This Week@WesternU, Dec. 9-13, 2013

From the College of Optometry:

Western University of Health Sciences is one of six institutions testing two Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) devices. WesternU’s College of Optometry is creating a normative database for a U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved study of two OCT devices, Topcon OCT-1 Maestro and 3D OCT-200 Optical Coherence Tomography. Topcon Corporation is a Tokyo, Japan-based company divided into three business domains: Smart Infrastructure, Positioning and Eye Care.

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Western University of Health Sciences receives NIH funding to test vision-enhancing video game

Western University of Health Sciences is collaborating with UC Riverside and UCLA to test a video game designed to improve vision. College of Optometry Associate Professor Pinakin Davey, OD, PhD, FAAO, received a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant subcontract in collaboration with UC Riverside and UCLA. WesternU will receive about $100,000 of the $1.7 million grant. Click here to read the full story.

From the College of Pharmacy:

Kudos on accomplishments

Dr. Cynthia Jackevicius performed several tasks at the recently held meeting of the American Heart Association. She presented two oral abstracts: “Adherence with Dabigatran Therapy in Atrial Fibrillation” and “Comparative Effectiveness of Dabigatran vs. Warfarin in older Patients with Atrial Fibrillation.”

She also attended several meetings as part of her professional service commitments: Editorial Board for Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes journal; Council meeting for AHA Council on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research. Committee meeting for AHA Council on Clinical Cardiology Clinical Pharmacology Committee.

Dr. Jackevicius was inducted as a Fellow of the AHA (FAHA). As previously announced, this Fellowship recognizes scientific and professional accomplishments and volunteer leadership and service to one of the world’s most eminent organizations of cardiovascular and stroke professionals.

Dr. Mark Nguyen presented two invited talks: “Hyperglycemia in Critically Ill Patients: Does the Current Road Map Lead to Sweeter Success,” at the California Society of Health-System Pharmacists SEMINAR held in Anaheim, Calif., November 2013; and “Management of Sepsis and Septic Shock 101,” at the Orange County Society of Health-System Pharmacists in September 2013.

Dr. Janice Hoffman was inducted as the President of the California Chapter of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists.

Dr. David Pham won the LEARN Award by the American Diabetes Association, Orange County Office. The LEARN Award is granted to those focused on educating patients about diabetes, risk factors for diabetes, the prevention of diabetes and how to manage the disease once diagnosed.

From the Western Diabetes Institute:

The Western Diabetes Institute is featured in the “Thought Leadership” video on WDC TV at the IDF World Diabetes Congress in Melbourne, Australia, Dec. 2-6, 2013.

Please take a look at our website, wdi.westernu.edu. The home page has a link to the WDC TV video.

From University Advancement:

Alcon continues its generous support of the College of Optometry making a substantial gift for this academic year.

The College of Optometry received a very generous gift supporting the Hays/Haine Family Endowed Scholarship.

VSP and Essilor supported the University’s recent Gala with generous sponsorship support.

Vipal Gandhi, OD ’13, joins the ranks of the inaugural class in Optometry making a gift to the College of Optometry.

Young’s Valley Contax recently supported the College of Optometry’s Ophthalmic Forum.

Organogenesis, Inc. recently committed to a year-long sponsorship of the College of Podiatric Medicine’s Tuesday morning Academic Teaching Conference.

WesternU News

Western University of Health Sciences received the 2013 Partner in Progress Award from the Arthritis Foundation’s Inland Empire branch.

WesternU is conducting a clinical study to evaluate the prevalence of dry eye in rheumatoid arthritis patients, which could potentially lead to new treatments. This interprofessional study is being conducted by College of Optometry faculty members Jasmine Yumori, OD, FAAO, Robert Gordon, OD, FAAO, DPNAP, and Gillian Hollands, OD, MS; College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific faculty members Michael Finley, DO, and Dat Trinh, DO; and College of Graduate Nursing faculty member Tina Escobedo, DNP, RN, FNP-BC, with a research grant from Allergan Pharmaceuticals.

One of the biggest challenges for the research team, and for research projects in general, is recruiting subjects, said Dr. Yumori. WesternU reached out to neighboring organizations such as Casa Colina and local rheumatologists to help get the word out about the study.

“The Arthritis Foundation has been incredibly supportive,” Yumori said. “We’ve been going to community events with them and sharing information about the study. They’ve been really great in sharing our educational material with their volunteers. It’s been a great learning process, learning about how much support and advocacy they do for patients with arthritis.”

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