This Week@WesternU, April 1-5, 2019
Ray Symposium
The 2019 Ray Symposium will be held on Thursday, April 18 in the Health Education Center, Lecture Hall I. The lecture will be held from 4 to 5 p.m., with a reception to follow. The lecture will be live streamed to Lecture Hall I in Lebanon.
Keynote speaker Cato T. Laurencin, MD, PhD, will present “Addressing the Future of Health in America: Diversity, Racism and Health Disparities.” Among his many titles and roles, Dr. Laurencin is the Albert and Wilda Van Dusen Distinguished Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, chief executive officer of the Connecticut Institute for Clinical and Translational Science, director of the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Center for Biomedical, Biological, Physical and Engineering Sciences and Director of the Institute for Regenerative Engineering at the University of Connecticut.
The Ray Symposium is presented by the College of Pharmacy, the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Interprofessional Education Program.
Click here to read more.
East West Scholarship Dinner
The 13th annual East West Scholarship Dinner will be held Saturday, April 13, 2019 at the Hilton San Gabriel, 225 West Valley Boulevard, San Gabriel, Calif. 91776. Reception and registration begins at 6:30 p.m. The dinner and program begins at 7:30 p.m. College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific Professor Alan Cundari, DO ’85, MSHPE ’92, will receive the Distinguished Service Award. Proceeds from the dinner provide for WesternU student scholarships.
Click here to visit the East West Scholarship Dinner website.
International update
COMP Professor Emeritus Rafi Younoszai, PhD, has agreed to serve as a senior consultant to the WesternU International Health Program, which will expand WesternU’s global activities and programs.
From the College of Veterinary Medicine:
Open House
The College of Veterinary Medicine will hold its 14th annual Open House from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 6 on WesternU’s Pomona campus. Guests will have the opportunity to learn about pet care and animal awareness, tour the Pet Health Center, visit a petting zoo and enjoy food trucks. Click here to visit the CVM Open House website.
From the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific:
WesternU professor receives HHS grant for tuberculosis research
U.S. Rep. Norma J. Torres (D-Pomona) announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded a $386,934 Academic Research Enhancement Awards (AREA) grant to Western University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific Professor Vishwanath Venketaraman, PhD, for his research into the links between diabetes and tuberculosis.
In the past 10 to 15 years, there has been increased documentation and evidence that people with type 2 diabetes are increasingly susceptible to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, Venketaraman said.
His proposal is to test if a glutathione (GSH)-deficiency in type 2 diabetes (T2DM) can impair the formation of granuloma and dampen the granulomatous effector responses against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection, thereby favoring bacterial replication and pathogenesis.
Click here to read the full story.
From the College of Pharmacy:
Kudos on accomplishments
Department of Pharmacy Practice and Administration faculty published the following:
Gogineni H, Aranda JP, Garavalia LS. Designing professional program instruction to align with students’ cognitive processing. Curr Pharm Teach Learn. 2019 Feb;11(2):160-165.
Aranda JP, Davies ML, Jackevicius CA. Student pharmacists’ performance and perceptions on an evidence-based medicine objective structed clinical examination. Curr Pharm Teach Learn. 2019 Mar;11(3):302-308.
Jackevicius CA, An J, Ko DT, Ross JS, Angraal S, Wallach JD, Koh M, Song J, Krumholz HM. Submissions from the SPRINT Data Analysis Challenge on clinical risk prediction: a cross-sectional evaluation. BMJ Open. 2019; 23(9):e025936. Co-author Jeeeun Song, is a WesternU Class of 2020 student pharmacist who is currently on rotations. Three other students from the same class had previously published with Dr. Jackevicius.
From the College of Dental Medicine:
Kudos on accomplishments
Based on her area of expertise in oral microbiology/pharmacognosy, Dalia Seleem, DDS, PhD, has participated as a peer reviewer for the Molecular Oral Microbiology journal.
At the ADEA Annual Session in Chicago, ADEA/Dentsply Sirona International Student Poster Awards recognize dental students for outstanding research and innovation. Third-year CDM student Shaahin Dadjoo placed second for his poster “Consistent Feedback: Did iFF Positively Enhance Dental Student Clinical Outcomes?”
From WesternU Health:
Clinical trials at WesternU Health – Pomona
SURPASS-4 Study: What’s missing from your type 2 diabetes management? If you’re looking for a different way to manage your A1 levels, the SURPASS-4 Study may interest you. We’re recruiting adults for a clinical research study of a once-a-week study drug for type 2 diabetes, and you may be able to take part. Talk to your doctor to learn more.
Click here to view a flier.
SELECT: Have you ever had a heart attack or stroke? Do you have poor circulation? Have you considered participating in a clinical study? Research has shown that treatment with semaglutide may reduce the risk of stroke and heart attack in people with type 2 diabetes. In a study called SELECT, we will check to see if semaglutide reduces the risk of cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke in people with overweight or obesity. Click here to read more.
