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This Week@WesternU April 1-5, 2013

by Rodney Tanaka

April 1, 2013

Read 7 mins

Trends in Autism Conference to be held at WesternU — special $20 student rate

The 11th annual Trends in Autism Conference will be from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday, April 6, 2013 in the Health Education Center.

The conference is organized by Casa Colina Centers for Rehabilitation, with WesternU serving as a Community Partner. WesternU students are encouraged to attend. The conference is offering a special $20 student rate.

Click here to read the full story.

Click here to register for the conference.

World Autism Day is Tuesday

Members of the WesternU FACE (Faculty for Autism Collaboration and Education) Team and a dedicated group of student volunteers will be on hand outside of HEC from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesday, April 2 in honor of Autism Awareness Day. The CDC recently released new numbers for this epidemic, which has now reached proportions of 1 in 50 children. Come by and speak to the FACE team members, watch our show running on The Autism Channel, gather information and resources, wear a ribbon, and buy a T-shirt to help the cause! In support of Autism Awareness Day, we encourage everyone to wear BLUE Tuesday.

WesternU lecture by Sen. Hernandez to focus on health care changes

State Sen. Ed Hernandez, OD, will present “The Changing Face of Health Care in California” at 2:30 p.m. Friday, April 12, 2013 at the Health Education Center. Click here to read the full story.

East West Scholarship Dinner

WesternU’s seventh annual East West Scholarship dinner will be at 6:30 p.m., Saturday, April 13, 2013 at the Hilton San Gabriel, 225 West Valley Boulevard, San Gabriel, Calif. in San Gabriel Ballroom C.

This year, WesternU will honor Victor Law, RPh, BPharm, and WesternU scholarship recipients, while raising scholarship money for students. Click here to visit the East West Scholarship Dinner website.

From the College of Optometry:

Kudos and accomplishments

Founding Dean Elizabeth Hoppe, OD, DrPh, will be one of nine women to be honored by the YWCA San Gabriel Valley during its 29th annual Women of Achievement Awards. Click here to read the full story.

From the College of Pharmacy:

Ray Symposium to address obesity

The nation’s worsening obesity epidemic will be the topic of Western University of Health Sciences’ annual Ray Symposium, to be held at 5 p.m. Thursday, April 18, 2013 in the Health Education Center, Lecture Hall 1. Keynote speaker Dr. Patricia Crawford, RD, director of the Dr. Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Center for Weight and Health at UC Berkeley, and a Cooperative Extension Nutrition Specialist, will present “Accelerating Progress in Obesity Prevention.” Click here to read the full story. Click here to reserve your seat.

Scholarship Golf Classic

The College of Pharmacy will hold its inaugural Scholarship Golf Classic on May 23, 2013 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 and accomplishments

Third-year College of Pharmacy student Eva Levbarg is one of 11 students nationally to recently be recognized with the 2012-13 ASHP Student Leadership Award from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, for achievement in health-system pharmacy practice and campus leadership. Click here to read to full story.

Kudos and accomplishments

College of Pharmacy faculty members from the Pharmacy Practice and Administration Department were involved in many activities at California Pharmacists Association West Coast Exchange Meeting from March 14-18, 2013. Click here for the full report.

Kudos and accomplishments

Dr. Jeffrey Wang, Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Director, Graduate Education, was invited to serve as a grant reviewer for the Medical Research Council of the United Kingdom, which was conducted in February 2013.

Dr. Wang also was part of a group that recently published results of a pharmacokinetic study of metastin, an endogenous peptide inhibiting cancer metastasis. Liu Z, Ren C, Jones W, Chen P, Seminara SB, Chan YM, Smith NF, Covey JM, Wang J, Chan KK. LC-MS/MS quantification of a neuropeptide fragment kisspeptin-10 (NSC 741805) and characterization of its decomposition product and pharmacokinetics in rats. J Chromatogr B, 2013 Mar 4; 926C:1-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jchromb.2013.02.027. [Epub ahead of print]. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/15700232.

Click here to view the published article.

College of Allied Health Professions

Department of Physical Therapy Education news

Assistant Professor Janet Konecne, PT, DPT, OCS, CSCS, will be performing at the La Mirada Center for the Performing Arts at 8 p.m. Saturday, April 6. The concert, “Memorable Melodies,” is a POPS fundraiser featuring Susan Egan, who was nominated for a Tony Award as Best Actress for her role as the original Belle in the Broadway production of “Beauty and the Beast.” Dr. Konecne, an expert in physical therapy for performing artists, plays principal bassoon with the La Mirada Symphony Orchestra. More information on this and future performances is available at www.lamiradasymphony.com.

From the College of Veterinary Medicine:

Open House

CVM will hold its eighth annual Open House from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 6, 2013 along the Esplanade. Click here to read the full story.

From the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific:

COMP Faculty Candidate Seminar Series

COMP will hold its faculty candidate research seminar for 2013 from 2 to 3 p.m. Tuesday, April 2, in Compatriots Hall, HSC. The seminar will be streamed to Lecture Hall 1, COMP-Northwest. Supriya A. Bavadekar, PhD, RPh, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology Division of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Arnold & Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Long Island University, will present “Anti-proliferative and apoptotic effects of carvacrol on human prostate cancer cells, LNCaP.” The COMP Candidate Seminar Series, which is open to everyone on campus, will run from March through May.

Kudos and accomplishments

Robyn Dreibelbis, DO, Vice Chair and Assistant Professor of Family Medicine, COMP-Northwest, and Dat Trinh, DO, Assistant Professor of Family Medicine, COMP, attended the 11th annual Leadership and Management in Geriatrics Conference on March 8 and 9, 2013 in Long Beach. They presented a project on enhancing geriatric education during the pre-clinical years, which took first place at the conference.

Kudos and accomplishments

Dr. Brian Kraatz, Department of Medical Anatomy, COMP, recently was awarded a Franklin Research Grant from the American Philosophical Society to initiate a paleontological research project in Xinjiang Province, China. The project will be conducted in May 2013 in collaboration with faculty at Lanzhou University, where Kraatz will also give an invited seminar.

Dinosaur Day in Boston

Elizabeth Rega, PhD, Associate Vice Provost for Academic Development, Office of Academic Affairs, and Associate Professor of Anatomy, COMP, spoke about dinosaur diseases during “Dinosaur Day” March 23 at the Museum of Science in Boston. Dinosaur enthusiasts heard from paleontologists from around the U.S. about their research and theories.

Click here to read a story previewing the event.

From the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific/College of Dental Medicine:

Kudos and accomplishments

Dr. Vicki Wedel of COMP/CDM was an invited speaker for the Department of Anthropology at San Diego State University. She spoke to a crowd of 300 on the topic of “bones, ballistics, and blunt force trauma,” and counseled graduate students interested in pursuing careers in forensic medicine and of odontology.

COMP-Northwest news

Kudos and accomplishments

COMP-Northwest faculty John Mata, PhD, is a Primary Investigator on a grant awarded through the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute’s Gap Fund. This grant funds collaboration between Western University of Health Sciences, Oregon State University faculty, and Hayoka Designs, LLC with TriAgenics Inc. of Eugene, Oregon. Gap funds are “Proof of Concept” grants made to research institution PIs and/or facilities to take research results to the next level, leading to a commercial product. The goal of the research project is to design, test and produce 8.0 Ghz microwave probes, conduct research to demonstrate effectiveness and safety of the new technology, and begin the process of seeking FDA approval in Europe and the U.S. The grant is a one year award with $250,000 in direct costs and a total budget that exceeds $450,000. TriAgenics LLC is an Oregon corporation formed to commercialize its microwave thermocoagulation technique to prevent development of 3rd molars, also known as “wisdom teeth.” Success in this effort may provide a new option for patients and avoid future oral surgery and complications that can include post-operative trauma, infection, and pain.

From the Pumerantz Library:

“Life and Limb: The Toll of the American Civil War” exhibit

The perspectives of surgeons, physicians, and nurses are richly documented in the history of Civil War medicine, which highlights the heroism and brutality of battlefield operations and the challenges of caring for the wounded during wartime. Yet the experiences of injured soldiers during the conflict and in the years afterwards are less well known. “Life and Limb: The Toll of the American Civil War” focuses on disabled veterans and their role as symbols of the fractured nation.

The Harriet K. & Philip Pumerantz Library will host the “Life and Limb: The Toll of the American Civil War” traveling exhibition, created by the National Library of Medicine, from April 15 to May 18, 2013. Please join the library for the opening reception from 2 to 4 p.m. on April 15. Light refreshments will be served. Contact the library at 909-469-5323 for more information.

Click here to view the announcement.

From University Advancement:

Alumni News

On Tuesday, March 26, the Office of Alumni Relations hosted a pizza lunch for the approximately 140 members of the PharmD Class of 2013. Prior to eating, the class heard a brief presentation by Director of Alumni Relations Russel Heskin, who shared information on the benefits of staying connected to the University after graduation.

WesternU Alumni Networking Mixer in Irvine

WesternU traveled to Irvine to mix and mingle with alumni on Thursday, March 21, 2013. More than 20 alumni were in attendance from several different programs including: COMP, PT, PA and PharmD. Alumni ranging from 1982 to 2012 attended the mixer.

As our alumni caught each other up on their recent successes, Shida Saam, DO ’94, was able to connect with a group of PA ’12 alumni and present a job opportunity to them. WesternU is excited to play a proactive role in establishing additional avenues to help our alumni. Future alumni mixers will be planned in different cities throughout Southern California. We look forward to meeting up with many of our alumni.

Click here to see photos from the Alumni Networking Mixer in Irvine.

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Western University of Health Sciences, 309 E. Second St., Pomona, Calif. 91766

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