This Week@WesternU, Nov. 13-17, 2023

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Nov. 13-17, 2023

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WesternU’s One Health Day events

focus on collaboration

One Health Day, celebrated every year on Nov. 3, emphasizes the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to world health issues. Western University of Health Sciences, which embraces this concept year-round, held multiple events to celebrate the occasion.

First up was a student-led One Health awareness booth Nov. 3, 2023 (pictured above). College of Veterinary Medicine students from the student chapter of the American Veterinary Medical Association (SAVMA) encouraged Esplanade walkers to stop and play a One Health trivia game to win prizes.

CVM students organized the One Health Symposium on Nov. 6 with CVM faculty Drs. Annika Linde, Tonatiuh Melgarejo and Pedro Diniz serving as the guest speakers.

Faculty and staff from several of WesternU’s health care colleges joined together with researchers from outside the campus on Nov. 3 to extoll the virtues of collaboration as part of the 6th annual One Health Day Panel.

College of Pharmacy news

Congratulations to College of Pharmacy faculty for the following accomplishments at the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) Annual Meeting 2023 Nov. 11-14 in Dallas, Texas:

Dr. David Min presented a poster, “Effect of pre-transplant angiotensin II type 1 receptor antibody (AT1R-Ab) positivity on kidney transplantation graft outcomes." Authors: COP alum Nare Gevorgyan, PharmD '23, Yassir Qazi, MD, David Min, PharmD.

COP Assistant Professor and alumnus Anthony Sengul, PharmD '21, presented a poster, “Non-Inferiority Trials: A Systematic Review On Methodological Quality and Reporting Standards,” that he co-authored with COP Professor Cynthia Jackevicius, BScPhm, PharmD, MSc, collaborator Gordon Guyatt, MD, and COP alumni Edison Escobar PharmD '21, John R. Flores, PharmD '15, Michelle Kwok, PharmD '21, and Shogo Kono PharmD '23.

Dr. Anne Kugler served as a poster judge at ACCP for the Ambulatory Care PRN at the ACCP meeting.

Dr. Sheryl Chow participated as invited faculty at the 15th Annual Orange County Symposium for CVD Prevention through UC Irvine School of Medicine on Oct. 28, 2023. Her talk was titled, "Nutraceuticals in HF prevention" and she served as a panelist during group discussion.

Dr. Janice Hoffman was very active at the recent (California Association of Long term Care Medicine) CALTCM Summit for Excellence Annual Meeting Nov. 2-4, 2023 at the Sheraton Universal City.

She delivered two invited presentations plus a roundtable discussion: Hoffman J. New Drugs for Older Adults 2022-23; Hoffman J, Ferrini R, Wasserman M. Conflict Resolution; and Hoffman J, Oganesyan A. A roundtable on the Beers' criteria Update. Dr. Aida Oganesyan is Director of Pharmacy Services at LAJH and is a 2013 COP graduate.

She also had three poster presentations: Kim C, Asadorian M, Marco N, Oganesyan A, Hoffman J. "Utilizing and prescribing practice of opioid therapy in older adults within a skilled nursing facility" (This is based on a 2023 WesternU COP graduate AE project with Dr. Kim.)

Hakobyan N, Asadorian M, Marco N, Oganesyan A, Hoffman J. “Evaluation of Paxlovid Use in Skilled Nursing Facility Residents During the COVID-19 Pandemic” (Dr. Hakobyan is the current LAJH resident, and a 2023 WesternU graduate.)

Asadorian M, Marco N, Oganesyan A, Hoffman J. “Pharmacist-led interdisciplinary transition of care medication reconciliation of short-term patients in a skilled nursing facility, a pilot study” (Dr. Asadorian was Dr. Hoffman’s LAJH resident and this research of hers from 2023 won second place in the research category.)

Dr. Hoffman also delivered an invited presentation at the California Society of Health-System Pharmacists Seminar Clinical Meeting, Long Beach, Calif. Hoffman J, Oganesyan A. Update on Beers’ Criteria 2023 and Age-Friendly Safe Medication Use.

Dr. Anandi Law had several accomplishments and has been quoted twice related to her role as President-Elect of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy.

Dr. Law and her fellow Dr. Skai Pan received a grant of $25,000 from Sarfez Pharma for a study titled: Examining Impact of Loop Diuretics on HF Patients: Physician and Patient Perspectives.

Dr. Law was a panelist again for the Rx Writing Challenge, this time for a topic on “AI and Scholarly Publishing,” on Oct. 20, 2023 along with Spencer Harpe (JAPhA/CPTL), Moderator, and Panelists: Anandi Law (RSAP), Daniel Malcom (AJPE), Stephanie Sibicky (TSCP), Robin Zavod (CPTL).

Dr. Law was quoted in a statement on Pharmacy Workplace issues as President-Elect of the AACP. She was also quoted in an article in her AACP role in this important article related to the recent pharmacist walkouts.

COMP news

Dr. Devendra K. Agrawal, Professor and Director, COMP Department of Translational Research, was recently honored at the University of Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The faculty of Medicine, University of Banja Luka bestowed the title of Visiting Professor upon Dr. Agrawal in recognition of his outstanding contribution in the field of cardiovascular research. Dr. Agrawal had several round table discussions with senior administrators, deans, and faculty.

Dr. Agrawal was interviewed by two TV channels in Banja Luka, which was broadcasted in all regions of the Baltics. He was also interviewed by a local newspaper in Banja Luka on his thoughts on the Interdisciplinary Program in Clinical & Translational Science, on the Immunomodulatory role of vitamin D in diseases, and about heart attack prevention. Srpskainfo.co, RTRS News YouTube interview, Banja Luka website.

The University of Belgrade Faculty of Medicine, Belgrade, Serbia, certified that Professor Dr. Devendra K. Agrawal has served at the Faculty Medicine in the capacity of Invited Lecturer. Dr. Agrawal delivered three lectures/presentations on the following topics and interacted in round-table discussion with senior administrators, faculty, medical students, graduate, and postgraduate students at the University of Belgrade: Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Clinical & Translational Science: Opportunities and Challenges; Novel Treatment Strategies to Attenuate Plaque Vulnerability in Atherosclerosis; and Vitamin D and Immunomodulation in Coronary Artery Disease.

Dr. Agrawal with his research colleagues and collaborators published the following research articles:

Batta I, Kaur T, Agrawal DK: Distinguishing Swine Flu (H1N1) from COVID-19: Clinical, Virological, and Immunological Perspectives. Archives of Microbiology & Immunology 2023; 7(4): 271-280.

Singh H, Agrawal DK: Discovery of Potential RAGE Inhibitors using Receptor-based Pharmacophore Modeling, High Throughput Virtual Screening and Docking Studies. Journal of Biotechnology and Biomedicine 2023; 6(4) 501-513.

Merlin Rajesh Lal LP, Agrawal DK: Hyperlipidemia lowers the biomechanical properties of rotator cuff tendon. Journal of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine 2023; 5(4): 391-397.

Merlin Rajesh Lal LP, Agrawal DK: Biomechanical forces in the tissue engineering and regeneration of shoulder, hip, knee, and ankle joints. Journal of Biotechnology and Biomedicine 2023; 6(4) 491-500.

Merlin Rajesh Lal LP, Radwan MM, Thankam FG, Agrawal DK: Rotator cuff tendon repair after injury in hyperlipidemic swine decreases biomechanical properties. Journal of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine 2023; 5(4): 398-405.

Studio Portraits, Tuesday, Nov. 14

Public Affairs and Marketing is holding an open studio portrait day:

9 a.m. to 2:50 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 14

Please click on the link above and sign up for a timeslot that works for your schedule if you would like a new studio portrait. We will schedule additional portrait days for those who cannot come to the studio on this day.