This Week@WesternU May 6 -10, 2013

National Nurses Week Celebrated May 6-12

National Nurses Week is celebrated annually from May 6-12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing. Traditionally, National Nurses Week is devoted to highlighting the diverse ways in which registered nurses, who comprise the largest health care profession, are working to improve health care. Congratulations to our alumni and nursing students!

Commencement 2013

The 32nd Annual Commencement Exercises for Western University of Health Sciences will be held May 15-17, 2013 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, 300 E. Green St., Pasadena, Calif. Here are some important reminders to graduates regarding commencement. Please forward to friends and family as appropriate.

Graduate Reminders

Commencement website: The commencement website at http://www.westernu.edu/commencement/ has all kinds of useful information, including parking maps, directions, and instructions. Please pull all necessary information from the site before heading to the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.

Live webcast: We are pleased to announce that the commencement ceremonies will be webcast live at http://www.westernu.edu/commencement/cs_webcast.php. Please let those who are not attending know, so they can watch you online.

Guest Reminders

Doors Close Early: The front doors will close at 9:20 a.m. for morning ceremonies and 2:50 p.m. for afternoon ceremonies, and will re-open after the processional, invocation and national anthem. It’s essential that all of your guests be seated in the auditorium prior to the doors closing. If your friends/relatives tend to be late … you might tell them it starts 30 minutes earlier.

General Admission Tickets: Tickets are required for all ceremonies except College of Pharmacy and College of Veterinary Medicine.

Inaugural Ceremony for:

Wednesday, May 15, 9:30 a.m.

Keynote Speaker: Edward James Olmos

Actor, producer and humanitarian

College of Pharmacy

Wednesday, May 15, 3 p.m.

Keynote Speaker: Jenelle L. Sobotka, PharmD, FAPhA

Professor, Endowed Chair of Pharmacy Practice, Ohio Northern University Raabe College of Pharmacy

College of Allied Health Professions

College of Graduate Nursing

Thursday, May 16, 9:30 a.m.

Keynote Speaker: Jason Hwang, MD, MBA

Physician and author

College of Veterinary Medicine

Thursday, May 16, 3 p.m.

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald

Veterinarian, actor and comedian

College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific

Graduate College of Biomedical Sciences

Friday, May 17, 9:30 a.m.

Keynote Speaker: Jason Hwang, MD, MBA

Physician and author

PUSD Awards

Two WesternU colleges and two individuals from WesternU administration were honored Wednesday, May 1 by the Pomona Unified School District during the district’s annual Community Service Awards presentation at the Village at Indian Hill.

The colleges of Dental Medicine and Optometry were recognized as organizations contributing to the health and welfare of PUSD students and their families. They joined 18 other community organizations that were similarly honored by the school district.

Elizabeth Rega, PhD, WesternU’s Associate Vice Provost for Academic Development and Director of the Pomona Health Career Ladder, was one of 55 individuals recognized for their work with the school district, as was Andrew Pumerantz, DO, Assistant Provost for Strategic Initiatives and Executive Director of the Western Diabetes Institute.

From the College of Pharmacy:

The College of Pharmacy will hold its inaugural Scholarship Golf Classic on May 23 at Morongo Golf Club at Tukwet Canyon. Registration begins at 9 a.m., and time of play will be 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Shotgun-play format will include contests for low score, longest drive, closest to the pin, and hole-in-one. Click here to read the full story.

From the College of Podiatric Medicine

Dr. Robert Christman, DPM, will present an oral abstract at the podiatric profession’s premier annual meeting, the APMA National Scientific Meeting, scheduled for July in Las Vegas.

The abstract, Radiographic Anatomy of the Foot and Ankle, explores normal radiographic anatomy of the foot and ankle, which has only been addressed superficially or sparingly in the medical literature. This project correlates detailed radiographic anatomy of the entire adult foot and ankle (two-dimensional) to osteology (three-dimensional). Each bone’s position was determined after meticulous examination and correlation to an articulated skeleton relative to the image receptor and direction of the x-ray beam, with correlation to the radiograph for confirmation. Images of each foot and distal leg bone ("front" and "back" perspectives) are presented alongside a corresponding radiographic image for comparison. The normal gross and radiographic anatomy is correlated and described for each radiographic positioning technique. Foundational knowledge is provided that future researchers can use as a baseline and both students and practitioners can use for comparison when interpreting radiographs and distinguishing abnormal findings.

Dr. Christman is the editor of Foot and Ankle Radiology, a comprehensive textbook of the lower extremity that is used in all of the podiatric medical colleges.

From the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific:

COMP will hold a faculty candidate research seminar on Tuesday, May 07 from 2 to 3 p.m., in COMPatriots Hall, HSC. The seminar will be streamed to Lecture Hall 1, COMP-Northwest. Maria Kalamvoki, PhD, Research Associate at the University of Chicago, The Marjorie B. Kovler Viral Oncology Laboratories, Chicago, Ill., will be presenting “The strategy of herpes simplex virus to conquer the host: The functions of the Infected Cell Protein No 0 (ICP0).” The COMP Candidate Seminar Series is open to everyone on campus.

Kudos and accomplishments

Second-year COMP student Sarah Wolff, 2015 Class President, was recently elected secretary of the Council of Osteopathic Student Government Presidents (COSGP) Executive Board.

Alumnus talks on TV about Boston bombings

Dale Carrison, DO ’87, was on a television program called “Ralston Reports” that aired throughout Nevada on the evening of April 15 to discuss the Boston bombing and what Nevada is doing to prevent and prepare for such an attack. Dr. Carrison is Chief of Staff at University Medical Center in Las Vegas, and the state’s former chair of their Homeland Security Commission. Click here to watch his television appearance. His interview segment begins around four minutes in and continues for about 18 minutes until the end of the program.

From the College of Optometry:

College of Optometry News

Click here to read the College’s News & Outreach page: http://www.westernu.edu/optometry-college-news

College of Allied Health Professions:

Associate Professor Georgeanne Vlad, PT, MA, was an invited speaker at the 7th Annual Health Professions Conference sponsored by the Mount San Antonio College (Mt. SAC) Caduceus Club. More than 1,000 students attended the all-day event recently held on the Mt. SAC campus with this year’s theme being “Planting the Seed of Global Health, We are the future of Medicine.” Professor Vlad addressed two sessions of students each with a one-hour presentation on “Your Future in Physical Therapy.”

From University Advancement:

WesternU invites the public to an exciting day of golf to benefit student scholarships.

The Towne & Gown Golf Classic, benefiting the University Scholarship Fund, will be held on Monday, June 10, 2013 at Red Hill Country Club, 8358 Red Hill Country Club Dr., Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.

Registration and lunch starts at 11 a.m. followed by a noon shotgun start. The Hole-in-One prize is a 2013 Cadillac, sponsored by Symes Cadillac of Pasadena. Reception dinner and awards ceremony will follow the event.

Cost is $200 per golfer or $800 per foursome. Dinner for a non-golfing guest is available for a fee of $50.00. Proceeds will benefit the University Scholarship Fund thanks to the generosity of T.F. Chen, DDS. Deadline to enter is June 3, 2013.

For more information or to sign up for the Towne & Gown Golf Classic, please contact Susan Terrazas at 909-706-3476, email sterrazas@westernu.edu, or Austin Braunwalder at 909-469-8495, email abraunwalder@westernu.edu. To view the website go to www.westernu.edu/golf.

Helicopter Drop

Everyone is invited to join the Towne & Gown Golf Classic Helicopter Drop, whether you’re at the golf course or not. 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. Contact Austin Braunwalder (909) 469-8495; abraunwalder@westernu.edu for more information. Click here to view the flier.

From the Pumerantz Library:

Pat Vader, Executive Director of the Pumerantz Library, has published an article in the Latitudes Blog of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine Pacific Southwest Region about the “Life and Limb: The Toll of the American Civil War” display at Pumerantz Library.

“Life and Limb: The Toll of the American Civil War”

The perspectives of surgeons, physicians, and nurses are richly documented in the history of Civil War medicine, which highlights the heroism and brutality of battlefield operations and the challenges of caring for the wounded during wartime. Yet the experiences of injured soldiers during the conflict and in the years afterward are less well known. “Life and Limb: The Toll of the American Civil War” focuses on disabled veterans and their role as symbols of the fractured nation.

The Harriet K. & Philip Pumerantz Library will host the “Life and Limb: The Toll of the American Civil War” traveling exhibition, created by the National Library of Medicine, from April 15 to May 18, 2013. We would like to extend a special thank you to John Hiroto for loaning us his items from his collection. We are also extremely grateful to Bert J. (Hans) Davidson, MD, PhD, executive director of the Southern California Medical Museum, for loaning his collection of medical instruments and tools from the Civil War era.

The National Library of Medicine traveling portion of the exhibit will be packed up and sent to the next location on May 18, 2013. The remainder of the exhibit will continue to be on display until July 31, 2013.

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