This Week@WesternU, Nov. 4-8, 2013

A Tribute to Caring

WesternU’s A Tribute to Caring gala will take place Saturday, Nov. 9 at the Disneyland Hotel. Proceeds will benefit student scholarships. Click here to view an invitation. Please contact Eunice Oh at (909) 469-5580, eoh@westernu.edu, if you have questions. You also can visit the ATC website at http://www.westernu.edu/tribute/index.html for more information.

Click here to read about the 2013 ATC honorees.

WesternU on KNBC

KNBC Channel 4 station host Jessica Vilchis interviews Jeff Keating, WesternU’s Executive Director of Public Affairs & Marketing, in a new segment to air on Channel 4 during November. WesternU was the premier sponsor of the American Diabetes Association’s Step Out: Los Angeles Walk on Saturday, Nov. 2 in Griffith Park. KNBC is a partner organization in the effort. Click here to watch the video.

WesternU faculty and students volunteer at Care Harbor

Western University of Health Sciences faculty and students volunteered at one of the largest free health clinics in California.

Care Harbor/LA provides free medical, dental and vision care, prevention resources and follow-up care to thousands of uninsured, underinsured and at-risk individuals and families. The clinic ran Oct. 31 to Nov. 3 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena in downtown Los Angeles. Click here to visit the website: http://careharbor.org/index.html.

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

WesternU students honor Willed Body program donors

Western University of Health Sciences students held a memorial service for Willed Body Program donors and their families, featuring musical performances and personal recollections and messages.

The student-sponsored Cadaver Memorial Service on Nov. 1, 2013 honored 46 donors, including six veterans who were recognized with the playing of “Taps.” Click here to read the full story and to view a slideshow.

Fifth Annual Leadership Symposium at Western University of Health Sciences

The Fifth Annual Leadership Symposium will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013 in Compatriots Hall, HSC. Leaders from the community have been invited for an interactive panel discussion about leadership. The theme will be Community Leadership. The keynote speaker will be Sylvia Shaw, MD, and she will be accompanied by four panelists— Michelle Hodges, JD; Stephanie Nigg, JD, MPH, Kaiser Permanente; Diane Masseth-Jones, Executive Director of the YWCA North Orange County; and Jessica Cavanaugh.

The Symposium, hosted by the Educational Leadership class, is part of the Masters of Science in Health Science program, College of Allied Health Professions. Join us for an interactive and informative meeting. Refreshments will be served. Seating is limited. For more information and to RSVP, please contact Jacque Mosco at 909-469-5397 or jmosco@westernu.edu.

Click here to view a flier.

WesternU professor responds to polio outbreak

Maryam Othman, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor and Director of the Center for Community and Global Health, Department of Social Medicine and Health Care Leadership, recently helped create a training module on polio to familiarize health workers about the virus and the havoc it wreaks on the human body. In response to a recent polio outbreak in Syria, Dr. Othman and her brother, a physician in Sweden, translated the module into Arabic for WiRED International. Click here to read the full story.

WesternU View

The new WesternU View magazine is now available. The Fall 2013 edition features a cover story on College of Veterinary Medicine Assistant Professor David Kersey’s role in the birth of panda twins at Zoo Atlanta, the dedication of the Rodney P. Wineberg Center, and other University news.

Click here to view the magazine.

WesternU alumni named “Top Doctors” in Inland Empire Magazine

Several Western University of Health Sciences alumni are featured in the September 2013 edition of Inland Empire magazine’s annual “The Top Doctors in the Inland Empire” list.

Two College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific alumni made the “Top Doctors” list: John Branch, DO ’85, who works in a family practice in Riverside, and Jeffrey Ries, DO ’84, who practices neurology in Upland. Click here to read the full story.

From the College of Graduate Nursing:

College of Graduate Nursing launches website to improve health care

The College of Graduate Nursing (CGN) at Western University of Health Sciences has created a website, Cultivating Healthy Communities, to gather information from residents about safety, quality, affordability and access to health care, as well as to improve the health of citizens.

CGN is inviting senior citizens, ages 65 and older, to help test the website by completing a survey about preventing falls in older adults.

Click here to read the full story.

From the College of Veterinary Medicine:

A new mobile spay/neuter vehicle will provide valuable community services while also giving Western University of Health Sciences students vital surgical experience. WesternU’s College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) unveiled its new Veterinary Ambulatory Community Service (VACS) vehicle Oct. 29, 2013. The College of Veterinary Medicine received a $300,000 grant from PetSmart Charities® to acquire, equip and operate a high-volume mobile spay/neuter vehicle. The vehicle, VACS II, will be a key component of the College’s Shelter Medicine fourth-year rotation.

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

Kudos on accomplishments

CVM Professor Tracey McNamara, DVM, DACVP, was invited by the Science Center programs of the U.S. Department of State to evaluate a proposal submitted for funding. Her evaluation will be used by science advisers to the State Department at Los Alamos, Brookhaven and the State Department in determining whether the proposal should be funded. The Science Centers, which include the International Science and Technology Center (ISTC) in Moscow and the Science and Technology Center in Ukraine (STCU), were established in 1994 and 1995 as nonproliferation programs, with the primary objective of providing peaceful, non-weapons opportunities to weapons scientists in the Newly Independent States of the former Soviet Union (FSU), particularly those with knowledge and skills pertaining to weapons of mass destruction. Click here for more information about ISTC. Click here for more information about STCU.

From the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific:

College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific alumnus Scott Ellner, DO ’99, MPH, has been appointed president of Saint Francis Medical Group (SFMG) in Hartford, Conn., which is part of Saint Francis Hospital Medical Center, the largest Catholic hospital in New England.

In his new role as president and chief executive physician of SFMG, a 200-provider multi-specialty practice group, Ellner will work collaboratively with the Chief Administrative Officer of SFMG, Mark Aresco, on physician matters and will provide leadership for the group’s quality and clinical effectiveness. He will direct the care management approach, process of disease management, patient satisfaction, patient safety, and processes to assure appropriateness of care. Click here to read the full story.

Kudos on accomplishments

A new paper on dinosaur tails by Matt Wedel of COMP and CPM was featured on the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brad-balukjian/sauropod-neck-and-tail_b_4172992.html. The paper itself is a free download here:

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0078213

Dr. Wedel is an author on two new papers. Both are freely downloadable at the links below: Wedel, M.J., and Taylor, M.P. 2013. Caudal pneumaticity and pneumatic hiatuses in the sauropod dinosaurs Giraffatitan and Apatosaurus. PLOS ONE 8(10):e78213. http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0078213

Taylor, M.P., and Wedel, M.J. 2013. The effect of intervertebral cartilage on neutral posture and range of motion in the necks of sauropod dinosaurs. PLOS ONE 8(10): e78214. http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0078214

From the College of Allied Health Professions:

Associate Professor and Chair Dee Schilling, PT, PhD, as a recognized expert in autism, was invited by the National Center for Quality Teaching and Learning (NCQTL) to provide educators with strategies for increasing engagement and classroom performance for children with autism. In the October publication, one section titled “Try It Out – Tips from an Expert” featured information from Dr. Schilling. The NCQTL provides a publication, distributed monthly across the nation to include Head Start programs, designed to provide information and resources about disabilities and inclusion from experts in classroom instructional strategies.

In recognition of National Physical Therapy Month, the Physical Therapy Advocacy Club (PTAC) continues its lecture series from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 7 in Lecture Hall East of the Health Sciences Center. Armando Ayala, Armed Service Veteran, will give an informative lecture on “A Veteran’s Story.” Pizza lunch with a beverage will be available for $5 per person. For additional information, please contact Katrina De Weese, PTAC President, at kdeweese@westernu.edu.

From the College of Pharmacy:

Congratulations to Kabir Lutfy, PhD, MSPS Alumni Andy Tseng, Khanh Nguyen and Mayank Garg and Research Assistants Abdul Hamid and Paul Marquez on their highly accessed publication: Tseng A, Nguyen K, Hamid A, Garg M, Marquez P, Lutfy K. The Role of Endogenous Beta-Endorphin and Enkephalins in Ethanol Reward. Neuropharmacology. 2013, 73: 290-300. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2013.06.001 Link to Article. This article has been accessed almost 200 times since its publication.

Dr. Hyma Gogineni has been appointed as a member of the Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Specialty Council by the Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS). She was one of two individuals selected out of the 100 who had applied.

Dr. Emmanuelle Schwartzman and collaborators, including Dr. Eunice Chung and Dr. Anandi Law, published the following: Schwartzman E, Chung EP, Sakharkar P, Law AV. Communication Curriculum in a Pharmacy Program: A Survey of Schools of Pharmacy in the United States and Canada. Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning. 5, 6. (2013). Dr. Sakharkar is Dr. Law’s previous Outcomes Research Fellow and currently Assistant Professor at Roosevelt University School of Pharmacy.

From IPE:

Faculty and staff from WesternU published a paper describing an interprofessional standardized patient simulation developed at the University. Development of the simulation has been a collaborative effort across WesternU; the IPE team wishes to thank all who have been involved in this work.

Dickter DN, Stielstra S, Mackintosh S, Garner S, Finocchio VA, Aston, SJ. Development of the Ambulatory Team Observed Structured Clinical Evaluation (ATOSCE). Med Sci Educ 2013; 23(3S); 554-558.

From the Harris Family Center for Disability and Health Policy:

Aging with a Disability

Harris Family Center for Disability and Health Policy Director Brenda Premo, MBA, will be the featured speaker at a two-part event addressing “Aging with a Disability.” A focus group meeting will be held Nov. 6 and a breakfast with legislative staff will be held Dec. 6, both in Garden Grove.
Click here for more information.

From the Office of University Recruitment/Strategic Enrollment Management

Registration is open for WesternU Preview Day from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16, 2013, highlighting health education opportunities offered at Western University of Health Sciences.

Preview Day, held in and around WesternU’s Health Education Center (HEC), 701 E. Second St., Pomona, Calif., will provide potential students the opportunity to get more information about a health profession program of interest, hear about the admissions process, learn about financial aid, see curriculum firsthand, discover how to become a competitive applicant, and meet students and faculty.

If you know of anyone who might be interested in learning more about any of our degree programs offered, please feel free to encourage them to visit our prospective student website for more information or to register for Preview Day.

Follow us on Twitter at @WesternUNews

Find us on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/WesternUniversityofHealthSciences

Western University of Health Sciences, 309 E. Second St., Pomona, Calif. 91766

909-623-6116