This Week@WesternU, Sept. 17-21, 2012

Pumerantz Lectureship

Health care will continue to be a growing part of the U.S. economy thanks to the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, new emphasis on wellness and preventative care, and the twin forces of an aging population and chronic disease, according to the featured speaker at the fourth annual Dr. Philip Pumerantz Distinguished Lectureship.

Cliff Holland, Corporate Vice President for Worldwide Government Affairs and Policy for the health care and pharmaceuticals giant Johnson & Johnson, told a standing room-only crowd at WesternU’s Health Education Center that although “a healthy population is a wealthy population,” health care will continue to be a growth industry in the United States as the baby boom generation ages and chronic conditions – including obesity – remain prevalent.

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

Sept. 11 Memorial

Do not forget the sacrifice of those who perished, nor the unity that arose in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Guest speakers offered this powerful message at WesternU’s Sept. 11 memorial service, organized by the Military Medical Student Association. Click here to read the full story and to view a slideshow.

From the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific:

Kudos on accomplishments

Dr. Brion Benninger, MD MSc, Professor/Vice Chair, Medical Anatomical Sciences, Lebanon, was commended on hosting one of the Nation’s top oral implant courses at COMP-Northwest. The Oregon AAID Implant Maxicourse is one of the top two oral implant courses in the nation. The course boasted eminent speakers Drs. Sharawy and Orton-Jones. It is the only accredited oral implant course that has an associated clinical component. The session was a three-day participation course in surgical anatomy dissecting, placing implants and conducting multiple cadaveric surgeries. Dr. Shane Samy, the director of the course, complimented Kim Ketchum for her excellent liaison organizational skills during the planning. Dr. Benninger commented that the Department of Medical Anatomical Sciences, Lebanon, plan on hosting regular continued medical and dental education courses. He feels the Lebanon faculty (William Merbs, George Salter and Michelle Hovorka) have the clinical anatomy skills to host multiple courses.

Matt Wedel of COMP and CPM presented a talk, “The evolution and development of skeletal pneumaticity: exceptions to the epithelial hypothesis suggest other levels of control,” on Sept. 13 at the 60th annual Symposium of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy at Oxford University, UK.

From the College of Allied Health Professions:

Department of Physical Therapy Education News

Adjunct faculty member Joseph Kolb, PharmD, DAAPM, will be presenting a poster at the American Academy of Pain Management’s 23rd Annual Clinical Meeting in Phoenix Sept. 20-23. Dr. Kolb’s research on “Inter-Disciplinary Pain Management: Impact on the Intensity and Amount of Medication Use” is in collaboration with his role at the Chronic Pain Program at St. Jude Centers for Rehabilitation and Wellness in Brea. About 1,000 professionals from across the country are expected to attend this clinical meeting of interdisciplinary pain management clinicians, including physicians, physician assistants, nurses, nurse anesthetists, psychologists, physical therapists, and others who practice pain management. This will be the fourth year the conference is in partnership with the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona.

From the College of Pharmacy:

Kudos on accomplishments

Master of Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences student Fatemeh Almasarweh recently won an award at the 7th annual Drug Abuse Research Symposium at the Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science for her presentation, “Hydrocodone containing prescription analgesics: What is the fuss all about?”

The conference, sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), focused on the clinical and basic science aspects of drug addiction. Click here to read the full story.

At the 52nd Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) in San Francisco, MSPS student Eleanor Liu presented a poster titled “C1-065 – Biochemical Characterization of the Metallo-Beta-Lactamase IMP-30.” Co-authors are Kevin Pegg and Eleanor’s adviser Dr. Peter Oelschlaeger.

From the College of Veterinary Medicine:

Kudos on accomplishments

Veterinary anesthesiologist and Associate Professor Dr. Lyon Lee presented “Anesthesia for hepatic and renal diseased small animals” at the 3rd Brain Korea 21 International Veterinary Science Convention at Konkuk University, Seoul, Korea on Aug 20, 2012.

Since the convention’s attendance was an even mixture of veterinary researchers and clinicians, the presentation covered clinical overview of the practical considerations for these diseased animals, followed by research findings of varying anesthetic protocols with particular emphasis on cardiopulmonary system in these patient populations.

Veterinary Assistant Professor and avian microbiologist Dr. Miguel Saggese presented “Prevalence of West Nile Virus Antibodies, Trichomonas spp. and Leucocytozoon spp. in Wild Nestling Birds of Prey from southern California” in poster form at the North American Ornithological Conference, Vancouver, Aug. 13-18, 2012. This mega-conference included 11 ornithological Societies of North America, with more than 1,400 attendees.

Two co-authors are CVM students (Joseph Debrota, DVM ’13, and Shelley Taylor, DVM ’14) whom Dr. Saggese has mentored in research in 2011 and 2012, respectively. The preliminary results presented here were obtained during the last two years, and this team has also investigated additional pathogens and environmental pollutants not included in this poster. Click here to view the poster.

Jackson Galaxy coming to WesternU

Renowned cat behaviorist, best-selling author and TV star Jackson Galaxy is coming to WesternU to talk about working with owners and their problem cats.

Jackson is a well-known star of Animal Planet’s hit TV show “My Cat From Hell” and best-selling author of “Cat Daddy.”

The lecture and Q&A session, which is open to the public, will take place Wednesday, Sept. 19 from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Johnston Classroom of WesternU’s Banfield Veterinary Clinical Center (BVCC), 611 E. Second Street, Pomona, Calif.

The WesternU CVM Cat Club of the Student Chapter of the American Association of Feline Practitioners (SCAAFP) is sponsoring the event. For more info, please email SCAAFPclub@westernu.edu.

From the Pumerantz Library:

Are you registered to vote? If not, you can do so in time for the General Election. Read the blog for details on registering.

Drug Information App

Have you used the desktop version of Micromedex? Almost all of its functionality is available to you in mobile apps. Micromedex has apps for both Apple and Android devices. Read the blog for details.

Library workshops

View and register for upcoming library workshops here.