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This Week@WesternU, June 26-30, 2017

by Rodney Tanaka

June 26, 2017

Read 3 mins

From University Advancement:

Retirement party for Dr. Fox
WesternU Senior Vice President Thomas G. Fox, PhD, will retire June 30 after serving WesternU as an administrator and a consultant for more than a decade. The University held a retirement party for Dr. Fox June 22. Click here to view photos: https://westernu.smugmug.com/Dr-Fox-Retirement-Celebration/i-f9fZtxX/A

 

Alumni news
On Friday, June 23, the WesternU Alumni Office hosted two events on opposite sides of the country. In Washington, D.C., more than 75 alumni, students, faculty, staff, and guests attended a reception during the American Optometric Association’s Optometry’s Meeting at the Marriott Marquis Washington. And in Anaheim, Calif., nearly 50 alumni, students, faculty, staff, and guests, attended a dinner at Tortilla Jo’s restaurant in Downtown Disney during the California Podiatric Medical Association’s Western Foot & Ankle Conference (aka “The Western”).

 

From the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific:

Osteopathic pioneer and WesternU founder Ethan Allen, DO, retires after 65 years in practice
An osteopathic legend has retired.

Ethan Allen, DO, a key figure in the resurrection of California osteopathic medical education in the 1970s, has retired from practice after 65 years. He will continue to serve as Treasurer on the Western University of Health Sciences Board of Trustees, and will also continue to teach WesternU College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific students Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (OMM) techniques during his volunteer Saturday sessions.

Click here to read the full story and to view a slideshow.

 

C.E. “Tapie” Rohm Jr.
C.E. “Tapie” Rohm Jr., Professor Emeritus at Cal State San Bernardino, died June 21 after a lengthy struggle with cancer. Rohm served as a consultant during COMP’s early accreditation efforts. Click here to read more on the CSUSB website: http://news.csusb.edu/2017/06/21/c-e-tapie-rohm-1947-2017/

 

Medical Anatomy Center news
Brion Benninger, MD, MSc, Professor of Medical Innovation, Technology & Research and Clinical Anatomy, coordinated an education activity with a primary school that combined natural science, art and philanthropy. We provided whole unopened oysters which had pearls in them to a primary school class. Oyster and mollusks family behavior was discussed as well as oceanic ph and oyster epidemiology. Art aspect included being a junior jeweler and harvesting the pearl, cleaning it, placing pearls in various pendants and then threading chains through pendants, and finally the philanthropic aspect was giving the knowledge and pearl jewelry to someone as a gift…in this case, it was Mother’s Day. Dr. Benninger plans on organizing more of these types of events, led by COMP-Northwest students.

 

From the College of Dental Medicine:

Kudos on accomplishments
The College of Dental Medicine has received a HRSA Grant for the Predoctoral Pediatric Training Project (PPTP).

WesternU CDM has been awarded a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) five-year grant, totaling $1.5 million, for the training of DMD students in providing dental care to pediatric populations (ages 0-5) through the PPTP. This award provides recognition of the curriculum and infrastructure built through CDM partnerships with local school districts, nonprofits, hospitals and community health centers.  In addition, the PPTP incentivizes CDM students and faculty to provide national leadership and scholarship in the provision of dental care to pediatric populations.

The HRSA submission was a collaborative effort of the CBDE team and involved several members of the College. Dr. Jenny Tjahjono, who will serve as PI on the project, remarked that the grant was a “true team effort” and wanted to highlight that Dr. Marisa Watanabe served as the primary grant writer, Josih Hostetler provided supporting documentation, Anna Enriquez drafted the budget, Dr. Brad Henson provided technical advice and Mary Foley will serve as the Program Evaluator.

Congratulations to everyone involved in this exciting step forward for the College and WesternU. 

 

From the College of Pharmacy:

Message from Dean Robinson
Click here to read a message from Dean Robinson on the appointment of Dr. Megan Nguyen to the position of Assistant Dean for Enrollment Management.

 

Kudos on accomplishments
Dr. Youngil Chang, a Year-3 Fellow in Pharmacogenomics and Transplant with Dr. David Min, recently published the following in Human Immunology: Chang Y, Shah T, Min DI. Association of Genetic Polymorphisms of Macrophage Inhibitory Factor (MIF) and B-cell activating factor (BAFF) with the detection of Donor Specific Antibodies in Kidney Allograft Recipients. Human Immunology, June 15, 2017.

Congratulations to Dr. Peter Oelschlaeger, MSPS Student Charles Zhang, other lab members, and collaborators on their recent accomplishments at international conferences:

Oelschlaeger P, Kang SK, Zhang AL, Faheem M, Zhang CJ, Ai N, Buynak JD, Welsh WJ. Virtually screened inhibitors of metallo-beta-lactamases (Podium presentation) 2nd International Caparica Conference in Antibiotic Resistance, June 12-15, 2017, Caparica, Portugal.

Zhang CJ, Kumar P, Faheem M, Oelschlaeger P. Exploring the role of the S115T and S119G mutations in IMP enzymes (Podium presentation) 13th beta-Lactamase Meeting, June 16-19, 2017, Santo Stefano di Sessanio, L’Aquila, Italy.

Oelschlaeger P, Kang SK, Zhang AL, Faheem M, Zhang CJ, Ai N, Buynak JD, Welsh WJ. Virtually screened inhibitors of NDM-1, IMP-1, and VIM-2 (Poster) 13th beta-Lactamase Meeting, June 16-19, 2017, Santo Stefano di Sessanio, L’Aquila, Italy.

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