This Week@WesternU, Jan. 27-31, 2014

From the College of Dental Medicine:

Western University of Health Sciences is partnering with the Center for Oral Health and the American Dental Association to provide free dental exams to children 17 and younger at two locations in Pomona, Calif. on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2014.

The free exams will be provided from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 4 at the Village@Indian Hill, 1460 E. Holt Ave. Room #14, and Mendoza Elementary School, 851 S. Hamilton Blvd., in the portables on 8th Street and Hamilton Boulevard.

WesternU College of Dental Medicine students and faculty will provide free dental exams, cleanings, fluoride treatments and sealants.
Click here to read the full story.

Kudos on accomplishments

Dr. Timothy Martinez was re-appointed to the Dental Hygiene Committee of California. Click here to read more.

From the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific:

Kudos on accomplishments

Drs. Scott Helf and Gerald Thrush, along with their collaborator Dr. Tere Ma from Einstein College of Medicine, had two different presentations accepted at the American Osteopathic Association’s Osteopathic Medical Education conference held in Austin, Texas Jan. 9-10, 2014. Their talks on “Theory to Practice: Implementation of Technology to Track Learner Outcomes and Organic Curriculum Mapping” were two of only 12 talks selected for oral presentations. In addition, one of the organizers of the Osteopathic European Academic Network heard their talks and invited them to give these presentations and hold a workshop for attendees at their annual meeting on “Innovation in Osteopathic Education” held in Barcelona, Spain in June.

Ed Wagner, PhD, Associate Professor of Physiology, and Beatrice Saviola, PhD, Associate Professor of Microbiology, had their research conference proposal accepted by the American Osteopathic Association. The conference will be held in October 2014. “Science in Seattle” will address four themes:

Gender Differences and Women’s Health: Does Sex Really Matter?

Autism Spectrum Disorders: How Close are we to Tearing Down the Wall

Host-Pathogen Interactions

Emergent Insights into the Therapeutic Utility of Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine

This is the second research conference for the AOA that Dr. Wagner and Dr. Saviola have chaired and co-chaired, respectively. The first one was held in October 2010 in San Francisco, and titled, “Emerging Research Themes for Osteopathic Clinicians and Scientists in the Early 21st Century.”

Two COMP students in collaboration with the Western Diabetes Institute developed abstracts that have been accepted for an oral presentation during the

2014 Western Regional Meetings to be held Jan. 23-25, 2014 in Carmel, California.

“Effects of Engagement Survey on Type II Diabetes Outcomes,” by COMP student Vanessa Solomon, Edward Barnes, MD, FACP, and Cesar Ochoa, BS, CPT I, PhD.

“Perceived Osteoporosis Risk and Gender,” by COMP student Sahil Vohra, Airani Sathananthan, MD, MSHS, and Cesar Ochoa, BS, CPT I, PhD.

Approximately 70 sixth-grade students from Seven Oak Middle School visited COMP-Northwest on Friday, Jan. 24 to learn more about the Lebanon Health Career Ladder program. The field trip to COMP-Northwest succeeded in drumming up participation for the Saturday academy on forensics, which was held the next day. More on the LHCL program can be found here.

Three COMP-Northwest projects were accepted for presentation at the American Academy Emergency Medicine conference, which will be held Feb. 11-15 in New York City.

OMS III Andy Berglund will give an oral/platform presentation on his project, “Portable Ultrasound as a Tool to Monitor CPR Quality for Emergency Department Personnel.”

OMS II Kurtis Webster and OMS II Eric Vinceslio will give a poster presentation on “Learning the Ultrasound Sliding Lung Sign on Embalmed Cadaveric Tissue.”

COMP-Northwest Anatomy Technician Jonathan Shader will give a poster presentation on his project, “Integrating Ultrasound Orbital Anatomy and Foreign Body Exploration with Donor Cadaver Patients as a training method for Emergency Medicine Personnel.”

The projects were completed under the guidance of Brion Benninger, MD, MSc, Executive Director of the Medical Anatomy Center, and Professor, COMP-Northwest Medical Anatomical Sciences.

From the Western Diabetes Institute:

WDI receives grant

The Western Diabetes Institute Diabetes Education Team received a grant from the Los Angeles County Health Department/American Diabetes Association to certify the Diabetes Education Program. The grant was approximately $1,500 and covered education supplies and fees. The program was recognized by the American Diabetes Association on Jan. 17, 2014. Members of the team include Melanie Barbee, RD, Christal Pham, PharmD, Oliva Phung, PharmD, Emmanuelle Schwartzman, PharmD, Graciela Reza, and Airani Sathananthan, MD.

From the College of Pharmacy:

Congratulations to Fadi Khasawneh, PhD, on his recent accomplishments:

Dr. Khasawneh has been elected Biological Sciences Chair for the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP). This is a three-year commitment as Chair-Elect, Chair and Past-Immediate Chair.

Dr. Khasawneh has been invited to serve on the Hemostasis and Thrombosis (HT) Study Section, of the Vascular and Hematology Integrated Review Groups, Center for Scientific Review, NIH Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

Congratulations to Dr. Cynthia Jackevicius for her recent publication: Shah M, Tsadok MA, Jackevicius CA, Essebag V, Eisenberg MJ, Rahme E, Humphries KH, Tu JV, Behlouli H, Guo H, Pilote L. Warfarin use and the risk of stroke and bleeding in patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing dialysis. Circulation 2014; (Published online ahead of print). Click here to read the article.

The article which has some interesting results, also merited an editorial: A Pint of Sweat Will Save a Gallon of Blood: A Call for Randomized Trials of Anticoagulation in End Stage Renal Disease. Christopher B. Granger and Glenn M. Chertow. Circulation. Originally published January 22, 2014.

From the College of Allied Health Professions:

Department of Physical Therapy Education News

Physical therapists (PTs) have been listed among the career paths with the strongest recent growth and most potential for expansion in the future. According to last month’s rankings from Forbes magazine, PTs are the fifth strongest-growth professionals, behind software developers and market research analysts, but ahead of web developers and petroleum engineers. The ratings were based on a recent study by Career Builder and Economic Modeling Specialists Inc. The Career Builder study projects that the U.S. workforce will grow by 4.4 percent from 2013 to 2017 and estimates the PT workforce to increase by 13 percent during the same time.

From the College of Veterinary Medicine:

Kudos on accomplishments

Dr. David Kersey, along with two other PI’s, secured funding for a project titled “Assessing thyroid endocrine status in mammals: a new approach to diagnosing thyroid disease.” The project was submitted by Co-PI Kari Morfeld, to the Nebraska Wesleyan University – Research or Creative Endeavor Grant. Although a small grant (~$3,800), the project is what we hope to be the first of many to test our theory of comparative thyroid hormone analysis.

The project is a collaborative effort Dr. Kersey has with Dr. Copper Aitken Palmer of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and Dr. Kari Morfeld of the Lincoln Children’s Zoo.

From University Advancement:

Alumni news

The WesternU Alumni Association will hold a reception for alumni, students, faculty and staff from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 5 in Las Vegas at the Venetian/Palazzo Congress Center, Murano 3302 (3rd Level). This reception, which will feature complimentary hors d’oeuvres and a hosted bar, is being held during the American Physical Therapy Association’s Combined Sections Meeting, but guests do not need to be attending the meeting to attend this reception. To RSVP, or for information, please contact the Alumni Office at alumni@westernu.edu or (909) 469-ALUM. Meeting attendees are also encouraged to stop by the WesternU Booth (#581) in Exhibit Hall A, February 4-6.

The WesternU Alumni Association will be staffing an exhibit booth (#503) at the Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons of California’s Annual Convention, Feb. 5-7 at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay in San Diego. COMP alumni, students, faculty and staff in attendance at the Convention are encouraged to stop by.

The WesternU Alumni Association has organized a 30-Year Reunion for the COMP Class of 1984 from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 6 at the Red Marlin Restaurant at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay in San Diego, Calif. The reunion is being held in conjunction with the OPSC Convention, where David Connett, DO ’84, will be inducted as OPSC President on Saturday, Feb. 8.

Pharmacy gift

College of Pharmacy Dean Daniel Robinson received a gift of $50,000 from Walgreens in support of Diversity & Outreach initiatives at the College on Jan. 17.

Dean Robinson has worked closely over the last year with Walgreens representatives from both the local region and the corporate office to put this new level of partnership support together. Walgreens continues to be a significant partner for the College of Pharmacy, supporting student pharmacist scholarships with sponsorships of the WesternU College of Pharmacy Scholarship Golf Tournament, the annual College of Pharmacy Student Leadership Retreat, the Dean’s Welcome Back Dinner and College of Pharmacy Commencement Banquet as well.

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