This Week@WesternU, March 28-April 1, 2022

March 28-April 1, 2022

FamilyCare, Inc. will donate $22.5 million to WesternU for a new behavioral health college

Western University of Health Sciences (WesternU) will receive a 22.5-million-dollar donation from FamilyCare, Inc., the largest gift in the University’s 45-year history. The donation will help WesternU expand the COMP-Northwest campus and launch a behavioral health college in Lebanon, Oregon. Dr. Jeff Heatherington, president of FamilyCare Health and president and CEO of The Heatherington Foundation for Innovation and Education in Health Care said the Heatherington Foundation will donate 150 acres of land to WesternU to build the new campus.

COMP and COMP-Northwest celebrate Match Day

Their journey to becoming Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine is nearly complete, and Western University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific and COMP-Northwest students reached a pivotal milestone by matching into residencies.

CPM attains 100% residency placement for the ninth year in a row

Student doctors from the College of Podiatric Medicine held a virtual Match Day celebration Friday, March 18, 2022, learning where they will complete their post-graduate medical training.

College of Health Sciences News

CHS Department of Physical Therapy Education Associate Professor Von Homer, PhD, AEP, BOCPD, represented WesternU as a featured speaker at The Run the World No-Nonsense Podiatric Medicine Seminar, one of the largest in podiatric medicine. His presentation was titled “A Critique of New Biomechanics Techniques in Podiatry.”

Dr. Homer, who joined CHS in fall 2021, is a Neuroergonomist and Pedorthist and an internationally-renowned innovator and entrepreneur.

College of Pharmacy News

Congratulations to COP Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Jeffrey Wang, PhD, and his team on their NIH sub-award in the amount of $36,340. The WesternU team includes Research Scientist Preshita Desai, PhD as a Co-Investigator, and Dean Sunil Prabhu, PhD as Other Significant Contributor.

The team will work with the University of Minnesota’s Masonic Cancer Center to conduct nano-formulation and bio-analysis experiments for their R01 research project entitled “Lung Cancer Prevention and Treatment by Targeting ALDH1 and CD44 Expressing Putative Lung Cancer Stem Cells” (PI, Dr. Fekadu Kassie).

College of Optometry News

College of Optometry Professor and Director of Clinical Research for the Center for Clinical Research Pinakin Davey, PhD, OD, FAAO, has been named an ARVO Silver Fellow for his exemplary contributions and dedication to ARVO (The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology). ARVO is the largest Ophthalmology society in the world.

COMP News

Second-year COMP students James Huynh and William Fang and Drs. Devendra K. Agrawal and Finosh G. Thankam from the COMP Department of Translational Research, along with Yu Chen from UCLA, published “Exosomal-ribosomal proteins-driven heterogeneity of epicardial adipose tissue derived stem cells under ischemia for cardiac regeneration” in J Tissue Eng Regen Med. 2022 Feb 10. doi: 10.1002/term.3289.

A Panel with Women in Podiatric Leadership

From 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 31, 2022, the WesternU student chapter for the American Association of Women Podiatrists will be hosting “A Panel with Women in Podiatric Leadership.” The event includes leaders of podiatric medicine’s major associations: the American Podiatric Medical Association, American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons, American Board of Podiatric Medicine, the California Podiatric Medical Association and College of Podiatric Medicine Dean V. Kathleen Satterfield, DPM, FACPM.

Zoom Link:

https://westernu.zoom.us/j/98306717314?pwd=a3FhSDJtUGNUeXdLQWpoZk01WUM3Zz09

Meeting ID: 983 0671 7314

Passcode: LEADERS

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From the Pumerantz Library

April 3-9 is National Library Week! To celebrate, Pumerantz Library will have a variety of events scheduled online and in person. We will share details on our social media and website.