This Week@WesternU, Nov. 12-16, 2018
A Tribute to Caring
Western University of Health Sciences’ biggest annual fundraising event honored one of its founders and shone a spotlight on its stars – the students who will become compassionate health care professionals.
More than 600 guests at “A Tribute to Caring,” held Nov. 3, 2018 at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, California, helped WesternU raise money for student scholarships. The University honored osteopathic pioneer and one of its founders, Ethan Allen, DO, as well as entrepreneur Leo Chu.
Click here to read the full story and to view the slideshow.
One Health Day Panel
Western University of Health Sciences joined others around the world in celebrating One Health Day, which raises awareness about the One Health approach to complex health problems involving people, animals and the environment.
WesternU’s event, held Nov. 2, 2018, was organized by College of Veterinary Medicine Associate Professor Suzana Tkalcic, DVM, PhD, with support from WesternU Vice President for Research and Biotechnology Steven Henriksen, PhD.
Several WesternU faculty that work in One Health on local and international levels, complemented by researchers looking into animal models and antibiotic resistance, presented their topics to WesternU students, faculty and staff in Pomona, California and Lebanon, Oregon. Several student clubs joined in by presenting their posters and club activities related to One Health outside the lecture hall. The event was recorded as a future Interprofessional Education student learning opportunity.
Click here to read the full story.
Click here to watch the WesternU One Health Day Panel.
FACE-ing Autism with Integrated and Innovative Approaches
9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018 on the first floor of the Health Education Center.
Faculty for Autism Collaboration and Education (FACE) will hold a special holiday event featuring Special Santa, who is sensitive to children with special needs. This event will feature a renowned special education and integrative therapy expert, WesternU’s own Dr. Denise Schilling. Dr. Schilling is a highly skilled physical therapist with training in Sensory Integration, ABA, and Special Education. She creatively combines approaches to better meet the needs of individual patients. She will be joined by Dr. Yawen Peng, a special needs dental expert. They will describe fun games they are developing to encourage dental care. Resources will be shared, and WesternU dental students will provide oral hygiene instructions, dental desensitization, nutritional counseling, and free dental supplies. Additional information about FACE can be found at www.westernu.edu/face.
Click here to view a flier.
From the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific:
Kudos on accomplishments
Matt Wedel, PhD, of COMP and CPM was the invited Biomedical Seminar speaker at OSU-Tulsa College of Osteopathic Medicine on Friday, Nov. 2. His talk title was “Self-balancing spinal cords, giant denticulate ligaments, and 100-foot-long cells: an odyssey in dinosaur nervous systems.”
Brion Benninger, MD, MSc, Professor, Executive Director, Medical Anatomy Center, delivered keynote and plenary lectures and chaired the Young Anatomists Oral Presentations Session at the Asian Pacific International Congress of Anatomists from October 29-31, which was hosted this year by the Korean Association of Anatomists. Professor Benninger presented on Exponential Technologies, Innovative Imaging, and his Deconstruction-Reconstruction Anatomy Theory. He described how each promotes medical anatomy education for today’s Millennial/Generation Z students. He provided tools for distant learning and described how to integrate Sectra and hand-held ultrasound (GE, Lumify and Sonovate) into today’s evolving curricula. He introduced neurovascular images of the human body previously never seen before applying profusion and diffusion techniques he co-developed using a novel contrast medium with donor cadavers. As an editor for the last three editions of Netter’s Human Atlas, Benninger spoke on the art and colors of human anatomy, its educational value, simulation development and role in visual reality technologies.
From the College of Dental Medicine:
Kudos on accomplishments
CDM student Gloria Luong, MS, and Graduate College of Biomedical Sciences pre-dental MSBS student Andrew Tran presented their research findings at the Neuroscience Meeting in San Diego on Nov. 4. They jointly presented a poster titled “BDNF overexpression in transgenic mouse-lines preserves T1R3 and prevents taste disorder following chemotherapy.” The goal of the study is to prevent taste disturbances, which is an adverse event induced by a chemotherapy agent given to patients for treatment of basal cell carcinoma that is not amenable to surgical excision. They have been working under the mentorship of Drs. Irina Vukmanovic and Christopher Nosrat, and Dr. Bradley Henson is also an author on the abstract.
From the College of Veterinary Medicine:
Kudos on accomplishments
CVM Associate Professor Babak Faramarzi presented two research talks on gait analysis and biomechanics in athletic horses at the 5th International Veterinary Orthopedic Conference in Barcelona, Spain. Co-authors include An Nguyen, a former student currently at UCLA, GCBS student Fion Hung (MSBS candidate) and GCBS Associate Professor Fanglong Dong.
From the Pumerantz Library:
At Home and Over There: American Women Physicians in World War I
The Harriet K. & Philip Pumerantz Library is hosting the AMWA – American Medical Women’s Association – traveling exhibit “At Home and Over there: American Women Physicians in World War I” through December 10, 2018. This exhibit honors the American women physicians who served in Europe during World War I despite being turned down by the United Sates Army Medical Corps based on the fact “it hadn’t been done.” For further information call Mary Helen Ellis at Ext. 5321.
