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This Week@WesternU, Feb. 17-20, 2015

by Rodney Tanaka

February 17, 2015

Read 5 mins

From the Graduate College of Biomedical Sciences:

WesternU symposium features top neuroscientists
Top neuroscientists from around the world will convene at Western University of Health Sciences February 28, 2015 for a symposium, “From Molecules to Mind.” The symposium, which is free and open to the public, will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28 in the WesternU Health Education Center, Lecture Hall 1, 701 E. Second St., Pomona, Calif. 91766. The symposium will be live-streamed to WesternU’s Lebanon, Oregon campus.
Click here to read the full story. Click here to visit the symposium website.

From the College of Veterinary Medicine:

WesternU College of Veterinary Medicine student earns prestigious diversity scholarship
Western University of Health Sciences College of Veterinary Medicine student Leo Holguin, DVM ’16, will receive the 2015 Patricia M. Lowrie Diversity Leadership Scholarship, awarded by the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC). Holguin was selected from among student applicants from 30 accredited colleges. He will receive a monetary scholarship and a funded invitation to the Iverson Bell Symposium in Washington, D.C. this spring. Click here to read the full story.

From the College of Optometry:

College of Optometry professor to celebrate birthday with bike ride for charity
Western University of Health Sciences College of Optometry Chief of Primary Care Bennett McAllister, OD, FAAO, will celebrate his 60th birthday by riding his bicycle 60 miles to raise money for his students. McAllister turns 60 on Feb. 20, 2015. The following day, he will ride a 12-mile loop every hour for five hours, beginning and ending on WesternU’s Pomona, California campus. He is asking supporters to donate $1 per mile. McAllister is WesternU’s faculty-student liaison to the American Academy of Optometry (AAO). He is raising money to send a College of Optometry student to the AAO Annual Meeting in New Orleans in October. If the College raises $750, the American Optometric Foundation (AOF) will match that amount, allowing a second WesternU student to attend. Click here to read the full story.

From the College of Dental Medicine:

Survey Shows 75% of Parents Miss Key Health Milestone of Bringing Children to Dentist by Age One
A new survey from Western University of Health Sciences’ College of Dental Medicine indicates 75 percent of parents are not complying with the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) recommendation to take children to the dentist by age 1. The survey found that parents in the general population bring their children to the dentist for the first time at the average age of 2½, while parents who fall under the U.S. poverty threshold bring their children to the dentist for the first time at approximately 3½ years old. Click here to read the full story.

From the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific:

COMP-Northwest prepares for inaugural commencement
Western University of Health Sciences’ College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific-Northwest (COMP-Northwest) will celebrate a landmark event with its inaugural commencement at 11 a.m. Friday, June 5, 2015 at the college, 200 Mullins Drive, Lebanon, Ore. Just four short months from now, nearly 100 medical students will realize their dream of earning a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine diploma at the ceremony. The Commencement ceremony will be open to the public. Seating will open at 10 a.m. the day of the event. “We are excited to introduce the physicians of tomorrow at COMP-Northwest’s inaugural commencement,” said Paula M. Crone, DO, Dean of COMP and COMP-Northwest. “I am proud of what this group of exemplary men and women has accomplished during their four years at COMP-Northwest, and I look forward to calling these students my colleagues.”Click here to read the full story.

Kudos on accomplishments:
The Department of Basic Medical Sciences faculty members Dr. Vishwanath Venketaraman and Dr. Xiaoning Bi with their colleagues/collaborators have published the following research articles: Morris, D; Ly, J; Chi, P; Daliva, J; Nguyen, T; Soofer, C; Chen, Y; Lagman, M; Venketaraman, V. (2014). Glutathione synthesis is compromised in erythrocytes from individuals with HIV. Frontiers in Pharmacology. 5 (73) 1-6 (corresponding author). Saing, T; and Venketaraman, V. (2014). Apolipoprotein E downregulates the production of IL-1 in individuals with HIV Infection. The Journal of Southern California Clinicians. 8 (1) 34-36 (corresponding author). Minette, L; Ly, J; Saing, T; Singh, M; Tudela, E; Morris D, Chi, P; Ochoa, C; Sathananthan, A; Venketaraman, V (2015). Investigating the causes for decreased levels of glutathione in individuals with type II diabetes. PLoS One. doi 10.1371/journal.pone.011843 (corresponding author). Zhu G; Liu Y; Wang Y; Bi X; Baudry M. (2015) Different Patterns of Electrical Activity Lead to Long-term Potentiation by Activating Different Intracellular Pathways. J Neurosci 14;35(2):621-33. Baudry M; Zhu G; Liu Y; Wang Y; Briz V; Bi X. (2014) Multiple cellular cascades participate in long-term potentiation and in hippocampus-dependent learning. Brain Res. pii: S0006.

Dr. Venketaraman has also received $50,000 from Your Energy Systems for investigating the efficacy of liposomal glutathione in improving CD4 T cell counts in individuals with HIV infection.

Students Natalie Hollick and Katherine Scribner competed in, and won an award in, the California Osteopathic Video Challenge. See their video “Help Me” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrKSiUZyqzg&feature=youtu.be

Mathew Wedel, PhD, of COMP and CPM gave an invited talk at the University of California, Riverside on Feb. 12 titled, “What air-filled bones tell us about dinosaurs, and vice versa.”

Dr. Vicki Wedel of COMP and CDM gave the opening motivational speech at the American Association of University Women/Citrus College STEM conference for 400 eighth-grade girls. The talk was titled, “How to Eat an Elephant and When to Eat Your Frogs.”

The Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons of California (OPSC) held their 54th Annual Convention in San Diego Feb. 4-8. At a black tie event on Saturday evening, Dr. Alan Cundari was presented a Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition, Dr. David Connett concluded his term as the President of the OPSC and passed the gavel to Dr. John Kowalcyzk. Dr. Brian Loveless was installed as the new Vice President of the OPSC. Congratulations to all.

Thirteen COMP-Northwest DO students will be presenting three oral platforms and 10 posters on innovative ultrasound and/or Google Glass research projects from Dr. Brion Benninger’s lab at the Osteopathic Physicians & Surgeons of Oregon annual conference in February 2015.

Brion Benninger, MD, MSc, Professor & Executive Director, Medical Anatomy Center (MAC), Lebanon, Oregon, was recently selected as an eminent editor on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Forensic Science and Legal Medicine.

Dr. Benninger delivered an invited presentation Feb. 10, 2015 to executives of the Fukuda-Denshi ultrasound company from Japan and Switzerland. They were impressed with Dr. Benninger’s integration of ultrasound technology with disruptive innovation applied to education, training, civilian and military research.

ACGME Board Unanimously Approves Osteopathic Recognition & ONMM Program Requirements On February 6-9, 2015, the ACGME Board of Directors held a historic meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona, seating the AOA and AACOM nominees appointed by ACGME for the first time. Among the DOs seated on the ACGME Board is College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific Professor Clinton Adams, DO.
Click here to read the full story on the AACOM website.

From University Advancement:

Alumni news
On the evening of Thursday, Feb. 5, the Alumni Association hosted a reception in San Diego during the Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons of California’s Annual Convention. Approximately 75 alumni, students, faculty, staff, preceptors, and guests enjoyed complimentary hors d’oeuvres and a hosted bar.

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