The city of Victorville celebrated the opening of the Victorville Wellness Center Campus, which will provide full medical, social and support services to sheltered and unsheltered individuals to help them stabilize and rebuild their lives.

Symba Center, the brainchild of Western University of Health Sciences College of Pharmacy Assistant Professor Shawn Smith, PharmD, (pictured here with COP's Dr. Cynthia Jackevicius) and his friend and co-founder Dr. Bowtie Brian, will provide primary care, mental health, recuperative care, substance use disorder counseling, housing navigation, case management, job readiness training and financial literacy skills in partnership with Hope the Mission.

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U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Leilani Lopes-Haslam (left), a third-year COMP-Northwest student, visited the White House in November to interview David O’Connor, DO, (right), who serves as President Joe Biden’s physician. Lopes-Haslam serves as the national PR chair for the Student Association of Military Osteopathic Physicians & Surgeons (SAMOPS). Her interview with Dr. O'Connor can be found on the SAMOPS Specialty Spotlights podcast (available on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts).

In third place was CVM student Roberta Bailey (pictured, left), who serves as a newly-elected member of the California Veterinary Medical Association Animal Welfare Committee. Bailey says, “My inspiration to continue my journey is deeply rooted in my love for all animals and my desire to see them live in a world that is more compassionate and caring towards them. Through advocacy, training, and public outreach, I believe my vision of a kinder veterinary medicine can become a reality.”

Congratulations to Dr. Sheryl Chow on the following accomplishments:

AHA Scientific Sessions (Nov. 10-13, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pa.):

Dr. Chow served as the lead for developing the HF and Cardiomyopathy Community programming for 2023 AHA Scientific Sessions and also participated in the following sessions: Nov. 11 Moderator, Pecha Kucha Says You Are What You Eat: Nutrition and Heart Failure

Nov. 12 Moderator (Main Event Session), A Confluence of Risk: Navigating the Intersection of Cardiovascular Kidney and Metabolic Health (See attached AHA Daily News)

Nov. 12 Moderator, Hot Debates in Heart Failure Management

Nov. 13 Poster Professor, Old Dog, New Tricks: Moving Beyond What We Know About GDMT

Dr. Chow served as Co-Chair (and Writing Group Vice-Chair) along with Chiadi Ndumele, MD, and Janani Rangaswami, MD, on a new AHA Task Force focused on a new collaborative Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic (CKM) Health initiative. This multi-specialty and interdisciplinary Scientific Advisory Group (SAG) was well-represented by 30+ experts in cardiology, endocrinology, nursing, nephrology, pharmacy, pediatric cardiology, neurology, internal medicine, and epidemiology. The initiative addresses the important interplay between CKMH across a lifespan with a heavy focus on preventative approaches to mitigate future risk of worsening CVD and kidney disease. This new initiative was unveiled with fanfare at the AHA Sessions Conference in November 2023.

The Presidential Advisory and Scientific Statement (CKM Synopsis) are focused on new terminology and redefining this population through a novel staging system (Stages 0-4) and providing therapeutic and lifestyle approaches for each - the first 2 papers below relate to this aspect. The second 2 papers are focused on research and development of a novel CKM model of long-term risk of CVD (PREVENT study). The AHA is currently developing a risk calculator based on this model to calculate the future risk of individuals based on patient-specific factors.

Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic Health: A Presidential Advisory from the American Heart Association. Ndumele CE (Chair), Rangaswami J (Vice-Chair), Chow S (Vice-Chair), Neeland IJ, Tuttle KR, Khan SS Coresh J, Mathew RO, Baker-Smith CM, Camethon MR, Despres JP, Ho JE, Joseph JJ, Kernan WN, Khera A, Kosiborod MN, Lekovich CL, Lewis EF, Lo KB, Ozkao B, Palanianppan LP, Patel SS, Pencina MJ, Powel-Wiley TM, Sperling LS, Virani SS, Wright JT, Rajgopal-Singh R, Elkind MS. 9 Oct 2023, Circulation.

A Synopsis of the Evidence for the Science and Clinical Management of Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic (CKM) Syndrome: A Scientific Statement from the American Heart Association. Ndumele CE, Neeland IJ, Tuttle KR, Chow SL, Mathew RO, Khan SS, Coresh J, , Baker-Smith CM, Carnethon MR, Despres JP, Ho JE, Joseph JJ, Kernan WN, Khera A, Kosiborod MN, Lekovich CL, Lewis EF, Lo KB, Ozkao B, Palanianppan LP, Patel SS, Pencina MJ, Powel-Wiley TM, Sperling LS, Virani SS, Wright JT, Rajgopal-Singh R, Elkind MS. Rangaswami J, Circulation 2023 Oct 9.  doi: 10.1161/CIR.0000000000001186. 

 Development and Validation of the American Heart Association Predicting Risk of Cardiovascular Disease EVENTs (PREVENT) Equations. Khan SS., Matsushita K, Sang Y, Ballew SH, Grams ME, Surapanemi A, Blaha MJ, Carson AP, Chang AR, Ciemins E, Go AS, Gutierrez OM, Hwang SJ, Jassal SK, Kovesdy CP, Lloyd-Jones DM, Shlipak MG, Palaniappan LP, Sperling L, Virani SS, Tuttle Km, Neeland IJ, Chow SL, Ragaswami J, Pencina MJ, Ndumele CE, Coresh J., and for the Chronic Kidney Disease Prognosis Consortium and the American Heart Association Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic Science Advisory Group. Nov 10, 2023.Circulation. 2023;0

Novel Prediction Equations for Absolute Risk Assessment of Total Cardiovascular Disease Incorporating Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic Health: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association

Khan SS, Coresh J, Pencina MJ, Ndumele CE, Ragaswami J, Chow SL, Palaniappan LP, Sperling LS, Virani SS, Ho JE, Neeland IJ, Tuttle KR, Rajgopal R,, Elkind MS, Lloyd-Jones DM; on behalf of the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2023;XXX:e00–e00. DOI: 10.1161/CIR.0000000000001191

Dr. Chow also had a peer-reviewed editorial published last month:

Page RL, Chow SL. Polypharmacy and the Clinical Inertial Conundrum for GDMT JACC Heart Fail. 2023 14:S2213-1779(23)00542-5. doi: 10.1016/j.jchf.2023.08.015.

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

9 a.m. to 2:50 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 10

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.