This Week@WesternU, Aug. 6-10, 2012

Welcome Week

We will be hosting Welcome Week in two locations again this year! Welcome Week took place in Lebanon, Ore. Aug. 1-4, 2012 for COMP-Northwest students. Welcome Week for our Pomona, Calif. campus will take place Aug. 6-11, 2012. Welcome Week is set aside to help new students successfully navigate the campus and take advantage of available services, therefore it is mandatory that you attend. Please see the Welcome Week Schedule for program-specific dates and times.

Click here for the Pomona campus Welcome Week webpage.

Click here for the Lebanon campus Welcome Week webpage.

Please check these webpages often for updates. If you have any questions regarding the Pomona campus Welcome Week, please contact the Office of University Student Affairs at (909) 469-5340. If you have any questions regarding COMP-Northwest Welcome Week, please contact COMP-Northwest Student Affairs at (541) 259-0209.

STARS

WesternU students presented their summer research projects at the fifth annual Student Technology and Research Symposium (STARS) on Aug. 1, 2012. Click here to read the full story and to view a slideshow.

Preview Day

Registration is open for WesternU Preview Day on Saturday, Aug. 25, 2012 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., which highlights health education opportunities offered at Western University of Health Sciences.

Preview Day, held in and around WesternU’s Health Education Center (HEC), 701 E. Second St., Pomona, Calif., will provide potential students the opportunity to get more information about a health profession program of interest, hear about the admissions process, learn about financial aid, see curriculum firsthand, discover how to become a competitive applicant, and meet current students and faculty.

If you know of anyone who might be interested in learning more about any of our degree programs offered, please feel free to encourage them to visit our prospective student website for more information or to register for our Preview Day.

From the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific:

Alan Cundari, DO, MS, a Western University of Health Sciences alumnus and longtime professor and department chair, has been named the American Osteopathic Foundation’s 2012 Educator of the Year.

Click here to read the full story.

Kudos on accomplishments

Congratulations to COMP-Northwest Clinical Anatomy Researcher Kevin Post for being awarded the runner-up recipient of the annual Ralph Ger Clinical Research Award. This year’s award was presented at an International meeting based on his research project, “Tibial tuberosity: a morphological mystery with clinical significance” from Dr. Brion Benninger’s Surgical-Radiological-Medical Research Dissection Lab.

Congratulations to COMP-Northwest Clinical Anatomy Researcher Aaron Stecker for being awarded the runner-up recipient of the annual Sandy Marks Clinical Research Poster Award. This year’s award was presented at an International meeting based on his research project “Laryngeal nerve location vs terminology vs. clinical relevance: Evidence for change” from Dr. Brion Benninger’s Surgical-Radiological-Medical Research Dissection Lab.

From the College of Allied Health Professions:

Congratulations to the PA 2012 class who completed all program requirements on July 31, 2012. They have now finished the PA Program and are getting ready to take the Physician Assistant National Certifying Examination (PANCE) over the next few months.

Congratulations to Jonathan Lozano, PA-S ’13, who was the inaugural recipient of the Myron and Laura Saal Scholarship. The Saal family has provided funds to establish a Physician Assistant Scholarship in honor of Myron and Laura Saal. The scholarship is designed to provide support for PA students who are the first generation in their family to pursue post-undergraduate training.

Elizabeth (Lesa) Maugh, PA-C, Instructor of Physician Assistant Education, is completing her Master’s Degree in Health Sciences. She was invited to present one of her projects at the Student Technology and Research Symposium 2012. Her presentation was on MultiMedia Observed Structured Clinical Exam Module in which she compares the use of hard copy printed material vs. iPad multimedia materials and the effect it has on student learning and confidence.

Department of Physical Therapy Education News

Professor David Selkowitz, PT, PhD, OCS, DAAPM, gave a podium presentation during the XIX Biennial International Society of Electrophysiology and Kinesiology (ISEK) Congress, which was held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre in Australia from July 19-21. Dr. Selkowitz, a conference co-chair for the biomechanics track, presented his research titled “Activation of Hip Muscles Detected with Fine-Wire Electrodes During Four Common Therapeutic Exercises in Persons with Patellofemoral Pain.” ISEK is a multidisciplinary organization comprised of members from all over the world in health-related fields and basic science with a common desire to study human movement and the neuromuscular system. The conference had a multidisciplinary cross section of more than 500 delegates in Brisbane from basic scientists to practicing clinicians.

From the College of Pharmacy:

Dr. Kabir Lutfy was awarded an intramural grant for his project, “The role of endogenous PACAP in Opiate Reward,” in the amount of $42,000 for one year. Out of 11 proposals received by the University Research Committee, only two were deemed to have sufficient merit for an award, which attests to the high level of research conducted in Dr. Lutfy’s lab.