This Week@WesternU, July 6-10, 2015
From the College of Podiatric Medicine:
Kudos on accomplishments
College of Podiatric Medicine Dean Lawrence B. Harkless, DPM, is serving as the vice chair of the American Association of College of Podiatric Medicine (AACPM) Board of Directors for the July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016 fiscal year. Marie I. Anderson, director of admissions for WesternU’s colleges of dental medicine, optometry and podiatric medicine, is serving as the chair of the AACPM Council of Student Admissions Officers.
Click here to read the full story.
From the College of Pharmacy:
Kudos on accomplishments
Congratulations to Anandi Law, her faculty collaborators Karl Hess, Micah Hata, Rudolph Mireles and former fellows for their publications in Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy. Prashant Sakharkar, Mark Bounthavong, Jan D. Hirsch, Candis M. Morello, Timothy C. Chen, Anandi V. Law. Development and validation of PSPSQ 2.0 measuring patient satisfaction with pharmacist services. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy. July-August, 2015; Volume 11, Issue 4, Pages 487-498. Published Online: October 21, 2014. Click here to read the article.
This instrument was developed when Mark Bounthavong was a fellow here and continued on with Prashant Sakharkar. It was tested and validated at three clinics including the VASD – with Jan Hirsch, Candis Morello and Tim Chen who is an alum of WesternU. The instrument is already in use at the VASD and three other institutions across the globe. Anandi V. Law, Prashant Sakharkar, Amir Zargarzadeh, Bik Wai Bilvick Tai, Karl Hess, Micah Hata, Rudolph Mireles, Carolyn Ha, Tony J. Park. Taking stock of medication wastage: Unused medications in US households. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy. July-August, 2015; Volume 11, Issue 4, Pages 571-578. Published Online: October 16, 2014.
Click here to read the article.
From the College of Veterinary Medicine:
Kudos on accomplishments
The Veterinary Leadership Experience (VLE) is held each year in Post Falls, Idaho. At this event, students, faculty, private practitioners and veterinarians in industry from all over the world come together to learn about, and practice, being excellent communicators. CVM’s Dr. Betsy Charles is responsible for organizing and directing this event. WesternU was well-represented by CVM Class of 2018 students Dustin Ong and Madison Herrick. Also representing WesternU was Dr. Spring Halland, who served as one of 18 facilitators.
Dr. Spring Halland, joined by DVM 2018 student Nadia Torok, and a team of six other people, participated on a mission trip to Nicaragua through Christian Veterinary Missions organization. During their time in the Masaya region of the country, their team saw and treated 210 dogs, 145 cattle, 60 horses and a handful of pigs, birds and cats. These animals received vaccinations, anthelminthics for GI parasites, treatment and/or prevention of external parasites, general exams and a few canine spays.
Dr. Brian Oakley attended the International Probiotics Conference in Budapest, Hungary, and presented a poster titled, "Managing the gut microbiomes of food animals with tools of microbial ecology."
Along with colleagues from the USDA and University of Nevada School of Medicine, Dr. Oakley co-authored a peer-reviewed research paper reporting the construction and characterization of a Thermostable chimeric bacteriophage endolysin that could potentially be utilized as a food additive to specifically control the pathogenic bacterium Clostridum perfringens during poultry production. Enzymes produced by bacteriophage (viruses that infect bacteria) specifically target a particular bacterial strain and are a promising alternative to control human and animal pathogens as broad-spectrum antibiotics are increasingly withdrawn from animal feed. The paper, titled "A Thermophilic Phage Endolysin Fusion to a Clostridium perfringens-Specific Cell Wall Binding Domain Creates an Anti-Clostridium Antimicrobial with Improved Thermostability" appeared in the July issue of the journal Viruses.
CVM associate professors Brian Oakley and Yvonne Drechsler received WesternU intramural funding for a team project titled, "The chicken as selective enrichment vessel: validation of in vivo selective cultivation of probiotic communities via serial transplants of the chicken cecal microbiome." The main goal of the project is to assess the immune response of chickens to cecal microbiome transplants.
Dr. Miguel Saggese was invited to Madrid, Spain to give a full-day series of lectures and wet lab on avian physical therapy and orthopedic surgery. These lectures were part of a year-long course on exotic animal medicine. After successful completion of a final exam at the European School of Veterinary Postgraduate Studies, veterinarians receive a General Practitioner Certificate in Exotic Animal practice. The event was organized by Improve Iberia, an affiliate of Improve International, a non-governmental organization with a goal to provide continuous professional development for veterinarians in Europe.
From University Advancement:
Alumni news
The WesternU Alumni Association hosted three receptions at professional conferences at the end of June: More than 30 alumni, students, faculty, staff and guests attended the reception at the Westin Long Beach Hotel on Saturday, June 20 during the California Veterinary Medical Association’s Pacific Veterinary Conference. Nearly 50 alumni, students, faculty, staff and guests attended the dinner at Naples Ristorante at Downtown Disney in Anaheim on Friday, June 26 during the California Podiatric Medical Association’s Western Foot & Ankle Conference. More than 75 alumni, students, faculty, staff and guests attended the reception at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel on Friday, June 26 during the American Optometric Association’s Optometry’s Meeting. Pictures from this event can be found at http://westernu.smugmug.com/WesternU-Alumni/AOA-Optometry-2015.
On July 1, Alumni Director Russel Heskin began a three-year term as a member of the District VII Board of Directors for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). CASE supports alumni relations, communications, development, and marketing professionals at educational institutions worldwide. The association provides networking, recognition, and continuing education for more than 64,000 advancement professionals at more than 3,400 colleges, universities, and independent elementary and secondary schools in more than 70 countries. CASE District VII represents professionals and institutions in the western region of the United States, including Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada, Northern Mariana Islands, and Utah.
