Congratulations to all our Class of 2024 graduates who celebrated Commencement May 15-17, 2024 in Pasadena, California. Please visit Facebook and Instagram to view photos from all five ceremonies, and check back later this week for additional coverage at WesternU News.

Next up are two Commencement ceremonies in Lebanon, Oregon, celebrating COMP-Northwest's Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine graduates and CHS-Northwest's inaugural Doctor of Physical Therapy class. Visit the Commencement website for more information. View the webcasts of the Commencement ceremonies in Pasadena.

WesternU's College of Dental Medicine (CDM) is partnering with Overjet, the world-leader in dental artificial intelligence, to bring its FDA-cleared AI platform to the College’s patient care and clinical education programs.

WesternU CDM is the first axiUm-MiPACS dental education institution in the U.S. to partner with Overjet.

“This partnership will bring Overjet's powerful X-ray analysis and chart review tools to our curriculum and patient care operations. This will enhance the learning experience for our students by providing them with clear visualizations that will help them better understand structure and characteristics of the mouth, empowering them to communicate more confidently and effectively with their patients as they become practice ready,” said CDM Dean Elizabeth Andrews, DDS, MS (pictured above with Overjet Senior Clinical Manager Mina Ghorbanifarajzadeh, DMD). “For our patients, this will further enhance the quality of care received at WesternU Health as our providers will be equipped with the most up-to-date diagnostic tools available.”

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WesternU's College of Pharmacy celebrated six Master of Science in Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Sciences (MSBPS) graduates at a celebration luncheon on May 2, 2024.

Each student, who celebrated Commencement on May 16, 2024 in Pasadena, received a certificate and words of wisdom from COP Dean Sunil Prabhu, BPharm, PhD.

“You have bright futures and many of you will go on to do wonderful things,” Prabhu said. “Some of you will start companies. Some of you will become star scientists in different places. But always remember where you started. We are one of a handful of schools that gave you a free education, a very high quality of research, and allowed you to flourish.”

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Drs. John Andraos, David Pham and Shawn Smith, along with one of Dr. Pham’s colleagues, published a recent paper, "Narrative Review of Data Supporting Alternative First-Line Therapies Over Metformin in Type 2 Diabetes," where they discuss the relevant literature regarding the downgrading of metformin as a lone first line agent for type 2 diabetes.

It is wonderful to see collaboration amongst PPAD faculty resulting in this important narrative review article published in the Journal of Diabetes and Metabolic Disorders: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40200-024-01406-6

COMP-Northwest Professor Brion Benninger, MD, Executive Director of the Medical Anatomy Center (MAC), and first-year COMP-Northwest students Ethan Fulsher, Maxwell McDaniel, Emily Akamine, Patrick Forcier, Daniel Damron, Joseph Yankee, Morgan Weiss, Sarah Sanasac, and Jordan Davis, representing the MAC and Ultrasound Club, demonstrated and taught ultrasound with mixed-reality learning workshops for the Minority Association for Pre-Medical students UO Med Advance 2024 Healthcare Convention May 11, 2024 in Eugene, Oregon.

Fourth-year COMP-Northwest student Chris Cariello, second-year COMP-Northwest students Noah Swigart, Dennis Nguyen, and Maui Lee, and Dr. Benninger presented platform presentations at this year’s Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology (SOAP) conference May 1-5, 2024.

Noah Swigart, Dennis Nguyen, Maui Lee, and Dr. Benninger completed a novel research project testing a newly invented medical product the O2 Turbocap by Sharp Medical on GAX-specimen bodies with BriteVu contrast. “Assessing the Efficacy of an Innovative Airway Device Delivering Supplemental Oxygen During Intubation with GAX-specimens” was chosen as an oral presentation, which received accolades from the review panel and participants of the conference.

Chris Cariello presented an ultrasound-based research project titled “Planning for postpartum tubal ligation: aspiration risk during immediate postpartum period” with Stanford Anesthesiologists, which developed from a collaborative effort between the MAC and Stanford Anesthesia Department.

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

9 a.m. to 11:50 a.m. Wednesday, May 29, 2024

Please 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.