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This Week@WesternU March 23-27, 2015

by Jeff Malet

March 23, 2015

Read 9 mins

Vet Med Open House is April 11

The College of Veterinary Medicine will hold its 10th annual Open House from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 11, 2015 along the campus Esplanade. Click here to read the full story. Click here to view the flier.

14th Annual Trends in Autism Conference set for April 18

At the 14th Annual Trends in Autism Conference at Western University of Health Sciences, parents and adults with autism, health professionals, therapists and teachers will come together with the common goal of "Putting the Puzzle Pieces Together." The conference will run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 18, 2015 at WesternU, 309 E. Second St., Pomona, Calif. 91766. The keynote speaker will be Patricia S. Lemer, MEd, NCC, MSBus, author of "Outsmarting Autism: The Ultimate Guide to Management, Healing, and Prevention." Her topic will be "Thinking Beyond Labels: Why So Many Developmental Problems, and What We Can Do About It." Click here to read the full story.

WesternU’s Austin Lecture focuses on ‘The Vulnerable Child’

The Fourth Annual Dr. Robert L. Austin Endowed Lectureship in Pediatric Medicine and Pediatric Health Care Policy will feature a groundbreaking leader in developing critically needed medical, legal and social services to families affected by violence. The lecture will be at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 21, 2015 in Lecture Hall I of WesternU’s Health Education Center, 701 E. Second St., Pomona, Calif. 91766. "The Vulnerable Child: A Challenge to Multi-disciplinary Pediatric Care" will be presented by keynote speaker Astrid Heppenstall Heger, MD, Executive Director of the Violence Intervention Project at Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center, and a professor of clinical pediatrics at USC’s Keck School of Medicine.

Click here to read the full story.

WesternU to hold annual Ray Symposium April 30

The Ninth Annual Ray Symposium at Western University of Health Sciences will focus on the importance of numbers in health care. The symposium will be at 3 p.m. Thursday, April 30, 2015 in Lecture Hall I of WesternU’s Health Education Center, 701 E. Second St., Pomona, CA 91766. The topic, presented by keynote speaker Ellen Peters, PhD, will be "Numeracy and Health: A Tyranny of Numbers." Click here to read the full story

From the College of Pharmacy

Kudos on accomplishments

Lyna Luo, PhD, assistant professor, received a Faculty Development Grant Award for $2,000 from the Chinese American Faculty Association of Southern California (CAFA) for her research project, "Rational Design of Bone Morphogenetic Protein Receptor Inhibitors."

Congratulation to Zubair Karim, PhD, research assistant professor, Fadi Khasawneh, PhD, associate professor, and MSPS student Hari Priya Vemana on their most recent publication: Karim ZA, Vemana HP, Khasawneh FT. MALT1-Ubiquitination Triggers Non-Genomic NF-kappaB/IKK Signaling upon Platelet Activation. PLoS ONE. 2015;10(3):e0119363. Epub 2015/03/10. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0119363. PubMed PMID: 25748427. Link to Article

Congratulations to Lyna Luo, PhD, Sunil Prabhu, PhD, Jeff Wang, PhD, Zhijin Wang, PhD, research assistant professor, and former faculty memeber Jonathan Watanabe, PharmD, PhD on their contributions to the book publication, Antibody-Drug Conjugates, The 21th Century Magic Bullets for Cancer. Link to Book. The book is the latest in the AAPS Advances in Pharmaceutical Sciences series (Vol. 17) and was published by Springer/AAPS. Dr. Jeff Wang served as a co-editor. The following are the specific book chapters and the faculty that made contributions: Chapter 6: Bioanalytical Assay for Characterization of Antibody Drug Conjugates by Chen Xie and Zhijun Wang Chapter 9: Major ADC Companies, Current Clinical Trials, Recent Patents Issued and Patent Applications, and Cost Analysis of Drug Therapy by Jeffrey Wang and Jonathan H. Watanabe Chapter 12: Ado-Trastuzumab Emtansine by Yun Luo, Jérôme J. Lacroix and Sunil Prabhu

From the College of Veterinary Medicine

Kudos on accomplishments

Dr. Ohad Levi, CVM associate professor,was recently notified that a manuscript for which he was first author, along with Dr. Philip H. Kass (UC Davis), Dr. Lyon Lee (WesternU), Valerie Cantrell (DVM 2013), Dr. David Clark (WesternU), and Dr. Dominique Griffon (WesternU), has been accepted for publication in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA). Title of the accepted manuscript is, "Comparing the Ability of Veterinary Medical Students to Perform Laparoscopy versus Traditional Ovariectomy on Live Dogs."

Dr. Babak Faramarzi, CVM assistant professor, attended the Veterinary Orthopedic Conference in Idaho. His abstract, "Changes in Hoof Kinetics and Kinematics in Response to Regular Trimming," was accepted for a podium presentation. Using a modern pressure plate, changes in hoof kinetics and kinematics resulting from trimming were examined for the first time, and showed that trimming was associated with significant changes in several biomechanical parameters including vertical force (21%) and contact area (14%) as well as stance and swing phase duration of the gait. Details are published in the conference proceedings. The same technology is being used in human podiatry, including at WesternU’s College of Podiatry, for force/pressure and gait analysis in human patients.

From the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific:

COMP Match Day

Student doctors were on campus Friday, March 20, 2015 to celebrate the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific’s (COMP) Match Day, which had much of the drama and excitement usually associated with a televised awards ceremony. Click here to read the full story and view a slideshow.

COMP-Northwest Match Day

Student-doctors from Western University of Health Sciences (WesternU) Oregon campus participated in Match Day, taking one of the final steps in their medical school career and marking another milestone for the inaugural class. Click here to read the full story.

DO Day News

DO Day in Salem, Oregon was a joint advocacy day between the Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons of Oregon (OPSO) and the Oregon Medical Association (OMA). Twelve student doctors from COMP-Northwest attended. They heard from Sen. Alan Bates, DO, Sen. Elizabeth Hayward, MD, and Sen. Tim Knopp. Gov. Kate Brown even stopped by. Afterward, they had an opportunity to meet with state legislators in small groups to share unique stories. COMP-Northwest students were able to share how they are helping the community of Lebanon, and how the community is helping them. They were able to share their desire to go into primary care, but because of looming student debt, will need financial assistance. They also spent time establishing relationships with state legislators, asking them to be partners in providing care and inviting them to the inaugural commencement on June 5.

Kudos on accomplishments

Brian Kraatz, PhD, COMP, Nicholas Bumacod, a fourth-year College of Dental Medicine student, and Matt Wedel, PhD, of COMP and CPM, published a new paper, "Ecological correlates to cranial morphology in leporids (Mammalia, Lagomorpha)" in the open access journal PeerJ. The paper grew out of a student research project that Nicholas Bumacod started in WesternU’s MSMS program. Click here to read the full article.

Kudos on accomplishments

Dr. Xiaoning Bi, with postdoctoral researchers Drs. Jiandong Sun and Dr. Yan Liu, former MSBS student Stephanie Moreno and collaborator Dr. Michel Baudry (GCBS), have published their original research article, "Imbalanced Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin C1 and C2 Activity in the Cerebellum of Angelman Syndrome Mice Impairs Motor Function" in The Journal of Neuroscience of March 18, 2015. The paper demonstrates the importance of the balanced activation of mTORC1 and mTORC2, two enzyme complexes playing important roles in protein homeostasis, cytoskeletal network regulation, and cell survival, in normal brain functions. They also found that alterations in this balanced activation are present in Angelman Syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder linked to Autism Syndrome Disorders, and account for motor function impairment in this disease. This work was supported by National Institute of Health and the Daljit & Elaine Sarkaria endowed professorship. Click here to read the full article.

Kudos and accomplishments

The COMP-Northwest OMM Department predoctoral teaching fellows (PDTF) took first place in the educational category and won the prestigious Rams Head award in the AAO Convocation Poster Abstract Presentation in Louisville, Kentucky, for the poster "Flipped Classroom: A Non-Traditional Approach to Teaching Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine" – By PDTF 5, OMS 4 Molly McCormick, PDTF 4, OMS 4 Nicolette Rosendahl, PDTF 3 OMS 3 Lee Kenyon, PDTF 4 OMS 4 Brian Gould, and PDTF 4 OMS 4 Kraig Wasik, and Janice Blumer DO, vice chair NMM/OMM COMP-Northwest Students and fellows from COMP and COMP-Northwest submitted five posters.

COMP-Northwest February 2015 DO Student of the Month

Chris Parker, OMS II, is passionate about engaging communities in the practice of preventative and holistic lifestyle choices, which led him to be a strong advocate for the incorporation of nutrition and preventative medicine into medical education. As coordinator of the Nutrition in Medicine lecture series, he has helped educate students about the power of nutrition and how to motivate their future patients toward healthy lifestyle changes. His leadership in the Global Health Club and the Sigma Sigma Phi Honors Society has allowed him to organize outreach projects promoting wellness within the community. He helped develop a nutrition education series at the Lebanon Community Library, as well as present to local organizations on osteopathic medicine and healthy living. As co-founder of the Senior COMPanion program, he formed a collaborative effort between the students of COMP-Northwest and the Timberview Care Center to provide support for the center’s senior residents and improve their quality of life through social interaction. Recently, he presented at the Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons of Oregon Winter CME Conference research he co-authored on improving services provided to the chronic homeless population of Linn County, Oregon. Parker has a strong passion for service and plans to practice in rural communities of the Pacific Northwest as a primary care physician. When he is not studying, he enjoys camping, wakeboarding, and working out.

From the College of Dental Medicine:

Kudos on accomplishments

Jerry Minsky, DDS, assistant professor, was accepted to the 2015 UC San Diego School of Medicine three-week Faculty Development Program, "Addressing the Oral Health Needs of the Underserved."

Dr. Vicki Wedel of COMP/CDM gave a talk, "Making the Preparation Phase of the Flipped Classroom Active," to the Biomedical Sciences section at the ADEA Annual Session in Boston March 6-10, 2015.

From the College of Graduate Nursing

Two DNP scholarships awarded

Karen Hanford, EdD, RN, FNP, Founding Dean of the College of Graduate Nursing, announced two new funding awards for students pursuing the Doctor of Nursing Practice Degree. Jennifer Waggoner-Donald, MSN, MS, PHN, RN and William Donald, MSN, RN, CCRN were selected by WesternU as the first two award recipients. Click here to read the full story.

Kudos on accomplishments

Professor Rodney Hicks published an article, "Transforming a presentation to a publication: Tips for nurse practitioners," in the Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. Hicks, R. W. (2015- Epub ahead of print.) Doi.10.1002/2327-6924.12228

Professor Rodney Hicks was one of several to make a presentation titled "Overcoming your challenges in implementing the latest Guidelines for Perioperative Practice" at the Association of Perioperative Registered Nurses (AORN) Expo in Denver, Colorado in March. Conner, R., Hicks, R. W., Spruce, L., Burlingame, B., Ogg, M. J., Van Wicklin, S. A., & Wood, A. (2015, March).

Professor Rodney Hicks presented a poster, "Dental avulsions – recommendations for Nps" during the California Association for Nurse Practitioners in Newport Beach, California, March 19-21. Green, R., & Hicks, R. W.

Professor Rodney Hicks was appointed Chair for AORN’s Recommended Guidelines Panel for 2015-16.

From University Advancement:

On Monday, March 16, members of the DO Class of 2016 were back on campus together, and the WesternU Alumni Association hosted lunch for them in the Health Education Center. More than 200 class members attended the event and enjoyed pizza and cookies while catching up after a few months apart.

On the morning of Friday, March 20, a little more than half the members of the DO Class of 2015 were back on campus to celebrate their Match Day. The WesternU Alumni Association sponsored their breakfast before the students learned where they would be completing their residencies over the next few years.

On the evening of Saturday, March 21, the Alumni Association hosted a dinner in Newport Beach during the CANP Conference. More than 65 CGN alumni, students, faculty, staff, and guests were present to enjoy complimentary food and drinks, while the College provided raffle prizes and live music entertainment. Click here to view a photo gallery.

Join alumni, students, faculty, staff, and their guests for a private whale-watching cruise out of Newport Beach on Sunday, March 29, 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The cost for this event is just $15/person, which is more than 60 percent off the regular rate.

You can sign up online at https://westernu-whales.eventbrite.com. If space fills up, please join the waitlist.

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