided and state Departments of Health). The standards are also adopted internationally by the Canadian OR Nurses Association and other international nursing organizations. WesternU is named in the author’s byline.

Please note that Bonnie Denholm will be a member of our new DNP cohort.

On Friday, May 10, 2013, AORN sponsored a national webcast on “Mixing it up! Understanding Compounding Issues,” by Dr. Hicks. This national presentation was sponsored by AORN and will be available for playback for one year.

From the College of Veterinary Medicine:

Veterinary Assistant Professor and small animal clinician Dr. Pedro Diniz has published a study titled, “An unmatched case controlled study of clinicopathologic abnormalities in dogs with Bartonella infection.” The article will appear in the prestigious journal Comparative Immunology, Microbiology, and Infectious Diseases. Dr. Diniz encouraged his resident (now a PhD student) Ms. Vera to draft the work as first author. The article is available online: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147957113000246

This study describes, for the first time, the clinicopathologic abnormalities in a large group of dogs naturally infected with Bartonella spp. The uniqueness of this study is that we compared these sick dogs to dogs suspected of other tick-borne disease infections, in order to identify specific signs/abnormalities, using a case-control design.

From University Advancement:

WesternU invites the public to an exciting day of golf to benefit student scholarships.

The Towne & Gown Golf Classic, benefiting the University Scholarship Fund, will be held on Monday, June 10, 2013 at Red Hill Country Club, 8358 Red Hill Country Club Dr., Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.

Registration and lunch starts at 11 a.m. followed by a noon shotgun start. The Hole-in-One prize is a 2013 Cadillac, sponsored by Symes Cadillac of Pasadena. Reception dinner and awards ceremony will follow the event.

Cost is $200 per golfer or $800 per foursome. Dinner for a non-golfing guest is available for a fee of $50. Proceeds will benefit the University Scholarship Fund thanks to the generosity of T.F. Chen, DDS. Deadline to enter is June 3, 2013.

For more information or to sign up for the Towne & Gown Golf Classic, please contact Susan Terrazas at 909-706-3476, email sterrazas@westernu.edu, or Austin Braunwalder at 909-469-8495, email abraunwalder@westernu.edu. To view the website go to www.westernu.edu/golf .

Helicopter Drop

Everyone is invited to join the Towne & Gown Golf Classic Helicopter Drop, whether you’re at the golf course or not. The helicopter team will dump numbered golf balls over a designated hole, and the owner of the ball that lands in the hole (or closest to the pin) will win the 50-50 cash prize. Contact Austin Braunwalder (909) 469-8495; abraunwalder@westernu.edu for more information. Click here to view the flier.

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