This Week@WesternU, July 26-30, 2010
Welcome Week
Welcome Week 2010 (Aug. 2-7, 2010) is a wonderful opportunity for incoming students to learn about the university and to meet their classmates. For questions regarding any of these events, call the Office of University Student Affairs at (909) 469-5340 or e-mail studentaffairs@westernu.edu. Additional information on college-specific orientation schedules, Ice Cream Social group breakdowns and other events is available here:
http://www.westernu.edu/xp/edu/students/students-orientation.xml.
Click here to read more about Convocation keynote speaker Jeffrey Saal, MD.
President’s Ice Cream Social (Optional)
Please note the change of location.
Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010 in the Health Professions Center Student Commons. Click here for more information.
Convocation (Mandatory. Professional attire. White coats not required.)
8:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 7, Ontario Convention Center, 2000 Convention Center Way East. Ontario, CA 91764. Directions
White Coat ceremonies (Mandatory. Professional attire. Bring white coats but do not wear them)
Saturday, Aug. 7
For a complete list of White Coat ceremonies, click here.
President’s Welcome Lunch and campus tours immediately follow Convocation and White Coat ceremonies on the WesternU campus from noon to 2:30 p.m.
Please RSVP to this event by sending an e-mail to Special Events or by calling Rocki at (909) 469-5439.
From the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific:
Kudos on accomplishments
COMP is among the nation’s top medical schools in social mission, and is No. 1 in its home state. Click here to read more.
COMP alumni Barbara Walker, DO, and James Dearing, DO, were re-elected to serve as 2010-11 American Osteopathic Association Trustees. Fourth-year COMP student Andrew Nelson was selected as the next student representative.
Congratulations to Associate Professor Xiaoning Bi, Assistant Research Scientist Guanghong Liao and Post Doc Fellow Qingyu Qin and their USC colleague for the following publication: Qingyu Qin, Guanghong Liao, Michel Baudry, and Xiaoning Bi. Role of calpain-mediated p53 truncation in semaphorin 3A-induced axonal growth regulation. PNAS published ahead of print July 19, 2010,doi:10.1073/pnas.1008652107
Abstract; Full Text (PDF); Supporting Information
From the College of Pharmacy:
Kudos on accomplishments
Dr. Sheryl Chow was one of the authors who presented at the American Heart Association (AHA) Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Meeting, Rancho Mirage, Calif. July, 19, 2010. This abstract was also accepted to the AHA Annual Scientific Sessions (Best of AHA Specialty Conferences Poster Session, ranked top 10% of accepted abstracts), which will be presented in Chicago, Ill. on November 15, 2010.
Wang JS, Kovanecz I, Vernat D, Nolazco G, Kopchock G, Chow SL, White RA, Gonzalez-Cadavid N. Effects of long-term continuous treatment with sildenafil alone or combined with muscle derived stem cells (MDSC) on myocardial infarction in a rat model.
Dr. Janice Hoffman and COP alumnus class of 2008 Chen Chen were appointed to the Academy of Long Term Care Board for the California Pharmacists Association.
Prof. Roger Klotz was elected Chair-Elect of the Executive Committee for the Section of Home, Ambulatory, and Chronic Care Practitioners for the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists
The Annual Meeting of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) was held in Seattle, Wash. July 10–14. COP Dean Daniel Robinson was initiated as Secretary of the Council of Deans. Dean Robinson also served as the Administrative Delegate from WesternU.
Dr. Steve O’Barr, Chair of Pharmaceutical Sciences, was initiated as Chair of the Biological Section and was selected to participate in the 2010-11 Academic Leadership Fellows Program.
Dr. Anandi Law, Chair of Pharmacy Practice and Administration, completed the 2009-10 Academic Leadership Fellows Program. Her team presented the results of their research with a presentation titled, “Student Engagement in Professional Political Advocacy.”
Dr. Eric Gupta (Pharmacy Practice and Administration) was honored as one of the Teachers of the Year in colleges of pharmacy.
Drs. Eunice Chung (Director of Curriculum Development) and Ying Huang (Pharmaceutical Sciences) participated in the Biological Section’s Special Session on Curricular Planning and Implementation of Stand-alone and Integrated Pharmacogenomics Models by presenting a summary of the implementation of pharmacogenomics in the College of Pharmacy curriculum. Dr. Chung also served as Faculty Delegate from WesternU.
Click here for copies of the abstracts presented at this meeting.
From the College of Veterinary Medicine:
Kudos on accomplishments
Veterinary Student Doctor Rachel Rasmussen (DVM 2011) made a scientific presentation Thursday, June 10, 2010 at the Anaheim meeting of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.
Such presentations are usually done by Internal Medicine Residents and specialty college Diplomates; it is exceedingly rare for a veterinary student to present at this forum. Rachel received compliments for her presentation that reflected well upon Western University and our veterinary curriculum that emphasizes communication skills.
This presentation described the research study that was the result of a student summer grant funded by Western U’s Student Summer Research Grant Program that Rachel did with Dr. Linda Kidd last summer. This was a collaboration between eight CORE medicine private veterinary “Preceptor” sites and Western University. The abstract was published in the May/June issue of the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine. The full citation is below. A full manuscript regarding the study is in progress.
R Rasmussen, P Slusser, E Chaplow, K Richter, S Hill, J Mott, B Werner, R Martin, D Kobayashi, D Feldman, L Kidd. Seasonality and Vector-Borne Disease Screening in Southern California Dogs With Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine 24 (3) p687.
