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This Week@WesternU June 20-24, 2016

by Jeff Malet

June 21, 2016

Read 6 mins

WesternU’s Towne & Gown Golf Classic set for June 27
Western University of Health Sciences invites the public to an exciting day of golf to benefit student scholarships.

The 6th annual Towne & Gown Golf Classic will be played Monday, June 27, 2016 at Red Hill Country Club, 8358 Red Hill Country Club Drive, Rancho Cucamonga, California 91730. Registration and lunch starts at 11 a.m., followed by a noon shotgun start. A dinner and awards ceremony will follow.

Click here to read the full story.

Click here to visit the Towne & Gown website and to register for the tournament.

 

Helicopter Drop
Everyone is invited to join the Towne & Gown Golf Classic Helicopter Drop. Whether you’re at the golf course or not, you will be able to tune in and catch the live streaming action here: https://www.youtube.com/c/ETGWesternU/live. The helicopter team will dump numbered golf balls over a designated hole, and the owner of the ball that lands in the hole (or closest to the pin) will win the 50-50 cash prize. This is another exciting way to benefit the Towne & Gown Endowed Scholarship Fund. Contact Courtney Schultz at 909-469-8495 or cschultz@westernu.edu for more information.

Click here to view the flier.

 

From the Graduate College of Biomedical Sciences:

WesternU team, international collaborators publish new findings on calpain-1
Western University of Health Sciences researchers, in an international collaboration with colleagues in London, Paris, Tunisia and Belgium, have published a paper demonstrating the role of the calcium-dependent protease calpain-1 in cerebellar ataxia in mice and humans.

The paper, “Defects in the CAPN1 gene result in alterations in cerebellar development and in cerebellar ataxia in mice and humans,” was published June 16, 2016 in Cell Reports. Click here to view the article online: http://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(16)30627-1.

Click here to read the full story.

 

Kudos on accomplishments
GCBS Associate Professor Fanglong Dong, PhD, in collaboration with Dr. Ivy Tuason (PI), CGN assistant professor, have a poster accepted for the 2016 State of the Science Congress on Nursing Research: Determinants of Health. The title of the poster is “Indicators and predictors of sexual behaviors of Filipinos ages 18-25 in the United States and the Philippines.” They used an online survey to collect data to compare the differences in sexual behavior between the U.S. and Philippines. This presentation will take place in Washington, D.C. Sept. 15-17, 2016.

 

From the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific:

Gold Humanism Honor Society
The mission of the Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS) is to recognize individuals who are exemplars of humanistic patient care and who can serve as role models, mentors, and leaders in medicine. Gold Humanism Honor Society (Pomona campus) had their inaugural induction ceremony June 15. Thirty-four third and fourth year DOs who showed outstanding clinical and interpersonal skills were recognized and selected to be members of the GHHS. Those members will have a responsibility to model, support, and advocate for compassionate, patient-centered care throughout their careers. The creation of a GHHS, Pomona chapter, signifies that WesternU is an institution that places high value on the interpersonal skills and attitudes that are essential for the highest level of patient care. http://www.gold-foundation.org/

Click here to view a photo on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/COMPPomona/photos/a.1504806236430911.1073741827.1504797799765088/1785425385035660/?type=3&theater

 

Kudos on accomplishments
John Enrique Mata PhD, an Associate Professor of Pharmacology at COMP-Northwest, has received a John C. Erkkila Endowment for Health and Human Performance grant for a project titled, “The Use of Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer to Detect Virus in Blood.” The project is a collaboration between researchers Thomas Squier, PhD, Vishwanath Venketaraman, PhD, Michelle Steinhauer, PhD, and Yijia Xiong, PhD, from the Department of Basic Medical Sciences. Other collaborators include David Roberts and Greg Peek from Takena Technologies Inc. of Albany, Oregon and James Summerton from GeneTools, LLC of Philomath, Oregon. The $20,000 award will be used to demonstrate the feasibility of using a low-cost method for the direct detection of the presence of pathogens. Click here to read a Corvallis Gazette-Times story on this project:

http://www.gazettetimes.com/albany/news/local/mid-valley-men-developing-hand-held-virus-detection-tool/article_c356b06a-90e4-5f37-8a3f-14fabac04fef.html

Co-principal Investigators Gail Singer-Chang, PsyD, and Michael Seffinger, DO, received grant funding from the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) for their research titled “Identifying Risk Factors Associated with Declining EQ Traits During DO Training.” This large-scale project includes faculty and programs from across the University campus and beyond.  Additional research investigators from WesternU include Scott Helf, DO, MSIT, Fanglong Dong, PhD (CGBS), Natalie Nevins, DO, Janice Blumer, DO, Sandra Farah-Franco, DDS, Brent Fung, DDS, Sean Rowan, MA, Paul Dobies, OD, Kathleen Satterfield, DPM, and Marcia Luxenburg-Horowitz, DNP.  Inter-institutional partners include Michelle Amizov, MD, and Ronda Doonan, PsyD, from Community Memorial Health Systems DO residency training program, and William Cairney, PhD, from Rocky Vista University and KCUMB.

John T. Pham, DO, Vice Chair of the Department of Family Medicine, was awarded the COMP Distinguished Faculty Award for Leadership and Service this month. This award recognizes a faculty member from COMP’s Pomona and Lebanon campuses for exemplary leadership, service and contributions to WesternU and COMP committees, professional and/or local communities/societies/organizations, the development and implementation of COMP programs, and for demonstrating a commitment to high standards of professional life.

Click here to read the full story.

 

From the College of Podiatric Medicine:

Kudos on accomplishments
V. Kathleen Satterfield, DPM, had two posters presented at the World Congress of Podiatry in Montreal, Canada. The first was a collaboration with John Becker, PhD, professor of basic biomedical sciences at Scholl College of Podiatric Medicine at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science and dealt with the interprofessional education programs at both WesternU’s CPM and Scholl.

The second, “A Call for an Innovative Teaching Method in Podiatric Medical Education,” was a collaboration with Robert Hasel, DDS, of the College of Dental Medicine and Hooman T. Mir, DPM, MSc, of VirtualU@WesternU. The trio also recently had another poster and abstract presented at the American Professional Wound Care Association meeting in Philadelphia. That presentation and poster are titled “The Role of  3D Virtual Imaging Systems in Curriculum Delivery for a Wound Care Medical Training Course.” Dr. Mir represented the group at both meetings.

Dr. Jonathan Labovitz, DPM, published an article in the Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association, Volume 106, Number 3, May/June 2016.

“Forecasting the Value of Podiatric Medical Care in Newly Insured Diabetic Patients During Implementation of the Affordable Care Act in California”

Click here to view the article:  http://www.japmaonline.org/doi/full/10.7547/15-026

This article is the result of Dr. Labovitz’ dream and desire to become knowledgeable and a leader in population health, access, quality and cost which are the aims of the affordable healthcare act.  This article is the beginning of many to come and serves as an example of how one can grow their interests and expertise in a specific area, attain their goals and bear fruit.

 

From Western Diabetes Institute:

WDI and Temple University Kornberg School of Dentistry in Philadelphia sign collaborative agreement
WesternU’s Western Diabetes Institute and Temple University Kornberg School of Dentistry in Philadelphia signed a collaborative agreement to explore joint research opportunities in integrated medical and dental care models. Both institutions share a common interest in establishing bilateral relations to promote academic collaboration and scholarly exchange between their respective faculty and students, which include academic conferences and innovative pilots focusing on “whole-person” diabetes care delivery.

Click here to read the full story.

 

From the College of Pharmacy:

Kudos on accomplishments
Dr. Fadi Khasawneh’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) R15 Grant Project titled “Investigation of Platelet G-Protein Coupled Receptors” was renewed for three years ending April 2019. The goal of the project is to obtain information regarding the role of specific regions of HT2AR and P2Y1 in thrombosis development and test the ability of peptides and antibody, respectively, to prevent the development of thrombosis. The grant award is approximately $420,660.

 

From the College of Veterinary Medicine:

Kudos on accomplishments
Dr. Miguel D. Saggese was invited to Santiago de Chile recently by Improve Chile, an affiliate of Improve International, a non-governmental organization with a goal to provide continuous professional development for veterinarians. Dr. Saggese lectured on several aspects of avian medicine. These lectures were part of a year-long course on exotic animal medicine aimed at veterinarians interested in becoming certified in Exotic Animal Practice. In addition to Dr. Saggese, who dictates all the modules on Avian Medicine, this program includes professors from UC Davis, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, the Center for Research and Animal Health in Spain, and University of Georgia, among others. During his visit to Chile, Dr. Saggese was also invited to present about “Common Diseases in Companion Birds” at the CVM-Universidad de las Americas, at its campus of Santiago de Chile.

In May the College of Veterinary Medicine, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina also invited Dr. Saggese to make a three-hour presentation on Raptor BioMedicine. The event gathered veterinarians and veterinary students from Buenos Aires and surrounding areas. It was organized by the CVM Exotic Animal Department and the Outreach Secretary.

 

From University Advancement:

Alumni Networking Mixer
On the evening of Thursday, June 16, WesternU hosted an Alumni Networking Mixer in Sherman Oaks.  Our energetic alumni enjoyed great food and drinks as they rekindled their relationships while others met new friends from across colleges representing classes from 1987 through 2010. The next alumni networking event will take place in Irvine on Thursday, August 11. Visit http://www.westernu.edu/alumnimixers/ for more details.

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