This Week@WesternU, March 7-11, 2016
Latino Medical Student Association to hold national, regional conference at WesternU
The Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA) will hold its national and regional conferences at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California for the first time. WesternU’s LMSA chapter has ramped up its outreach activities and national leadership in recent years, culminating in this honor.
The 11th annual national and 32nd west regional LMSA conference will take place April 7-10, 2016 at WesternU, 309 E. Second St., Pomona, Calif. 91766. Click here to register for the conference. Click here to learn more about becoming a conference sponsor.
Click here to read the full story.
Austin Lectureship
The annual Robert L. Austin Endowed Lectureship in Pediatric Medicine, Pharmacology & Health Care Policy will be held at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 13, 2016 in WesternU’s Health Education Center Lecture Hall I, 701 E. Second Street, Pomona, California.
Keynote speaker Vincent J. Felitti, MD, UCSD Clinical Professor of Medicine and Co-principal Investigator of the Adverse Childhood Experience Study, will present “Exploring the Lifelong Effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences.” The lecture will be streamed live to COMP-Northwest.
Click here to visit the Austin Lectureship website.
2016 Rosemead Community Health Fair
WesternU’s Asian American Health Professions Student Association (AAHPSA) participated in the Rosemead Community Health Fair at the First Evangelical Church of San Gabriel Valley Feb. 20, 2016. This annual clinic was in collaboration with the Asian Pacific Health Corps (APHC) from the University of California, Los Angeles. Thirty WesternU COMP students volunteered to provide glucose screenings, cholesterol screenings, and osteopathic physical evaluations under the supervision of Dr. Steven Lam and Dr. Robert Warren. It was also an opportunity for UCLA pre-meds to speak with COMP students and faculty about their interest in pursuing osteopathic medicine. We look forward to future collaborations with UCLA to achieve our goal of continuing to address the health of the Asian-American population.
From the College of Podiatric Medicine:
First WesternU College of Podiatric Medicine Dean’s Lecture provides inspirational message
Julie A. Freischlag, MD, has lived a life filled with accomplishments and unexpected turns. She encouraged others to find their own path, become leaders and make their mark on those they meet during her keynote address at the inaugural Western University of Health Sciences College of Podiatric Medicine Lawrence B. Harkless Dean’s Distinguished Lecture March 3, 2016 in Pomona, California.
Click here to read the full story and to view a slideshow.
From the College of Dental Medicine:
WesternU, We Care Dental hold ribbon-cutting ceremony
Western University of Health Sciences and We Care Dental held a ribbon-cutting ceremony March 2, 2016 celebrating a partnership that provides dental care for developmentally disabled and low-income clients as well as learning opportunities for WesternU College of Dental Medicine (CDM) students.
Click here to read the full story and to view a slideshow.
From the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific:
Kudos on accomplishments
First-year COMP student Eftikhar Akam won second place for her poster presentation, “Functional conservation of HIV proteins that play a role in altering the innate immune response,” at the Osteopathic Physicians & Surgeons of California (OPSC) conference in San Diego.
She studied a specific protein expressed by HIV (called “Nef”) and determined that the role it plays in downregulating the innate immune response is conserved across various subtypes of the virus. Therefore, although HIV mutates rapidly, it will conservatively express Nef. This targets Nef for pharmaceutical intervention.
Also at the OPSC conference, COMP Assistant Professor Brian Loveless, DO ’02, was elected to the position of President-elect. COMP Vice Dean David Connett, DO ’84, completed his term as Immediate Past President. Sarah Fang, DO ’14, was appointed to the position of Resident member of the Board of Directors.
COMP alumna Kimberly Wolf, DO ’10, published an article in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, “Concussions and Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment: An Adolescent Case Presentation.” Click here to view the article.
From the College of Pharmacy:
WesternU College of Pharmacy’s Fellowship in Health Outcomes recertified for five years
Only nine fellowship programs in the U.S. meet the American College of Clinical Pharmacy’s (ACCP) rigorous standards and guidelines for certification. Western University of Health Sciences’ College of Pharmacy has two of them.
The ACCP Board of Regents and the ACCP Research Fellowship Program Peer Review Committee re-certified COP Department of Pharmacy Practice and Administration Chair and Professor Anandi Law’s Fellowship in Health Outcomes for a full five years. This certification recognizes that her program meets ACCP Fellowship Guidelines. A full review is conducted on established fellowship programs and preceptors who have graduated two or more fellows. Click here to read the full story.
Kudos on accomplishments
Dr. Anandi Law and her research team have published an important paper on improving prescription label comprehension and functional health literacy. The article appears in press and online in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association. This multisite, randomized, controlled, open-arm, pre-post interventional trial was conducted in senior centers across southern California. They compared current Rx labels with redesigned labels, both with brief focused education. The use of redesigned labels along with education resulted in higher comprehension and functional health literacy.
Bik-Wai Bilvick Tai, Yuna H. Bae, Charles E. LaRue, Anandi V. Law. Putting words into action: A simple focused education improves prescription label comprehension and functional health literacy. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.japh.2015.12.010
HPC beautification
The beautification of the Health Professions Center (HPC) continues. A new window covering was installed March 4, 2016 on the northwest corner of the building. The College of Pharmacy is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2016, and the 225-square-foot graphic depicts milestones throughout its history and showcases faculty and students in the classroom, in the clinic and in the community. Special thanks to Desiree Hickam for coordinating this project, Renee Cook for providing the great pictures and Paul Gettler, graphic designer in Publications, for his artistry. Click here to view photos.
From the College of Veterinary Medicine:
Kudos on accomplishments
WesternU’s CVM HSVMA (Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association) student chapter and the student chapter of the ASV participated in the 6th Annual World Spay Day by taking both VACS units to Mercy House in Ontario to spay and neuter animals belonging to the homeless and low income adults and families in the area. WesternU CVM students worked in collaboration with Pomona Homeless Outreach Program, a student-run organization that provides support to the homeless and Helping Out Pets Everyday (HOPE), an animal rescue group. Donations from veterinary students and PHOP were collected prior to the event and donated to Mercy House. The fourth-year students, as part of their shelter medicine externships, offered free spay/neuter and preventative care for dogs and cats under the supervision of Drs. Frank Bossong, David Forster and Zarah Hedge. The students spayed a total of 30 dogs and cats, did one enucleation and provided needed preventative care.
From the Medical Anatomy Center (MAC):
Kudos on accomplishments
COMP-Northwest students Stephanie Eonta and Kirsten Stohl will attend the Association of Military Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. They are conducting research projects from the MAC highlighting technology that is on the cutting edge to benefit military and civilian medicine, under the mentorship of Brion Benninger, MD, Professor of Medical Innovation, Technology & Research and Clinical Anatomy. Their research topics are on “Wearable Ultrasound- What’s Next?” and “Sectra Visualization Table Rendering CT/MRI files into 3D Assessing Lower Limb Arterial Systems.”
From the Graduate College of Biomedical Sciences:
Kudos on accomplishments
Associate Professor Fanglong Dong, in collaboration with Dr. James Haan (PI, MD, level I trauma surgeon) and residents from EMS, recently had one oral presentation accepted for the upcoming 68th Annual Meeting of the Southwestern Surgical Congress, 2016. The study explored the outcomes (mortality, hospital length of stay (LOS), ICU LOS, Ventilation LOS) among patients aged 65 and older with traumatic brain injury. The results can be generalized to WesternU Community and Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, since the latter has a large trauma patient population.
The citation is as follows: Summers J, Dong F, Ward JG, Helmer SD, Haan JM. Outcomes in patients aged 65 and older with traumatic brain injury. Quick Shot Presentation at the 68th Annual Meeting of the Southwestern Surgical Congress, April 3-6, 2016, Coronado, CA.
From Learning Enhancement and Academic Development (LEAD):
Welcome to SPaRC
In an effort to reflect the inclusive approach of its summer program, LEAD is excited to announce that the SMSPP (Summer Medical Sciences Prep Program) will now be known as SPaRC (Summer Preparedness and Readiness Course). The six-week program is a great way for incoming first-year students to familiarize themselves with the “WesternU Way” while preparing for their programs in a supportive, low-stress, interprofessional setting. Depending on the students’ education and experience, SPaRC can either be an introduction to or review of foundational material pertinent to their program of study. Instruction emphasizes the key basic principles in each program. SPaRC prepares incoming students for the rigors of professional school by providing an introduction to applicable basic medical science courses, efficient academic learning skills, and wellbeing competencies in an interprofessional setting. This year’s program runs from June 6 to July 15.
Click here to learn more about the program from previous participating students.
