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This Week@WesternU April 13 – 17, 2015

by Jeff Malet

April 13, 2015

Read 11 mins

WesternU, TesoRx partner at Cal Poly site

Western University of Health Sciences and TesoRx, a specialty pharmaceutical company that develops formulations platforms and helps take them to market, held an open house and cut the ribbon on a joint research facility within California State Polytechnic University, Pomona’s Innovation Village on Friday, April 3. Click here to read the full story

WesternU, University of La Verne team up for early admissions programs

Western University of Health Sciences and the University of La Verne signed an early admission linkage agreement Tuesday, April 7, 2015 to help develop the health care workforce. Click here to view a photo on Facebook.

14th Annual Trends in Autism Conference set for April 18

At the 14th Annual Trends in Autism Conference at Western University of Health Sciences, parents and adults with autism, health professionals, therapists and teachers will come together with the common goal of "Putting the Puzzle Pieces Together." The conference will run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 18, 2015 at WesternU, 309 E. Second St., Pomona, Calif. 91766. The keynote speaker will be Patricia S. Lemer, MEd, NCC, MSBus, author of "Outsmarting Autism: The Ultimate Guide to Management, Healing, and Prevention." Her topic will be "Thinking Beyond Labels: Why So Many Developmental Problems, and What We Can Do About It?" Click here to read the full story.

WesternU Interprofessional Health Fair

The Student Government Association (SGA) and the WesternU chapter of the American Pharmacist Association (APhA) will host an Interprofessional Health Fair on Saturday, April 25, 2015. This FREE event will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the First Lutheran Church of Ontario, 203 East G Street, Ontario 91764. WesternU students, faculty, and staff will provide free services to residents of the Ontario area, and are actively recruiting faculty and student volunteers for this event. To volunteer, or for more information, contact Christy Ho, Interim Director for University Student Affairs, by email at hoc@westernu.edu or phone at (909) 469-5668.

WesternU’s Austin Lecture focuses on ‘The Vulnerable Child’

The fourth annual Dr. Robert L. Austin Endowed Lectureship in Pediatric Medicine and Pediatric Health Care Policy will feature a groundbreaking leader in developing critically needed medical, legal and social services for families affected by violence. "The Vulnerable Child: A Challenge to Multi-disciplinary Pediatric Care" will be presented by keynote speaker Astrid Heppenstall Heger, MD, Executive Director of the Violence Intervention Project at Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center, and a professor of clinical pediatrics at USC’s Keck School of Medicine. The lecture will be at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 21, 2015 in Lecture Hall I of WesternU’s Health Education Center, 701 E. Second St., Pomona, Calif. 91766.

Click here to read the full story.

WesternU to hold annual Ray Symposium April 30

The Ninth Annual Ray Symposium, sponsored by the College of Pharmacy, will focus on the importance of numbers in health care. The symposium will be at 3 p.m. Thursday, April 30, 2015 in Lecture Hall I of WesternU’s Health Education Center, 701 E. Second St., Pomona, CA 91766. The topic, presented by keynote speaker Ellen Peters, PhD, will be "Numeracy and Health: A Tyranny of Numbers." Click here to read the full story

WesternU hosts Integrated Care Conference

About 60 professionals from the fields of mental health and behavioral health attended the Tri- City Mental Health Services Integrated Care Conference on Wednesday, April 8, 2015. Western University of Health Sciences hosted the training and networking event in the Rodney P. Wineberg Center’s Trendle Hall. Click here to read the full story.

From the College of Dental Medicine

Kudos on accomplishments

Dr. Steven W. Friedrichsen, Dean of the College of Dental Medicine, was elected to a four-year term on the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) by the American Dental Education Association House of Delegates at the 2015 ADEA Annual Session in Boston. Dr. Friedrichsen will serve a "red-shirt" training and observation year following the American Dental Association meeting in November 2015, and will start his service on the commission the following year. The Commission on Dental Accreditation works to maintain the highest professional and ethical standards in the nation’s dental schools and programs. CODA employs a collaborative peer review accreditation process to evaluate the quality of more than 1,450 dental and dental-related education programs nationwide, including dental, advanced general dentistry, advanced specialty, clinical fellowship and allied dental programs. Boston 2015 In March, CDM faculty and students traveled to Boston to attend the 2015 American Dental Education Association (ADEA) Annual Session and the International Association for Dental Research (IADR) General Session and Exhibition. The CDM group delivered and attended presentations, contributed to ADEA and IADR leadership and governance activities, and networked with potential collaborators from around the nation and world.

ADEA ANNUAL SESSION 2015

Presentations:

    • "Mentoring Matters: The Development Process of a University Wide Mentoring Program" (Dr. Nithya Venugopal)

    • MOOG Simodont Forum (Dr. Robert Hasel)

    • "The Effect of Simodont Exposure on the Novice Student" (Dr. Sandra Farah-Franco)

    • "Incorporating Dental Education for Primary Care Through Interprofessional Collaborative Practice" (CBDE Team)

    • ADEA GoDental Workshop and Recruitment Fair (Dr. Jeffrey Turchi and Sean Rowan)

    • Poster Presentation: #35 – "Interdisciplinary Education Model Using the Gateway Program to Increase Dental Care

      Access" (Karen Lee, DMD 2015)

    • "Beyond the Manikin: Transforming Simulation in a Digital World" (Drs. Sandra Farah-Franco and Robert Hasel, et al)

Honors:

    • WesternU’s ADEA Chapter was awarded Outstanding Chapter Organization by the ADEA Council of Students, Residents

      and Faculty.

    • Dr. Hubert Chan was honored as a graduate from the ADEA Leadership Institute.

Elections:

    • Amy (Jee Hye) Huh, DMD 2017, was elected as ADEA Council of Students, Residents and Faculty Pacific Region

      Representative.

    • Dr. James Borke was elected as Chair of the ADEA Oral Biology Section.

2015 IADR General Session and Exhibition

Presentations:

    • "Rosmarinic Acid Inhibits Cellular Proliferation and Migration in Oral Cancer" with Dr. Bradley Henson, Zohra Tumur

      (first author), Carlos Guerra (manager of CDM laboratories), Peter Yanni (DMD 2018), and Tursun Alkam (from COMP).

    • "Gust-BDNF Transgenic Mice, a Novel Animal Model to Study Supertasting" with Dr. Irina Vukmanovic Nosrat, Dr.

      Christopher Nosrat (principal investigator).

    • "Incision Design/Flap Closure to Reduce Incidence of Alveolar Osteitis" with Ho-Hyun "Brian" Sun, DMD 2017, Dr. Jeffrey

      Elo (principal investigator and research advisor), Rahul Tandon (Loma Linda School of Dentistry), and Dr. Hardev Singh.

Kudos on accomplishments

Jayzona Alberto, Academic Manager in OAA, was accepted into the Doctor of Education in Organizational Change and Leadership (EdD) program at USC Rossier. This program is designed for current and emerging leaders wishing to drive systemic change in their organization and distinguish themselves as organizational leaders. The program allows for Jayzona to pursue this degree while working full time. She will begin the program in September 2015.

Cindy Morton, an RDA in The Dental Center, recently completed her RDAEF course and performed exceptionally well on the online and clinical portions. She will soon take the state board exam.

Dr. Joel Laudenbach gave a presentation on "Oral Cancer Screening for Health Care Providers" at Saban Community Clinic (sabancommunityclinic.org) on Friday, March 27, 2015. The goal was to help increase awareness and early detection of oral cancer by reviewing oral cancer screening techniques for community physicians/health care providers.

A paper from the thesis work of a former student who Dr. Borke mentored was published in March. The paper by Dinos ME, Borke JL, Swiec GD, McPherson JC 3rd, Goodin JL, Chuang AH, was titled: "In vitro study of the adverse effect of nicotine and physical strain on human gingival fibroblasts as a model of the healing of wounds commonly found in the military," and was published in Military Medicine 2015 Mar; 180 (3 Suppl): 86-91.

From the College of Veterinary Medicine

WesternU study: NYC carriage horses less stressed than those in pastures

It doesn’t come straight from the horse’s mouth, but it could be the next best thing: A Western University of Health Sciences-led study indicates that while New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is concerned about their welfare, carriage horses that trot the streets around Central Park and other NYC landmarks are not as stressed as the mayor might think. Click here to read the full WesternU story. Click here to read the exclusive story in the New York Daily News, and click here to read the second-day story from the Daily News with actor Liam Neeson "confirming what he’s felt in his heart."

Kudos on accomplishments

The Horse journal and its website published a special issue "Guide to 2014 AAEP and convention" and highlighted "Top Equine Studies" presented at the 2014 American Association of Equine Practitioners Conference (the world’s largest scientific horse medical conference). This includes an article/interview with Assistant Professor Dr. Babak Faramarzi, focusing on his study "Detecting Coffin Bone Fractures in Young Foals."

CVM Assistant Professor Dr. Jijun Hao recently published an article in Cell Reports titled "An In Vivo Chemical Genetic Screen Identifies Phosphodiesterase 4 as a Pharmacological Target for Hedgehog Signaling Inhibition." In this article, the authors not only identified a new compound, Eggmanone, that selectively inhibits hedgehog signaling, but also discovered that the phosphodiesterase 4 is a key protein component in the hedgehog cascade. Click here to read the full story

From the College of Pharmacy

RxBound Magazine

Check out the latest issue of RxBound, the official magazine of WesternU’s College of Pharmacy. Click here to read the magazine.

APhA Annual Meeting

WesternU was well represented at the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Annual Meeting, held in San Diego March 27-31, 2015. About 10 faculty members and Dean Daniel Robinson were in attendance.

The Rho Chi Honors Society Chapter of WesternU won:

    • Most Improved Chapter

    • Chapter Project Proposal Award

Both of these came with a plaque and $500.

In addition, Rho Chi Faculty Advisor Dr. Emmanuelle Schwartzman won Chapter Advisor, and attended the Annual Rho Chi Meeting and Executive Council Meeting.

Dr. Karl Hess served as the Delegate for California. He also was installed as Coordinator for Immunizing Pharmacist SIG.

Three posters were also presented at the meeting:

    • P Le, AV Law, K Hess, M Hata and J Boller. "An Interprofessional Approach to Determining Health Care

      Challenges in San Bernardino County, CA: A Needs Assessment Survey." Dr. Le is our alumna (2014) and currently a

      community pharmacy practice resident with Dr. Karl Hess. Dr. Boller is Director of Community Engagement for the

      College of Graduate Nursing.

    • Y Bae, C Patel, R Zalavadia and AV Law. "Patient Perception, Trust, and Overall Satisfaction with Mail Order Versus

      Community Pharmacy Services." Dr. Bae is the Health Outcomes Fellow with Dr. Law; Chetak Patel and Riddhi Zalavadia

      are PharmD 2015 candidates who worked with Dr. Law during their APPE/AE.

    • S Wu, B Tai, M Hata and AV Law. "Community Pharmacists and Proper Medication Disposal Education." Dr. Stephanie Wu

      is PharmD 2014 and a resident at Kaiser Permanente; Dr. Tai is Dr. Law’s previous Fellow.

From the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific

Medical students achieve 100% residency rate; record go into primary care

Class of 2015 students at the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific (COMP) in Pomona, California, and at its sister campus, COMP-Northwest in Lebanon, Oregon, had a 100 percent placement rate as defined by all students eligible for GME (Graduate Medical Education-Residency) in the 2014-15 academic year. Click here to read the full story.

NYT best-selling authors to speak at WesternU TODAY

Best-selling authors Daniel G. Amen, MD, and his wife, Tana Amen, BSN, RN, will speak on the importance of brain health from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. TODAY, Monday, April 13, 2015 in the Health Education Center, Lecture Hall 1, 701 E. Second St., Pomona, California 91766. The Amens’ speech, "Change Your Brain, Change Your Life," is open to the public and is being hosted by the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific. Click here to read more.

National ShaDO Week

The Office of University Recruitment and Strategic Enrollment Management, in collaboration with the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific (COMP) Admissions and first-year COMP student Becka Ruebsamen, a SOMA club member, hosted nearly 40 pre-med students for National ShaDO Week at WesternU April 6-7. Pre-med students from California were exposed to WesternU students, lectures, the Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (OMM) Lab and the Gross Anatomy Lab. Click here to view a slideshow.

The Human Solution gives treadmill desks to COMP-Northwest

COMP-Northwest recently received a donation of three treadmill desks for students, faculty and staff use at the college. Donated by The Human Solution, based in Austin, Texas, the treadmill desks are valued at more than $6,100. Click here to read the full story.

COMP Seminar Series

COMP will hold its monthly seminar from noon to 1 p.m. Friday, April 17, 2015 in Compatriots Hall, HSC. The presentation will be streamed to Heritage Hall B at COMP-Northwest. Jean Lopategui, MD, Medical Director, Molecular Pathology and Clinical Cytogenetics and Director, Molecular Genetics Pathology Fellowship, Cedars-Sinai, Los Angeles, will present "Precision Oncology in Solid Tumors: An Idea Whose Time Has Come." The COMP Seminar Series, which is open to everyone on campus, runs once a month from September to May. Lunch will be provided with RSVP by noon Wednesday, April 15 to kking@westernu.edu (Pomona) or mguerrero@westernu.edu (COMP-NW). Click here to view flier.

COMP/COMP-Northwest students are TOUCHing lives and breaking records

OMS students across the nation take part in a program titled TOUCH (Translating Osteopathic Understanding into Community Health). The purpose of this program is to encourage students to embrace the osteopathic philosophy and to make a commitment to serve communities and improve health. Results were recently submitted showing that COMP (Pomona and Lebanon) students logged 19,200 hours of community service and service learning. A total of 27 campuses nationwide participated in the TOUCH program. The efforts of the 314 COMP and COMP-Northwest students were almost three times the national average. OMSII John Daliva (Class Vice President – Pomona) reported that last year’s TOUCH hours total was 4,545.75 for Lebanon and Pomona campuses, and noted the significant improvement from last year. Students who complete 50 or more hours earn Silver recognition status, while students logging more than 100 hours earn Gold recognition. The student who dedicated the most time for their college earns Platinum recognition. Jeffrey Tsai, OMSII, earned the distinction of Platinum student by logging 265 hours.

COMP LinkedIn

COMP and COMP-Northwest have a unified group page on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/grp/home?gid=6957614

From the College of Graduate Nursing

Kudos on accomplishments

Dawn Stone, PhD(c), RN, ANP-BC, COHN-S, Associate Professor, provided several presentations at the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses 2015 National Conference in Boston in March. Stone’s efforts included a pre-conference workshop about case management in occupational health, a concurrent session highlighting the implications of diabetes and obesity, and a research poster presentation, "Health Effects of Van Pooling to Work." Stone partnered with colleagues from UCLA on all of the presentations.

From the University Archives

Celebrating Library Preservation Week

The University Archives will celebrate Library Preservation Week April 27 to May 1 with three noontime workshops on "Preserving Your Family Memories":

    • April 27, Workshop I, "Preserving Family Papers."

    • April 28, Workshop II, "Preserving Family Photographs."

    • May 1, Workshop III, "Preserving Home Movies."

The workshops will discuss causes of deterioration and proper care and handling of materials, and will provide storage guidelines and other helpful tips. All workshops will be from noon to 1 p.m. in Library Conference Room. Seating is limited to 20 people. Click here to go to the library workshops calendar. From there, click forward to the month of April or May and click on the respective workshop to register.

From University Advancement

Spring 2015 WesternU View

The latest issue of WesternU View is available online, brought to you by the Office of Public Affairs and Marketing. Inside you will find a variety of articles epitomizing the "WesternUWay," including the College of Dental Medicine using a "flipped classroom" model; WesternU journeyman painter Elliott Bruce’s inspiring journey of weight loss and battling cancer; and WesternU having the best health care jobs in 2015. Click Spring 2015 WesternU View to read the digital version of View magazine. Be on the lookout for the printed version in magazine racks across campus.

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