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Volume 5 • Issue 1 | WINTER 2014EXPANDED CONTENT ONLINE ONLY

Achieving ExcellenceGrant Awards, Partnerships and CreativeOutreach Efforts Demonstrate College ofPharmacy’s Committment to Distinction.

RxBound is a joint effort of the College of Pharmacy andUniversity Advancement, published biannually for alumni,faculty, students and friends of the College of Pharmacy.

EDITORS:Sam K. Shimomura, PharmD, FASHP, CGPAssociate Dean of College Advancement

Jesse Martinez, PharmD, FASCPVice Dean, Academic Diversity and Development

Renee CookManager of Continuing Education and Events

Bill BurrowsDirector of Development, University Advancement

Contributing Photographers: Mirza Hasanefendic, Jeff Malet, Sam Shimomura,

and Renee Cook

Graphic Designer: Debra Nelson

DEAN’S ADVISORY COUNCILDaniel C. Robinson, PharmDDean, College of Pharmacy

Steven W. Gray, PharmD, JDChairman of the Dean’s Advisory Council

Bill Burrows, BSJohn Cronin, PharmD, JD

Rebecca Cupp, RPhGlenn Etow, PharmD

Richard de Leon, PharmDAmy Gutierrez, PharmD

John D. Jones, RPh, JD, FAMCPRoger Klotz, RPh, BCNSP, FASCP, FACA, FCPhA

Victor Law, RPhJesse Martinez, PharmD, FASCP

Sam Shimomura, PharmD, FASHP, CGPJoel N. Weber, PharmD, FCSHP, FASHP

Ray M. Yutani, DO, MS, PharmD, FACOFP

MISSIONThe mission of the College of Pharmacy Dean’s Advisory

Council is to assist the College in building a strong presencein the world of pharmacy, to increase the College’s nationaland international visibility for quality research, education and

service, and to serve as ambassadors for the College.

309 E. Second St., Pomona, Calif. 91766-1854www.westernu.edu/pharmacy

Dean’s Office: 909-469-5500University Advancement: 909-469-8431

Edwin Warren Lawless, LHD (Hon.)Chairman Emeritus, WesternU Board of Trustees

Warren Lawless, a pillar of Western University of Health Sciences andWest Seattle who dedicated his life to service, has died. He was 95.

Lawless served more than 30 years on the Western University of HealthSciences Board of Trustees, taking the helm as chairman a scant 10 monthsafter the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific’s inaugural classhad graduated. He served as chairman until 2013, when he took on thetitle of Chairman Emeritus.

“Much of what WesternU is today is the direct result not only of Warren’sbusiness sense, but his passion for humanism and education,” said PhilipPumerantz, PhD, President of WesternU. “Warren had a staunch belief inthe high quality of our students, faculty, and staff; a deep commitment tobuilding and maintaining resources to match their talents and WesternU’smission serving its communities; and an unwavering philosophy thatanything was possible if we simply believed it could happen, and put thebest of our hearts and minds into it.”

The Board proclaimed Aug. 3 and Aug. 10, 2013 as “Warren LawlessDays” on the campuses of Western University of Health Sciences.

“As all of us move forward following this loss, I am confident we will keepwithin us the passion, positivity and perseverance that are Warren Lawless’legacy at Western University of Health Sciences and in the lives of all thosehe encountered,” Pumerantz said.

Please visit westernu.edu/news to read more and view a photo slideshow.

Photo: Ribbon cutting of the Health Professions Center in 1990. Don Krpan, DO, Provost, Warren Lawless, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, and Philip Pumerantz, PhD, President, WesternUniversity of Health Sciences

WesternU, College of Pharmacy 1

Features 4 Convocation and White Coat Ceremony: Welcome to the Class of 2017

5 Dean’s Welcome Back Dinner, 2013

18 Partners in Excellence: Preceptor & Alumna. Mentoring is a Defining Moment ofSuccess for Bi-Rite Pharmacy Owner I.R. Patel

20 Partners in Excellence: Preceptor & Faculty. Claremont’s Hendricks Pharmacy andCollege of Pharmacy Implement Comprehensive Clinical Services for the Community

21 COP and CSUF Linkage Agreement

22 A Tribute to Caring: Western University of Health Sciences’ annual gala fundraiserhighlighted the power and importance of caring.

page 6

Excellence in Research: Dr. Campbellreceives grant to study adverse effects of air pollution on the brainDr. Arezoo Campbell’s lab at Western University of Health SciencesCollege of Pharmacy is investigating the potential of particulatematter, which is present in air pollution, to trigger an inflammatoryresponse in the central nervous system.

On the cover: Dr. Campbell, Tara Barthol, laboratory manager, and Kevin Tran, MSPS ’14

page 8

Excellence in Residency: Improving Qualityof Life in Geriatric PatientsJanice Hoffman, PharmD, CGP, FASCP, Associate Professor PharmacyPractice and Administration, helps establish the first geriatric pharmacyresidency program at Los Angeles Jewish Home. College of Pharmacygraduate Aida Oganesyan, PharmD ’13, was selected to become itsinaugural resident.

Departments 2 Dean’s Message

10 RxEvents

12 Students in Action

24 The Giving Center

26 The Office of Experiential Education

28 Research Spotlight

30 Faculty News

Volume 5 • Issue 1 | WINTER 2014

WesternU, College of Pharmacy2

Message from the Dean

With the start of each new year, we have the opportunity to reflect on ouraccomplishments. I am proud that we are able to feature one of our brightstars in research, Arezoo Campbell, for her important work in environmentaltoxicology. This is a perfect example of a faculty member and collaboratorsworking with local agencies, in this case the Air Quality Management District,to better understand the effects of urban life on human health. We willcontinue to feature outstanding faculty research in future issues of RxBound.

I also want to draw attention to the preceptors who provide outstandingexperiences for our students in every imaginable area of pharmacy practice.I.R. Patel and Brian Garner, featured in this issue, are wonderful examples ofsuccessful pharmacists who have inspired many of our students through caringand compassionate service to their patients, through their razor sharp businessacumen, and through their professional leadership at the local, state, andnational level. In the 1990’s, I wrote what I called a Preceptor’s Oath with theintent of helping preceptors understand the important role they play in astudent pharmacist’s professional development.

Preceptor’s Oath: I will respect students as future colleagues. I willjudge students on the basis of their contributions to patient care. I willincorporate students into my daily practice-related activities. I willallow patients to be the stimulus for experiential training. I willrequire students to perform daily functions that are vital to the healthcare enterprise. I will serve as a coach to my students, sharingknowledge, skills and values that I have gained throughout myprofessional life.

I am proud to say that so many of the wonderful preceptors associated withthe College instinctively model the behaviors described in the oath. We owe somuch to the hundreds of preceptors who contribute daily to the developmentand success of our students. If you would like to become a WesternUPharmacy preceptor I invite you to contact our Office of ExperientialEducation for further information.

Daniel C. Robinson, PharmD, FASHPDean, College of PharmacyWestern University of Health Sciences

Our Mission:Educating future pharmacy professionals to serve the health care needs of society and improve the quality of patient care through science, caring and humanism.


WesternU College of PharmacyNAPLEX Pass rate for first-time candidatesMay 1, 2013 – August 31, 2013

99.21%State 97.64% | National 96.57%

Pass rate for all candidates

WesternU 99.21%State 94.68% | National 94.65%

College of Pharmacy by the numbersAcademic Outcomes 2013-2014

Total current enrollment: 547By program: PharmD 479 | MSPS 12 | IPBP 56

Average age: 28Gender: Female 73%

Male: 27%Total Entering Class (2017): 120

Race/Ethnicity Summary:Academic Outcomes 2013-2014

� Asian: 57%

� White: 20%

� Two or more races: 10%

� Unknown: 6.5%

� Hispanic: 3.8%

� Black / African American: 2.5%

� American Indian/Alaskan Native: 0.2%

Strategic GoalIdentify, attract, and enroll highly qualified studentswith diverse backgrounds who will be recognizedfor their professional competence, ethical character,personal initiative, and leadership skills.

Websitewww.westernu.edu

/pharmacy

Twitter@WesternUPharm

FacebookWesternUPharmacy


ConvocationAnd White Coat Ceremony

August 10, 2013On August 10, 2013, Western University of Health Sciences, College ofPharmacy welcomed 120 students into the class of 2017 at a White Coatceremony held at the Sheraton Fairplex Hotel & Conference Center inPomona, California. Amy Gutierrez, PharmD, Chief Pharmacy Officer forthe Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (pictured below left),told the Class of 2017 that pharmacy would offer them a wide range ofprofessional practice opportunities, and that they had a tremendousresponsibility to serve patients personally. “While you’re wearing this coat,you’re going to touch many lives,” she said. “You have accepted an intenselypersonal calling that’s guided by the core values of compassion. I welcomeyou to the family of pharmacists. Do us proud.”

Thank you to Cardinal Health for their generous sponsorship of the WhiteCoat ceremony again this year.


Dean’s Welcome Back Dinner, 2013 By Bill Burrows, Director of Development, College of Pharmacy

On Tuesday, August 13th, Dean Robinson and his wife Jackie hosted their annual Welcome Back Dinner at theirlovely home in Rancho Cucamonga. The annual Orientation Week tradition, that helps introduce WesternUCollege of Pharmacy student pharmacists to faculty, staff and each another, was expanded this year to includerepresentatives from three of the College of Pharmacy’s largest employers of our graduates. We had generoussponsorship support this year from Janet Govea and Sheryl Lee of CVS/Caremark, Robert Lee and Shelly Storm ofWalgreens, and Jeff Ward, Barbara Gee and Hemali Lucas of Albertsons, and the student response to this earlyprofessional networking opportunity was tremendous! In addition to all of the wonderful question-and-answerconversations going on, the three sponsors also raffled off several generous gift cards to some very happy studentpharmacist winners! Overall, it was a great evening of good food, fun and new introductions.Photos left to right, top to bottom: Salome Huang and Cameron Van, both PharmD ’16; Julie Wong, Nathan Schirmacher, Lori Kechichian. Alex Poladian, Aleen Marcoosi, ShaunHealer, Mahsa Haghgooyan and Siona Gharasimian, all PharmD ’17; Shokoofeh “Nasha” Namiranian and Mona Farshchi, both PharmD ’17; Shelly Storm, Greg Deremsezyan,PharmD ’17, Robert Lee, and Dean Robinson; Barbara Gee, Jeff Ward, Teresa Pak, PharmD ’16, and Dean Robinson; (Bottom) Dr. Sam Shimomura, Kayne Chan ’16, Jenny Ito, ’15,David Chu, ’16 Jonathan Thang ’16; Dean Robinson, Jennifer Vu ’16, Christina Song ’16, Sora Yoon ’15, Stephen Chou, PharmD ’16; Lena Hadaya, Christina Azatyan, AnetAbrahimian, and Aram Jerahian, all PharmD ’17.


College of Pharmacy Associate Professor of PharmeceuticalSciences Arezoo Campbell, PhD, was recently awarded grantfunding from the South Coast Air Quality ManagementDistrict (SCAQMD) to study the adverse effects on the brainof particulate matter (PM) present in ambient air pollution.

Campbell’s proposal, titled “Evaluation of AmbientParticulate Matter Neurotoxicity Using Primary Human BrainCells,” was approved for $577,590 by the BP/South Coast AirQuality Management District (BP/SCAQMD) Public BenefitsPrograms Oversight Committee.

“With this grant, we decided to move away from animalstudies and focus on a more simplified but biologicallyrelevant system,” Campbell said. “By using normal humanbrain cells, we can determine the cellular mechanismsunderlying PM toxicity.”

Campbell’s lab at Western University of Health SciencesCollege of Pharmacy is investigating the potential ofparticulate matter, which is present in air pollution, to triggeran inflammatory response in the central nervous system(CNS). In this study, she will evaluate biological responsesafter human brain cells are exposed to ambient particulatematter collected from a site in Los Angeles. Campbell is theprincipal investigator for this research project.

Her collaborator, Dr. Constantinos Sioutas, a Fred ChampionProfessor in the Department of Civil and EnvironmentalEngineering at USC, and his postdoctoral scholar, NancyDaher, are part of a team that will collect and characterize theparticulate matter.

Dr. Campbell’s research team includes MSPS student KevinTran (pictured on cover) and post-doctoral fellow Dr. ParrisaSolaimani who joined the laboratory in January. Departmentallaboratory manager, Tara Barthol (pictured on cover) will alsoprovide assistance.

“While the cause of many neurodegenerative diseases areunknown, it appears that multiple factors includingenvironmental exposures, genetic factors and aging areinvolved in the pathological process.” Campbell also statedthat “The results of the funded study will provide scientificevidence relevant to risk-assessment in human populations.This information can be used to better educate individualsliving in highly polluted areas close to freeways.”

As a co-investigator, Sioutas said he is glad to be working withWesternU on such anexciting and timelystudy.

Vehicle emissions are animportant source ofparticle formation.Inhalation of thegenerated particles allowsthem to enter the body.Ultra small, nanosizedparticles may enter the brainand activate innate immuneresponses. Although acuteactivation of this system isnecessary to remove foreign substances, if theparticles are not eliminated, over time, the immuneresponse may become more harmful than beneficial. Withthis study, team members are trying to understand if theseparticles are causing harm to brain cells, which can eventuallylead to acceleration of age-related neurodegenerative diseases.

“By understanding if particles in air pollution are reallycausing adverse health consequences, we can try to find waysto minimize exposure to these particles,” Campbell said.

Campbell said getting the AQMD grant was serendipitous.

Dr. Stephen O’Barr, Chair, Department of PharmaceuticalSciences, thought that Campbell should contact the AQMD tosee how she could aid it in its mission. A call for proposalsregarding the BP Public Works Benefits went out in 2012, andshe applied.

“Dr. Campbell’s research is important to better understandthe impact particulate pollution has on the human body,” saidBarry R. Wallerstein, executive officer for the South Coast AirQuality Management District. “This grant will helpcontinue the innovative research that supportsthe overall mission of the SCAQMD to protectpublic health.”

Excellence in Research: Dr. Campbell receives grant to study adverseeffects of air pollution on the brainBy Jeff Malet, Writer/Photographer


With this study, team members aretrying to understand if these particlesare causing harm to brain cells, whichcan eventually lead to acceleration ofage-related neuro degenerative diseases.


Excellence inResidency:Improving Quality of Life inGeriatric PatientsBy Jeff Malet, Writer/Photographer

Getting people more experienced and skilled workingwith the geriatric community was key to JaniceHoffman, PharmD, CGP, FASCP, Associate Professorof Pharmacy Practice and Administration, inestablishing a geriatric pharmacy residency programat the Los Angeles Jewish Home. Hoffman, says sheworks with the “the young old.” For her, the averageage is 88 years.

Hoffman predominantly works in the geriatricpsychiatric unit at Jewish Home bringing clinicalpharmacy services to those who may be medically aswell as emotionally compromised. On the SkilledNursing units she supervises the WesternU AdvancedElective student pharmacists on research projectswhich currently include the reduction of anti-psychotic drug use in dementia and thediscontinuation of sliding scale insulin in Type 2diabetics.

Hoffman is director of the postgraduate pharmacyresidency program at Los Angeles Jewish Home inReseda, Calif. She also works at S+AGE; aSpecialized Ambulatory Care Geriatric EvaluationOutpatient Clinic in Sherman Oaks.

“Too many medications and their side effects cancontribute to geriatric patients having mental healthchanges,” Hoffman said. “I’m embedded in thegeriatrician office at S+AGE clinic where I review themedication and make recommendations on how toreduce them or how to improve compliance bysimplifying the medication regimen. For example, forpatients having behavioral difficulties we complete abehavioral mapping to see if medications areworking. It can give us a visual to consider if thepatient could benefit from adjusting the time, orchanging the medication so that the patients aregetting the most value from the medications.”

Additionally, Dr. Hoffman is currently conducting aresearch study on skin reactions to rivastigminepatches in elderly outpatients.

Hoffman not only helped establish the first geriatricpharmacy residency program at Los Angeles JewishHome, but she also selected recent College ofPharmacy graduate Aida Oganesyan, PharmD ’13, to become its inaugural resident.


Hoffman not only helped establish the first geriatricpharmacy residency program at Los Angeles Jewish Home,but she also selected recent College of Pharmacy graduateAida Oganesyan, PharmD ’13, to become its inauguralresident.

Oganesyan spends her residency throughout the JewishHome campuses covering many components. Part of hertime is with PACE (Program of All Inclusive Care for theElderly) which is an outpatient program for the vulnerablecommunity-dwelling seniors. She is also working on aresearch project looking at the impact of the pharmacist inthe PACE setting.

As a resident, Oganesyan works at the Los Angeles JewishHome’s Medical Center which is a 249 bed skilled nursingfacility with a 10-bed JCAHO accredited inpatient geriatricpsychiatric unit. As a resident her responsibilities include:comprehensive chart reviews, discharge consultations,interprofessional team meetings and resolution ofmedication-related complications. She is also involved indeveloping policy and procedures and performing qualityassurance projects.

Oganesyan says people are always telling her, “if you knowgeriatrics, you know everybody because the elderly are socomplicated, and they have so many disease states that youknow the whole spectrum and can pretty much treatanybody.”

“Jewish Home has got a great interprofessional practice,which is a WesternU forte,” Hoffman said. “It’s a reallygood experience for a resident because there is such adiversity of opportunities on one campus.”

Hoffman believes it’s important to get people versed onwhat geriatrics means.

“By having a resident, we are exposing more and youngerpharmacists to the field of geriatrics and hope to providebetter care for seniors going forward,” she said. “It’s amatter of getting people out into pharmacy practice so theyknow about geriatrics because by 2050 it will be almost onein four who are over the age of 65.”

As a professor, Hoffman teaches geriatric-related diseasestates in various blocks within the College of Pharmacy andan introduction to geriatric pharmacology in the medicalschool. She also teaches and facilitates the neurology blockas her main focus at the College of Pharmacy. In addition,she is the President of the California Chapter of theAmerican Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP), is onthe Board of Directors for California Academy of Long-Term Care Medicine (CALTCM) and for the CaliforniaPharmacist Association (CPhA) Academy of Long-TermCare. She also serves as the faculty advisor for the PhiLambda Sigma, National Pharmacy Leadership HonorSociety Gamma Nu chapter at WesternU.

Opposite page and above: Dr. Hoffman and Aida Oganesyan, PharmD ’13. Left: Dr. Dan Osterweil, Dr. Hoffman, and Olayinka Taiwo, PharmD ’14 at S+AGE in Sherman Oaks, California.


(Above) CSHP Seminar SB-493 Panel: Ryan Gates, PharmD, Senator Ed Hernandez, OD, Marilyn Stebbins, PharmD, Rebecca Cupp, PharmD, and Joe Gugliemelmo, PharmD

(Above) WesternU House of Delegates Maira Khan,Purvi Vira, Kjersti Rich, and Jennifer Ito.

(Above) CSHP Dinner photographer David England Photography: Castor Phan, PharmD ’13, Joanne Tuquero, PharmD ’10 and Thomas Schuetz, PharmD ’15; All of the WesternUalumni at the CSHP Dinner; Dr. Steven Gray, Chairman of the Dean’s Advisory Council; Maximillian Jahng, PharmD ’09, Amy Trieu, PharmD ’14, and Johnson Hung, PharmD ’16;Joanne Tuquero, Hong Duong, Cecilia Nguyen, Oanh Trinh, and Vincent Ly, all PharmD ’10; Nancy Nguyen, PharmD ’02, Ryan de Guzman, PharmD ’01, and Hamideh Tavakoli-Ahmady, PharmD ’00. (Below) ASHP Reception in Orlando, Florida: Keri Hurley, PharmD, Community Pharmacy Practice Resident, Janet Shin, PharmD ’15, Salpi Yaghoubian,PharmD ’13, Dr. Olivia Phung, Eva Levbarg, PharmD ’15, Catherine Van, PharmD ’15 and Juanqi Zhu, PharmD ’14; Keri Hurley, Salpi Yaghoubian, PharmD ’13, Dr. CynthiaJackevicius, Castor Phan, PharmD ’13, and Aida Oganesyan, ’13.


Join us in March for the WesternU College of Pharmacy Scholarship Golf Classic. To register please visit:

www.westernu.edu/scholarship-golf-classic/

CSHP SeminarBy Sam Shimomura, PharmD, Associate Dean, College of Pharmacy

WesternU was well represented at the CSHP Seminar ’13 at the Disneyland Hotel,October 31 to November 3, 2013. WesternU’s presence in the Exhibit Hall allowedus to reach out to our alumni, preceptors, donors, students, prospective students andprospective residents. We were able to promote our Scholarship Golf Tournamentand Sterile Compounding continuing education program, recruit rotation sites andpreceptors and thank our many friends for their continued support.

The WesternU CSHP Student Chapter was represented by delegates Jennifer Ito,Maira Khan, Purvi Vira and Kjersti Rich. Faculty members in the House of Delegatesincluded Drs. James Scott, Patrick Chan, Mark Nguyen and Sam Shimomura.

Alumna Nancy Nguyen, PharmD, BCPS, AAHIVP and Cynthia Huang, PharmD,MBA were recognized as 2013 CSHP Fellows and student pharmacist Eva Levbargreceived the CSHP Student Leadership Award.

CSHP Dinner, 2013By Bill Burrows, Director of Development, College of PharmacyOn Friday evening, November 1st, Dean Robinson hosted a wonderful dinner forclose to 200 WesternU College of Pharmacy alumni, students, preceptors, facultyand friends attending the 2013 CSHP conference in Anaheim, California. Everyonemet at the Naples Ristorante e Pizzeria in Downtown Disney, where College ofPharmacy staff had some great thank you giveaways and a terrific slide show ofnews and updates on WesternU waiting for them, in addition to a delicious meal. Agreat time was had by all, and there was some productive career networkingaccomplished as well as many happy reunions.

Please keep your eye on our email updates, website, and facebook page for the datesof our next alumni and friends gatherings. We’d love to see you and reconnect!

ASHP ReceptionBy Renee Cook, Manager of Continuing Education and Events

On December 8, 2013, the WesternU College of Pharmacy hosted a dessert receptionin the suite on the 22nd floor at the Hyatt Orlando (formerly the Peabody). Over 60alumni, students, residents, faculty, preceptors, staff, Dean’s Advisory Councilmembers and friends of the college attended the event, and there were many happyreunions as well as new introductions made. Overall, a great time was had by all.

(Above) CSHP Exhibit Hall: WesternU students JanetShin and Catherine Van, both PharmD ’15.

(Above) Nam Cho, Ian Rojas, Julie Hoang, and RonaldArmando, all PharmD ’12, with Dean Robinson; DionneZuniga and Lisa Kalajian, both PharmD ’10

(Below) Dr. Steven Choy, Dr. Patricia Gray, and Mathew Rim, PharmD ’11


NCPANational Community Pharmacists Association

By Kayla Uh, PharmD ’16

The NCPA chapter at WesternU has put continuous effort toinform the membership of the changing aspects of communitypharmacy practice with emphasis on independent pharmacyownership. Due to SB493 their will be exciting changes incommunity pharmacy practice. WesternU NCPA chapter isplanning to hold a legislative event that will help students tobetter understand the impact of SB493 as future communitypharmacists.

NCPA also will continue to connect the members to pharmacypractice beyond the physical walls of curriculum educationthrough guest dinners and internships. Guest dinners allowour members to discuss openly concerns about pharmacyownership with current independent pharmacy owners. Inaddition, the hands-on experience with an independentpharmacy internship allows our members to get a taste of reallife practice.

As in providing excellent healthcare, it requires more than justone healthcare professional. Opening a pharmacy successfullyrequires more than just being a pharmacist. To help ourmembers gauge what it takes to open a pharmacy, NCPAfeatures guest lecturers from major stakeholders like Cardinal

Health to speak about what they do to help pharmacists toopen a pharmacy successfully.

NCPA’s 115th Annual Convention was held in Orlando,Florida from October 12th to October 17th. Our businessplan submitted for The Good Neighbor Pharmacy NCPAPruitt-Schutte Student Business Plan Competition waspresented at the convention. Members who attended thenational convention represented WesternU and had theopportunity to network with colleagues.

Please visit: www.westernuncpa.com

Rho Chi SocietyGamma Sigma Chapter

By Danny Tang, PharmD ’15

The Rho Chi Society annually celebrates the extraordinarycontributions and innovations of the educators in academicpharmacy. In doing so, we hope to inspire students to explorecareers in academia as well as celebrate our professors. Forour Gamma Sigma chapter, the Educator Week Committee,led by Cindy La (Secretary), chose a Hollywood theme, whichwas used to highlight and celebrate academia during themonth of November. We put the spotlight on academia byhosting our annual “Educator Panel” on November 7th andour 1st annual “Access Academia” on November 14th.

Students inHonors, Clubs & EventsAction

NCPA hosts guest speaker: Richard Tran, PharmD ’16, Maryam Nikravesh, PharmD ’15, William Lopez, PharmD ’16, Dr. Hrach Yousefian, Kayla Uh, PharmD ’16, (back) CoreyEdwards, PharmD ’15, Judy Ha, PharmD ’16, Qian Ru Jiang, PharmD ’16, Jennifer Lau, PharmD ’16, and Jonathan Zhao, PharmD ’16.

13

The “Educator Panel” featured five College of Pharmacyprofessors who told their stories of their paths to academicpharmacy and answered questions from audience members,which comprised of first, second and third year studentpharmacists. This provided students a look into what inspiredtheir professors, what it takes to become an educator, as wellas many other topics related to academia and pharmacy. The“Access Academia” event was a roundtable format featuringnine COP professors. This event gave students a chance tospeak with our professors on a more intimate level. Inaddition to educating students on academia, it also gave thema chance to get to know their professors. Ultimately, bothevents offered a unique look into the dynamic world ofacademia and all the contributions that our educators make tothe profession.

Please visit: rhochigammasigma.westernu.edu/home

Phi Lambda SigmaGamma Nu Chapter

By Jeff Dai, PharmD ’15

The Gamma Nu Chapter of Phi Lambda Sigma started thesemester with events focusing on student involvement,professionalism, and leadership development. We invited theClass of 2017 to network with our returning students duringour 3rd Annual Club Mixer. The event garneredrepresentation from pharmacy organizations and attendanceby 128 students and faculty! A week later was our 2ndAnnual “Dress for Success” event where PLS members took tothe catwalk and showcased attire suitable for conferences andhealth fairs. That weekend, we held our 7th AnnualLeadership Retreat where our keynote speaker, Nancy A.Alvarez, PharmD, BCPS, FAPhA, treated 50 students to apersonal and interactive workshop on “quiet leadership.” Allattendees also attended workshops on networking, CVbuilding, and team building.

For November, we celebrated the addition of 16 initiates andone faculty member during our Annual Induction Banquet.We are also in the middle of our Annual Target Casecompetition where teams develop and present a business planin hopes of winning a $4000 scholarship.

Please visit: www.westernupls.com

Photos from top to bottom: Rho Chi Educator Panel featuring WesternU College ofPharmacy faculty, Dr. David Pham, Dr. Anne Kugler, Dr. James Scott, Dr. Patrick Chanand Dr. Eric Gupta; Rho Chi Access Academia roundtable — Dr. Eunice Chung JennyLee, PharmD ’15, and Stephen Kang, PharmD ’14; Phi Lambda Sigma Leadership Retreat— Dr. Nancy Alvarez; Pharmacy Mixer presented by Phi Lambda Sigma — ChristinaSong, PharmD ’16, Stephanie Wu, PharmD ’14, and Maureen Ngo, PharmD ’15.


ASHP-CSHPCalifornia Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists

CSHP - SeminarBy Ranjit Sidhu, PharmD ’15, and Vincent Duong, PharmD ’15

This year’s seminar was held at Disneyland from October 31,2013 through November 3, 2013, with a theme: Driving theFuture of Healthcare. CSHP WesternU chapter had someoutstanding highlights as well. Our team of two P3s, JanetShin and Catherine Van, participated in the Clinical SkillsCompetition. The WesternU quiz bowl team placed 2ndamong all the California schools. In addition, our chapter wasawarded the Chapter of Distinction Award, as well as theGreatest Percentage of Growth in recruiting and retainingmembers. Our chapter was allotted 4 delegates: Jennifer Ito(P3), Purvi Vira (P2), Kjersti Rich (P1), and Maira Khan (P1).

CSHP - Residency ShowcaseBy Vincent Duong, PharmD ’15

On September 13, 2013, WesternU’s CSHP chapter hosted ourlargest student event on campus. The residency showcasebrings together residency programs from all around SouthernCalifornia., There was a record number of over 25 residencysites and 40 residency programs that attended! As studentsvisited each booth, the residents and residency directors wereable to provide more insight on what they offer at theirrespective sites. Thank you to RxPrep for sponsoring this year!

CSHP - Residency RoundtableBy Ranjit Sidhu, PharmD ’15

On September 11, 2013, WesternU’s CSHP chapter hosted ourannual Residency Roundtable. This event is an informationalsession on the logistics of residency programs, which had 9residents and over 60 students participate. The purpose is tohave the residents emphasize the importance of involvementon campus and at local pharmacy associations as a way tostrengthen your candidacy profile. Roundtable discussionsincluded: a day in the life of a PGY1 or PGY2 resident,interviewing for residencies, researching and selecting aresidency program, and potential career options.

Please visit: westernucshp.comPhoto top: (Top Row, left to right) Brandon Samson, PharmD ’16, Catherine Van, PharmD ’15,Diana Nguyen, PharmD ’15, Janet Shin, PharmD ’15, Ilene Dominguez, PharmD ’16, DavidChu, PharmD ’16, Aneeka Irshad, PharmD ’16, Vanessa Diaz, PharmD ’15, Johnson Hung,PharmD ’16, John Flores, PharmD ’15, Ranjit Sidhu, PharmD ’15, Thomas Schuetz, PharmD’15, Brian Lee, PharmD ’15, Sora Yoon, PharmD ’15, Stephen Kang, PharmD ’14, VincentDuong, PharmD ’15; (Bottom Row, left to right) Stephanie Chau, PharmD ’16, Kitty Huynh,PharmD ’15, Jaspreet Dogra, PharmD ’15, Jennifer Ito, PharmD ’15, Maureen Ngo, PharmD’15, Stephanie Ho, PharmD ’17, Carol Quach, PharmD ’17, Sarah Kim, PharmD ’15, JennyLee, PharmD ’15, Suluck Chaturabul, PharmD ’15, and Adrian Lee, PharmD ’14.

Middle: Residency Showcase in HPC atrium.

Bottom: Residency Roundtable. Ranjit Sidhu, PharmD ’15, Nasim Rejali, PharmD ’16, JoonHwang, PharmD ’15, Dina Hoang, PharmD ’13 and Resident, Yudif Alieva, PharmD ’13 andResident, Sarah Hernandez, PharmD ’15, Jeff Fajardo, PharmD ’15.


APhA-ASPThe American Pharmacists Association Academy ofStudent Pharmacists

By Jessel Villegas, PharmD ’17

Senate Bill 493 was signed into law by Governor Brown onOctober 1, 2013, and the WesternU Chapter of APhA-ASP/CPhA celebrated by gearing our annual Appetite forAdvocacy series towards the success of the bill. The two-partseries began with our very own Dean Daniel Robinsonspeaking to our members about the amount of effort it tookto make pharmacist provider status a reality. Over 120 of ourmembers learned that the road to SB-493 was a lengthy one,where our victory was the result of the consistent and unitedsupport of Senator Ed Hernandez, lobbyists, pharmacists,student pharmacists, and other advocates of the pharmacyprofession.

The following segment of our series featured Dr. Patricia Gray,speaking about what SB-493 means for our members as futurepharmacists. Our members are now more well-informed as tothe extra steps needed to achieve pharmacy provider status,something that may even be possible for the upcominggraduate class. The WesternU Chapter of APhA-ASP/CPhAaims to provide our members with further resources regardingadvanced practice pharmacy, hoping to aid members inachieving excellence in their future endeavors within thepharmacy profession.

Please visit: aphaaspwesternu.org

Photo middle: Patricia Gray, PharmD.

Bottom left to right: Stephen Chou, PharmD ’16, Kamran Mahramzadeh, PharmD ’16,Nektar Hakopian, PharmD ’16, Jennifer Rafalski, PharmD ’16, Dean Daniel Robinson,John Flores, PharmD ’15, Stephanie Chau, PharmD ’16, Teresa Pak, PharmD ’16, DaisyRivera, PharmD ’16.

CAPSLEADBy Kayla Y. Uh, PharmD ’16

The 2013 WesternU CAPSLEAD team members, SarahHernandez, Kitty Huynh, Maureen Ngo, Kayla Uh, AmyVanmali, Purvi Vira, Livia Wang, and David Yang workedtogether to research, analyze data, and put together a posterfor CSHP seminar.

Our research was titled “Intern pharmacists and the standardsplaced upon their employers, are they rigorous enough?”Faculty advisors Drs. Eric Gupta, Karl Hess, Janice Hoffman,and Olivia Phung provided valuable guidance and feedbackthroughout the project to direct our research the right way.

The CAPSLEAD team presented the poster at the CSHPSeminar in November 2013 and has submitted the abstract forreview to present at CPhA conference in April.


Career Day / Job FairBy Mark A. Iannuzzo, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs

The College of Pharmacy hosted its annual Career Day onNovember 5, 2013. Career Day provides students anopportunity to speak with prospective employers about internand future career opportunities. There were severalparticipating companies that had table-top displays whichallowed students to visit with all the representatives on aninformal basis. This year’s participants included:Albertsons/Sav-on, CVS Caremark, Kaiser Permanente,Phoenix Indian Medical Center, Rite Aid, Rx Relief, Target, Vons/Safeway, Walgreens, Walmart andWesternU. On January 31, 2014, the fourth-year students hadthe opportunity to participate in the college’s annual Job Fairat WesternU. Interviews were set-up through the college’sOffice for Student Services. For more information aboutfuture career events, please contact Mark Iannuzzo at 909-469-5507 or [email protected].

AMCPAcademy of Managed Care Pharmacy

By Shana Barkhordari, PharmD ’17

As 2013 came to a close, WesternU’s Academy of ManagedCare Pharmacy (AMCP) Student Chapter hosted a series ofsix Medicare Part D and Medication Therapy ManagementHealth Fairs between November and December. Studentpharmacists assisted patients hoping to enroll in or changetheir current Medicare Part D insurance. The goal was to takethe confusion out of health plans and guide patients to findthe most cost-effective plan tailored to each individual,ensuring that all their current medications would be covered.Students also conducted medication reviews with patients,explaining the importance of each drug and offering

recommendations when appropriate. Overall, the event was atremendous success with patients taking control of theirhealth plans and gaining a better understanding of themedications they were taking, while student pharmacists notonly walked away gaining patient care skills, but alsoexperienced first-hand how great it felt to make a positivedifference in the lives of these patients.

Kappa PsiBy Stephen Chou, PharmD ’16

For Kappa Psi, the start of the school year is usually a time forall of our Brothers to reunite and to put forth a collaborativeeffort to give back to the community. We started off theschool year by participating and fundraising for the annualLight the Night Walk put together by the Leukemia andLymphoma Society. We had over 100 WesternU studentsparticipate in the walk and we’re proud to announce that wewere able donate $5,089.27. This shows that WesternUstudents are not only brilliant, but also compassionatetowards helping others and truly living up to humanismideology of the campus.

Kappa Psi was also able to continue our “Let’s Move”initiative that we started last year. The “Let’s Move” initiativeinvolves us reaching out to the local elementary schools inPomona so we can give presentations to the students on alarge variety of topics related to their health, such as theimportance of an active lifestyle. We believe that an ounce ofprevention is worth a pound of cure, so by educating thechildren on lifestyle modifications now, we can prevent biggerproblems from arising in their future. Furthermore, weprovided a tutoring session for all the children. We had a greattime mentoring the children, and we hope to expand ouroutreach to more elementary schools.

Please visit: www.kyepsilongamma.com

AMCP Medicare Part D and Medication Therapy Management Health Fair.WesternU College of Pharmacy Career Day in the HPC atrium.


Humanism in the Health SciencesBy Brandon Samson, PharmD ’16, President, Lambda & Friends, Editor-In-Chief, Humanism Magazine, Student Ambassador, Operation Education

Over the years, Humanism in the Health Sciences magazine has served as aspringboard for students, faculty and staff of the WesternU College of Pharmacy toexercise their creativity and personal expression in a variety of artistic forms:essays, short stories, poetry, artwork and photography. In defining excellence, theCollege of Pharmacy has shown in past issues that there’s more to being ahealthcare professional than the facts taught in the classroom. This year’s theme forHumanism in the Health Sciences is “Pulse of Life.” This issue will be exploringinspiration from many sources, including people (family, friends or role models),visual things (beauty in art, nature or photography), abstract ideas (the complexityof disease), or physical surroundings (where we’ve traveled or what we see in oureveryday lives). At its most naked form, the theme asks how inspiration exists tohelp give our life movement and purpose. So, I encourage you to take the time toread one of our past issues, and to take the chance to explore your artistic sidewith a submission for this issue too.

Please visit: www.westernu.edu/communications/communications-media/

Photo by David Nguyen, PharmD ’12; Published in Humanism in the Health Sciences, Vol 13, 2010, pg. 51


Partners in Excellence:Preceptor & AlumnaMentoring is a Defining Moment of Success for Bi-Rite PharmacyOwner I.R. PatelBy Jeff Malet, Writer/Photographer

If it weren’t for the mentoring from a fellow pharmacy ownernearly 19 years ago, Bi-Rite Pharmacy owner I.R. Patel, RPh,wouldn’t be the proud and successful owner of theindependent community pharmacy in La Habra, Calif.

A graduate of Manipal University School of Pharmacy inManipal, India, Patel has worked in and managed threedifferent pharmacies over the course of his professional career,including Sav-On Drugs, Alliance Medical Equipment &Respiratory Pharmacy, and Bi-Rite Quality Pharmacy.

Patel learned a lot about customer service while working atSav-On Drugs, but did not gain the acumen for the businessside of running his own pharmacy. Instead, it was a friend anda pharmacy owner who guided him in purchasing Bi-RitePharmacy, and Patel says that after becoming an ownerhimself, he knew that he wanted to help others the same wayhe was helped.

“If I’m successful, I need to make sure others are successful,”Patel said, “The students are our next generation. If the nextgeneration is successful, we’ll be very successful. Therefore,that is how I got involved with the students.”

“The students are our next generation. If the next generation is successful,we’ll be very successful.”


Patel also takes pride in helping friends form their ownpharmacy. He tells everyone, including students, that the keyto a successful pharmacy is being a preceptor.

“You need to have one-on-one contact with the students,”Patel said. “Simply giving a lecture once or twice a yeardoesn’t connect you with the students. You need to be therefor them. This is where I think each pharmacist needs to bringa student under his or her wing and teach our profession.”

WesternU College of Pharmacy alumna Anna Tran, PharmD’12, is one such student to be mentored by Patel. As a fourth-year student pharmacist in 2011, she did a rotation throughPrescribe Wellness doing Medication Therapy Management(MTM).

Patel said she would sit in his office counseling a patient fornearly an hour, and he would swoop in for the last 10 minutesand work with the patient.

“For me it was a win-win situation,” Patel said. “I could nothave done it on my own. Western University of HealthSciences’ College of Pharmacy taught these (MTM) tools tothe students. Anna has given me so many tips. I could nothave learned those things without her.”

Patel was very impressed with Tran. They kept in touch witheach other and when he had a job opening, he called her. Tranhas been working there now for about eight months.

Tran said Patel is a great preceptor as well as a great boss.

“He really enjoys teaching and he gives us the opportunity tolearn and apply a lot of things,” Tran said. “I feel I have sucha great advantage because he’s such an accomplished anddistinguished individual and a great pharmacist.”

Patel praises Anna as bright and friendly, and because she dida rotation in the pharmacy, he knew she was a goodpharmacist.

“The way we work together, sometimes there will be like fouror five patients, I see she has the tools like me,” Patel said. “Itold her never to think of me as the owner, think of me asyour co-pharmacist, thinks of me as your friend.”

Patel is on the Indian Pharmacists Association (IPA) AdvisoryBoard and is Past President of the association. He helpedestablish the IPA Endowed Scholarship Fund for the studentsof the WesternU College of Pharmacy, and received theNARD™ Ownership Award from the National CommunityPharmacists Association (NCPA) Foundation, presented atNCPA’s 115th Annual Convention and Trade Exposition thispast October, 2013 in Orlando, Florida.

The NARD Ownership Award, now in its second year,recognizes an independent pharmacist who embraces theentrepreneurial spirit through promotion and demonstratedexcellence in the field of community pharmacy ownership.The award is inspired by the legacy of NARD, which was, fornearly 100 years, the name associated with independentpharmacy.

Patel has owned the Bi-Rite Quality Pharmacy in La Habra,Calif. since 1995. During those 18 years, Patel has developeda successful front-end business with a number of hard-to-findremedies as well as niche services, including durable medicalequipment and long-term care.

Below: Dr. Patel receives the NARD™ Ownership Award from the National CommunityPharmacists Association (NCPA) Foundation, presented at NCPA’s 115th AnnualConvention and Trade Exposition this past October, 2013 in Orlando, Florida.

The NARD Ownership Award,now in its second year,

recognizes an independentpharmacist who embraces theentrepreneurial spirit throughpromotion and demonstrated

excellence in the field ofcommunity pharmacy ownership.


A unique relationship has formed between an independentClaremont pharmacy and the College of Pharmacy at WesternUniversity of Health Sciences.

It started about eight years ago, when College of Pharmacyfaculty member Dr. Karl Hess met Hendricks Pharmacy ownerDr. Brian Garner at Village Venture, a popular Halloween-themed fair in Claremont. Garner had a health-screeningbooth at the fair.

That meeting developed into Garner housing the InternationalTravel Clinic in the pharmacy, as well as being a preceptor toas many as 20 College of Pharmacy students per year, asteward to the College, and funding an endowed scholarshipin his name.

“The relationship has worked out great,” Garner said. “I’vegone from pharmacy student at USC to a pharmacist andpreceptor now myself, and over the years I’ve seen how therelationship works. It’s a great learning experience for thestudents, and it helps out the pharmacy.”

Being at Hendricks Pharmacy is aunique situation because of theflexibility it offers for studentsand for the pharmacy itself, saidHess, director of the travel clinic,an Associate Professor ofPharmacy Practice andAdministration, and director ofthe Community PharmacyResidency Training Program atWesternU’s College of Pharmacy.

“Having students here to help thepharmacy out certainly helps.They get experience, both in thedespensing pharmacy as well asin our travel health clinic, andthey get it from an independentpharmacy perspective. When theygo out to practice on their own,they can take some of thoseexperiences and ideas with them

to help map out what their career might be,” Hess said.

The pharmacy offers the standard filling of prescriptions andseveral other services for customers, including the travel clinic,vaccines, flu shots, cholesterol testing, blood glucose testingand lung testing.

Hess and Garner have also now included Medication TherapyManagement (MTM) into their clinic services.

With Gov. Jerry Brown signing into law California’spharmacist provider status bill (SB-493), Hess and Garner saywhat they can do as pharmacists has broadened, creating amore comprehensive service for customers.

Partners in Excellence:Preceptor & FacultyClaremont’s Hendricks Pharmacyand College of PharmacyImplement Comprehensive ClinicalServices for the CommunityBy Jeff Malet, Writer/Photographer

Below l-r: Dr. Karl Hess and Dr. Brian Garner. Map of the International Travel Clinic patients served.


COP AND CSUF linkage agreementBy Jeff Malet, Writer/Photographer

In November 2013, Western University of Health Sciences’College of Pharmacy and College of Optometry signed linkageagreements with California State University, Fullerton,creating an Early Admission Program (EAP).

“The linkage agreement with California State University,Fullerton is an important step in our efforts to create earlyassurance programs with important minority-servingacademic partners,” said College of Pharmacy Dean DanielRobinson, PharmD. “CSUF has a strong commitment todiversity, which aligns perfectly with our interest in attractingstudents with diverse backgrounds into the health professions.This linkage has special significance to me, since I am a proudgraduate of CSUF.”

Cal State Fullerton students must spend at least one year inthe linkage program to become familiar with WesternU.Typically, students would enter the program in their junioryear after completing required courses at Cal State Fullerton,and would be admitted to the EAP by the respective collegeadmissions committee. They will spend time on WesternU’scampus and work closely with WesternU students and faculty.

“So that means when they come on campus (as WesternUstudents), they’re already very comfortable with campus,”said Christina Goode, PhD, Cal State Fullerton Professor ofBiochemistry and Director of Health Professions Program,and WesternU Adjunct Professor. “They tend to take a lead intheir class.”

The linkage program provides WesternU colleges with adiverse group of students.

“We specifically target groups of students who are under-represented minorities, financially or socially disadvantaged,and students who have demonstrated a willingness to workwith disadvantaged populations,” Goode said.

Cal State Fullerton also has linkage agreements withWesternU’s College of Podiatric Medicine and the College ofOsteopathic Medicine of the Pacific. Below left to right: WesternU Founding President Philip Pumerantz, PhD, Associate ViceProvost for Academic Development Elizabeth Rega, PhD, WesternU College ofPharmacy Vice Dean of Academic Diversity and Development Jesse Martinez, PharmD,WesternU Provost and Chief Operating Officer Gary Gugelchuk, PhD, CSUF Provostand Vice President for Academic Affairs José Luis Cruz, PhD, WesternU College ofPharmacy Dean Daniel Robinson, PharmD, and Christina Goode, Director of theHealth Professions Advising Office, Cal State Fullerton.

“CSUF has a strong commitment to diversity, which aligns perfectly with ourinterest in attracting students with diverse backgrounds into the health professions.”


WesternU’s “A Tribute to Caring” galaon Nov. 9, 2013 brought more than550 guests together at the DisneylandHotel in Anaheim to raise money forstudent scholarships.

The theme of “Fire and Ice” wasreflected in everything from the tablecenterpieces to the raffle prizes to thedessert, but the word that resonatedthrough the evening was “caring.” Bothaward recipients reflected on themeaning of that word in their movingand inspiring speeches.

InnovaCare Inc. President and ChiefExecutive Officer Richard Shinto, MD,MBA, received WesternU’s Access toCaring Award, given to a person whohas made a difference in advancinghealth care access and availability tounderserved people. InnovaCare HealthSolutions is a leading provider ofmanaged health care services in NorthAmerica.

Rudolf L. Brutoco, MD, MPH, receivedWesternU’s highest award, the ElieWiesel Humanism in Healing Award.Named for Nobel Laureate andHolocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, theaward is presented to individuals whobest represent the philosophy andvalues of the university and haveactively incorporated them toward thebetterment of the human condition.

WesternU students in attendance werethankful for the chance to attend ATC,and for the university’s efforts in raisingmoney for scholarships. Many of theWesternU College of Pharmacy faculty,staff, Dean’s Advisory Council membersand preceptors were generous donors,and contributed to the evening’sfestivities as well.

WesternU thanks its Silver Sponsors thisyear: AHMC Healthcare, Inc.,AmerisourceBergen/Good NeighborPharmacy, Sheraton Fairplex, and WellsFargo Bank.

Western University of HealthSciences’ annual gala fundraiserhighlighted the power andimportance of caringBy Rodney Tanaka, Senior Communications Writer

Top: Rudolf L. Brutoco, MD, MPH, receives WesternU’shighest award, the Elie Wiesel Humanism in HealingAward. Inset: Richard Shinto, MD, MBA, receivesWesternU’s Access to Caring Award from PhilipPumerantz, PhD, President, Western University ofHealth Sciences, and Stephanie Bowlin, EdD, PA, Deanof the College of Allied Health Professions.


Thank you College ofPharmacy faculty & staffwho made gifts to A Tribute to Caring 2013

Bill Burrows

Arezoo Campbell

Moses Chow

Mark Goggin

Mark Iannuzzo

Fadi Khasawneh

Maria Lambros

Anandi Law

Jesse Martinez

David Min

Rudy Mireles

Megan Nguyen

Steve O’Barr

Sunil Prabhu

Dan Robinson

Jim Scott

Sam Shimomura

Left to right, top to bottom: Tim Gill Orchestra; Eva Levbarg, PharmD ’14, and her husband Adam; Vy Nichols and Dr. Steven Gray; Jackie and Dan Robinson; Dr. Rudy Mireles and his wifeGracie; Brian Scott Campbell, Dr. Sam Shimomura, Dr. Arezoo Campbell; Jesse Jittrikawiphol, DO ’16, Duy Nguyen, DO ’15, Brandon Samson, PharmD ’16, and Dr. James Scott.


Dr. Ken Thai toestablish a legacywith $25,000Endowment

This past September, 2013, onbehalf of the WesternU Collegeof Pharmacy, Dean Robinsonproudly accepted Dr. Ken Thai’s$25,000 pledge to endow the Dr. Khanh-Long Thai EndowedScholarship Fund. The College

of Pharmacy seeks to recognize Dr. Thai for his tireless effortsand contributions to the field of pharmacy, the communitieshe serves and all of the student pharmacists who have beenimpacted by his leadership, mentorship and philanthropy.

The Dr. Khanh-Long Thai Endowed Scholarship Fund willestablish a fund to provide scholarship support foroutstanding WesternU College of Pharmacy studentpharmacists who wish to consider pursuing a career incommunity pharmacy practice. Student pharmacists whoreceive the Dr. Khanh-Long Thai Endowed Scholarship Fundwill be named each academic year by the Dean of theWesternU College of Pharmacy, and will be recognized atHonors Day.

Ken Thai, PharmD, is the Chief Executive Officer of K&BAssociates, Inc., and is the owner of El Monte Pharmacy in El Monte, California. Dr. Thai is also the PharmacyAdministrator for Partner Healthcare, Inc., is Board of Trusteemember of the California Pharmacists Association, and is anactive leader in the San Gabriel Valley PharmacistsAssociation. Dr. Thai is an Adjunct Assistant Professor ofClinical Pharmacy Practice at the USC School of Pharmacy,and is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice atthe WesternU College of Pharmacy as well. He has also been apreceptor for WesternU student pharmacists for many years,providing invaluable, real-world experience for studentsinterested in independent community pharmacy.

THE GIVING CENTERNews, notes and giving to the College of Pharmacy

Photo: Jenni Paynter, PharmD, Walgreens Pharmacy Supervisor, Dean Daniel Robinson,Sepi Soleimanpour, RPh, MBA, Walgreens Market Pharmacy Director, and Robert Lee,RPh, Walgreens Pharmacy Supervisor

Walgreens donates $50,000 insupport of Diversity & OutreachPrograms and Initiatives at theCollege of Pharmacy

On December 20th, 2013, Dean Robinson and hisDevelopment Team of Sam Shimomura, PharmD, JesseMartinez, PharmD and Bill Burrows shared lunch withrepresentatives of Walgreens at PF Chang’s in Chino Hills tocelebrate Walgreens’ recent gift of $50,000 in support ofDiversity & Outreach programs at the WesternU College ofPharmacy. Dean Robinson has worked closely over the lastyear with Walgreens corporate office representatives, ErinMeeker, PharmD, former Manager of Pharmacy CampusRelations, and Maureen Reim, Director of Talent Acquisition,in putting together this new level of partnership support forthe College of Pharmacy. Robert Lee, RPh, PharmacySupervisor for Walgreens Southern California East, was joinedby Jenni Paytner, PharmD, Pharmacy Supervisor, WalgreensCalifornia Inland East and Sepi Soleimanpour, RPh, MBA,Walgreens Market Pharmacy Director, to celebrate this greatnews with Dean Robinson in person. Walgreens continues tobe a significant partner for the College of Pharmacy, and isalso supporting our 2nd annual, WesternU College ofPharmacy Scholarship Golf Tournament. Walgreens has alsobeen a sponsor of the annual Student Leadership Retreat,Diversity Scholarships, the Dean’s Welcome Back Dinner andCommencement Banquet as well.


Gifts from Corporate andAssociation Partners• $63,100 from Walgreens

• $19,600 from Albertsons

• $17,500 from AmerisourceBergen/Good Neighbor Pharmacy

• $15,000 from Daiichi Sankyo, Inc.

• $10,000 from OptumRx

• $6,000 from CVS

• $6,000 from McKesson

• $5,600 from Target

• $5,000 from Brian Garner, PharmD(The Dr. Brian Garner Scholarship)

• $5,000 from Alcon Labs

• $5,000 from Ken Thai, PharmD (Dr.Khanh-Long Thai ScholarshipEndowment)

• $5000 from the California KoreanAmerican Pharmacists Association(CKAPhA Scholarship EndowmentFund)

• $4,100 from Rite Aid

• $4,000 from Merck & Co. Inc.

• $3,600 from Vons/Safeway

• $2000 from HD Smith

• $2,000 from RxPrep

• $1000 from the VietnamesePharmacists Association in the USA(VPhA in the USA)

• $1,000 from K&B PharmacyAssociates

• $500 from Bi-Rite Pharmacy (IRPatel, RPh, owner)

Alumni Donors

Giang Nguyen, PharmD ’01

Luis Aguilar, PharmD ’00

Sally Shin, PharmD ’08

Joanne Tuquero, PharmD ’10

Tzu-Chi Hsu, PharmD ’10

Sandra Chan, PharmD ’02

Reagan Lee, PharmD ’05

Bony Kari, PharmD ’05

Su-Fen Chen, PharmD ’08

Alan Lu, PharmD ’12

Afsoon Javaherian, PharmD ’01

Stacy Yang, PharmD ’09

Kyung Sig Choi, PharmD ’06

Friends & Family• Max Ray, PharmD (Dean Emeritus,WesternU College of Pharmacy)

• Janice Hoffman, PharmD, AssociateProfessor of Pharmacy Practice andAdministration

• Joel Weber, PharmD (member of theCollege of Pharmacy Dean’sAdvisory Council)

• Ray Yutani, PharmD, DO (memberof the College of Pharmacy Dean’sAdvisory Council)

• Thomas Saito, PharmD

• Rampart Pharmacies, Inc.

• Kwooey Won (parent)

Mike QuickRetirement DinnerOn Wednesday, December 4th,Dean Robinson hosted a smallthank you dinner in Pasadena inhonor of Mike Quick’s many yearsof dedicated service and support ofthe pharmacy industry. Mike is along-time member of theWesternU Board of Trustees, andwas instrumental in helping tocreate the pharmacy in our on-campus Primary Care Center fouryears ago. Mike also hosted theannual GNP/ICP Scholarship GolfClassic tournament for ten years, atournament that raised over$1,000,000 in scholarships forstudent pharmacists at USC andthe WesternU College of Pharmacy.His generosity and passion insupport of community pharmacyhelped shape the lives of manypharmacists over the years, and weare so thankful for his efforts. Mikeand his wife Jackie were joined byDean Robinson and his wife Jackie,as well as Dr. Tom Fox, Senior VicePresident and other College ofPharmacy faculty members.

Generous Support for WesternU College ofPharmacy Scholarships & Student ProgramsJuly ’13 – December ’13Thanks to our corporate and association partners, and to the alumni, friends andfamily donors for their continued support of the many scholarships, programsand initiatives that enrich the educational experience for our incredible WesternUCollege of Pharmacy student pharmacists. We are truly grateful!


Above: Maximizing the Opportunities for learning on Pharmacy Practice Experiences,July 2013 in Universal City, California. Speaker Patrick Chan, PharmD, PhD, AssistantProfessor of Pharmacy Practice and Administration, WesternU College of Pharmacy.

The Office of Experiential EducationImproving patient care by optimizing the clinical training of student pharmacists

On-site Continuing EducationWesternU College of Pharmacy Office of ExperientialEducation (OEE) can provide on-site CE preceptordevelopment programs for many of our clinical sites. If youbring ten or more pharmacists together for a CE (lunch ordinner), then we will come to you to provide the CE creditfocused on improving the skills involved with preceptingstudents on clinical rotations. Contact the OEE for moreinformation about these programs if you are interested.

Rotations Fair 2013 On October 24th, 2013, the WesternU College of Pharmacy,Office of Experiential Education held its 4th annualRotations Fair. The purpose of this event is to provide thirdyear students an opportunity to meet with key preceptorsand managers prior to the selection of their rotations.

Over thirty rotations sites participated this year. Studentswere able to receive information and discuss the rotationwith preceptors. We are so grateful for the time ourpreceptors devote to the educational process to help ourstudents get the most out of their clinical rotations.

Preceptor Development The Office of Experiential Education continues to hostpreceptor development programs for our preceptors andother local organizations. Recently, Maximizing theOpportunities for Learning on Pharmacy PracticeExperiences was presented in July at Universal City incollaboration with the San Fernando Valley Society ofHealth-Systems Pharmacists, August in Tustin incollaboration with the Orange County Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists and October in San Diego incollaboration with the San Diego Society of Health-SystemPharmacists and the San Diego County PharmacistAssociations. In all, over 300 pharmacists attended theselive programs, which offered two hours of ACPE approvedCE credits. We will continue to provide programs in 2014with topics such as Patient Counseling, ImmunizationCertification and Evaluating Students. Watch for theannouncement on your E*Value homepage or through youremail. We look forward to seeing you there!

Contact Us:Western University of Health Sciences College of PharmacyOffice of Experiential Education309 E 2nd Street, HPC 203Pomona, CA 91766Email: [email protected]: (909) 469-5517

www.westernu.edu/pharmacy-oee


The WesternU OEE offers a variety ofresources to help our preceptors becomebetter mentors.

Online Preceptor DevelopmentContinuing Education‹ Pharmacist’s Letter Preceptor

Training and Resource Network

‹ Collaborative Education Institute(accessible through www.e-value.net)

‹ Scholar’s Experiential Educationteaching module

‹ Hospital Pharmacist Monthly• 80-minute Audio ProgramsDownloadable as an MP-3 Format

• Updates on MedicationManagement RegulatoryStandards

• Promoting the Role of the ChiefPharmacy Officer

• Medication Safety Tips and Pitfalls• In the News — Articles of Interest• Establishing Medication ClinicalGuidelines

• Sentinel Event Alerts• FDA MedWatch Alerts and BlackBox Updates

• Updates to the Federal 340B DrugPricing Program

• Tips for Increasing PharmacyOperational Efficiency

• Interviews with Experts andNewsmakers

• Pharmacy Technology andInformatics

• Tools for Managing thePharmaceutical Budget

‹ University library access, includingaccess drug information resourcesand clinical research portals (uponappointment of a clinical facultyappointment)

For more information on any of thesepreceptor tools, contact the OEE Office.

Contemporary CompoundingIntensive CE Certificate Course

Save the Date: April 11-13, 2014www.westernu.edu

Instructors:Wallace J. Murray, PhDProfessor Emeritus, Pharmaceutical Science

Jesse F. Martinez, PharmDVice Dean, Academic Diversity & Development

Rudolf Mireles, PharmDClinical Associate ProfessorDirector, Patient Care Center Pharmacy

Erik Tosh, RPhAdjunct Assistant Professor of Pharmacy PracticeInternational Academy of Compounding PharmacistsFoundation Board of Directors Treasurer and Past President

Dana B. Nelson, PharmBS, PharmMS, FASCPCEO/President and Pharmacist in Charge, Health Plus Pharmacy

Conference Fees: $1,200(Cancellations made 10 days in advance of class date arefully refundable. If cancelled in less than 10 days, there isno refund, however, you may reschedule for a futureclass.)

Class Overview

Compounded medications often play anextremely important role in the quality ofpatient care and prescribers have becomeincreasingly aware of the benefits thatcustomized medications offer. Thepharmacist and pharmacy technician musthave a strong foundation on how to preparethese products. Technology has provided theequipment and techniques necessary tocompound effectively and accurately. Toprepare participants to meet the needs ofpatients, we have designed a program thatwill provide the pharmacist and technicianthe knowledge and skills to prepare thehighest quality of compounded medicationsand services. As part of the course, attendeeswill receive a Policy and Procedure Manual.

Location InformationThe conference will be held on the WesternU campus,309 E. Second Street, Pomona, CA, 91766.

CE Coordinator Contact InformationFor more information, please contact: Renee Cook, Manager of Continuing Education Phone: 909-706-3826 • Fax: 909-706-3473Email: [email protected]

CE AccreditationTarget Audience: Pharmacists and Pharmacy TechniciansActivity Type: Practice Based

Western University of Health Sciences Collegeof Pharmacy is accredited by the AccreditationCouncil for Pharmacy Education as a providerof continuing pharmacy education.

1.7 CEU’s or 17 Contact Hours. UAN #0059-0000-13-085-L03-P, 0059-0000#0059-0000-13-085-L03-T, 0059-0000#0059-0000-13-028-L04-P#0059-0000-13-028-L04-T

Certification requires attendees attend the entire course,pass an examination, and complete an evaluation. Partialcredit will not be given.

Register Online at www.westernu.edu/pharmacy-continuing-education or the eventbrite registration directly: https://westernucompoundingapr14.eventbrite.com.

Resources available to our WesternU preceptors at no cost

Save the Date for Upcoming CE Events


ResultsThis meta-analysis included 33 studies (n = 1,325,446 patients), followed for a range of0.46–10.4 years. In all studies, compared with other oral diabetes drugs, sulphonylureas usewas associated with a significantly increased risk of cardiovascular death (relative risk 1.27,95% confidence interval 1.18–1.34, n = 27 comparisons) and composite cardiovascularevent (including myocardial infarction, stroke, cardiovascular-related hospitalization orcardiovascular death) (relative risk 1.10, 95% confidence interval 1.04–1.16, n = 43comparisons). In studies comparing sulphonylurea vs. metformin, these relative risks were1.26 (95% confidence interval 1.17–1.35, n = 17 comparisons) and 1.18 (95%confidenceinterval 1.13–1.24, n = 16 comparisons), respectively.

Research SpotlightSulphonylureas could raise risk of heart attack among Type 2 diabetes patients

College of Pharmacy assistant professor Olivia J. Phung, PharmD, has published an articleproposing that using a certain class of diabetes medication could potentially increase risk ofheart attack and other cardiovascular problems.

The article, published in the journal Diabetic Medicine on October, 2013, was a meta-analysis combining evidence from 33 studies to show an association with increasedcardiovascular events when using this class of drug.

Phung and her WesternU team were funded by Merck to evaluate long-term use ofsulfonylureas, a group of drugs that lower the amount of glucose in blood, and to findevidence behind the warnings on package insert labels that say that there is an increase incardiovascular occurrences with these drugs.

“These results show that there is evidence of a potential association of this drug and potentialharm to the patient with increased cardiovascular events,” said Phung. “It’s important forclinicians to be familiar with this so that they can be aware of the potential benefits andharms when prescribing these drugs.”

The finding warrants consideration in clinical practice when other treatment options may beavailable, Phung said.

“Diabetes itself is already a risk factor for increased cardiovascular events, so we don’t wantto be adding to that,” Phung said.

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommends initial metformin as a drug therapyfor most newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes patients. Sulfonylureas remain one of the mostcommonly prescribed add-on therapies when treatment with metformin by itself is insufficientto reach recommended targets, Phung reported in her paper.

Phung said that the study does not provide enough evidence to show a direct cause-and-effectrelationship. Rather, with these mostly observational studies, there is evidence of anassociation.

College of Pharmacy assistant professor Emmanuelle Schwartzman, PharmD, CDE, andRobert Allen, PharmD ’12, who was a fourth-year student at the time of the review, were keycontributors to the study.

Olivia Phung, PharmD

EducationDoctor of Pharmacy, 2008,Northeastern University,Boston, MAOutcomes ResearchFellowship, 2010, Universityof Connecticut andHartford Hospital,Hartford, CT

Research InterestDr. Phung is interested inteaching evidence-basedclinical practice andresearch methodology. Herresearch expertise lies inconducting systematicreviews and meta-analyses(including Bayesian mixed-treatment comparison),with emphasis in thetreatment of diabetes andother aspects of themetabolic syndrome.


SAVE THE DATEThursday, April 17, 2014, 3:30 p.m.

HEC Auditorium, Western University of Health Sciences campus

Featuring:

Eileen Crimmins, PhD, AARP Chair in Gerontology, USC Davis School of Gerontology

“Shorter Lives, Poorer Health”Eileen Crimmins completed her BS in Mathematics at Chestnut Hill College in 1968 and her PhD in Demography at theUniversity of Pennsylvania in 1974. After holding positions in population sciences and sociology at the University of Illinois atChicago, she joined the faculty at the University of Southern California in 1982 where she has been a chaired professor since1997. She is the AARP Professor in Gerontology and directs the USC/UCLA Center on Biodemography and Population Health incollaboration with Teresa Seeman.

The DaumierWesternU held a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday, June 19, 2013 for a new student housing project, called the Daumier, at Third and Linden streets inPomona, Calif. The project is a mixed-use building that will incorporate173,000-square-foot graduate student housing community and 10,000 squarefeet of WesternU administrative space that is scheduled to be completed byAugust 2014.

Chase BuildingWesternU has closed a $4.2-million deal with JPMorgan Chase & Co. to buy thehistoric Chase Bank building in downtown Pomona. The University plans to usethe 70,000-square-foot, seven-story building on the southwest corner of GareyAvenue and Second Street primarily as office space, said Thomas G. Fox, PhD,WesternU senior vice president. The Chase Bank branch will remain in operationon the ground floor under a 10-year lease agreement with WesternU.

The structure will be called the Anderson Tower, in honor of Don A. Anderson,DO, an alumnus of WesternU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific(COMP), who died in 2011. A $4.2 million gift to WesternU from Dr. Anderson’s estate was used to purchase the Chase building.

WesternU Continues to Expand


New Faculty

Yun (Lyna) Luo, PhD, Assistant Professor, Pharmaceutical Sciences

Dr. Luo received her Bachelor of Science degree inPharmaceutical Sciences and Master of Science degree inMedicinal Chemistry from Zhejiang University in China.She earned her PhD in Medicinal Chemistry andMolecular Chemistry from the University Paris VI inFrance. During her graduate study of the role ofglycolipids in cancer cell adhesion and metastasis, shedeveloped interest in computational molecular modeling,which lead her to the U.S. in 2008 to work with Dr. Benoit Roux as a postdoctoral scholar in theUniversity of Chicago. There she worked on developingand applying molecular dynamics simulationmethodologies to investigate the structural dynamics ofcomplex protein conformation changes and ligand-receptor binding at the all-atomic level. In 2011 Dr. Luojoined Argonne National Laboratory Early Science Projectas a postdoctoral appointee. There she had the chance totest and use one of the world’s fastest supercomputers toperform large-scale biomolecule simulations.

She joined the College of Pharmacy in August of 2013.She now enjoys teaching the first-year PharmDMedicinal Chemistry. She is also working on building a500 CPU cores High-Performance Research ComputingCenter that will serve university-wide researchers. She ishoping to establish collaborations and to bring newprospectives in modern drug design and new therapeuticsdevelopment using the combination of experiment andsimulation techniques. Her ongoing projects includecalcium binding proteins, membrane channels, G protein-coupled receptors.

Grants and Contracts

Moses Chow and Ying Huang (Co-PI)• Chow, MSS and Ying Huang (Co-PI). Chinese medicine to

overcome resistant chemotherapy: comparison of the effectsof Tripterygium wilfordii with other selected herbal extractsin cell models of resistant lung, pancreatic and prostatecancers. Subcontract from Macau University of Science andTechnology ($52,456) for the period (11/1/2013-10/30/2015).

Janice Hoffman • Secured a Target Case Study Competition Grant: Capturing

the growing Pharmacy market ($4000).

Kabir Lufty• Awarded a $35,000 subcontract from Astraea Therapeutics,

LLC, to study Nociceptin Receptor Agonists for AlcoholUse Disorders (2013-2014).

Emmanuelle Schwartzman• Project proposal “Future Pharmacy Educators Boot Camp

and Mentorship Program,” funded by Rho Chi NationalOrganization. Team comprised of WesternU students &alumni.

Faculty News


Faculty Honors & Awards

Brad Andresen • Member of the American Heart Association Vascular BioBP

BSc1 Peer Review Committee.

Guru Betageri • Honored as an American Association of Pharmaceutical

Scientists (AAPS) Fellow.

Sheryl Chow • Appointed Chair of the writing committee for the American

Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Statement on the Roleof Biomarkers for the Prevention, Assessment, andManagement of Heart Failure (publication in 2014).

• Appointed as Vice-Chair, AHA Clinical PharmacologyCommittee of the Clinical Cardiology Council.

• Appointed as Chair of judging committee for bestresident/fellow poster at the Annual American College ofClinical Pharmacy (ACCP) Meeting, Albuquerque, NWOctober 13-16, 2013.

Hyma Gogineni • Appointed as a member of the Ambulatory Care Pharmacy

Specialty Council by the Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS).

Eric Gupta• Elected Grant Regent of Kappa Psi Pharmaceutical Fraternity.

Janice Hoffman• Inducted as the President of the California Chapter of the

American Society of Consultant Pharmacists (ASCP).

Cynthia Jackevicius• Certification completion at Nova Southeastern University-

“Physical Assessment in Patient Care Management.”• Elected as a Fellow of the American Heart Association

(Council on Quality Care and Outcomes). Fellowshipformal induction at the American Heart AssociationMeeting, Dallas TX, November 16, 2013.

• Invited member of the VA National Clinical PharmacyAnticoagulation Workgroup.

Quang Le• Appointed to the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal:

Medical Decision Making for the 2014-2016 term.

Arbi Nazarian • Installed as the Chair Elect for the Biological Sciences

Section (2013-2014) of AACP.

David Pham • Invited to serve on the Speakers Bureau for the American

Diabetes Association (ADA) Orange County Chapter.• Invited to serve another one-year term as the Speakers

Liaison for the Annual ADA Family Retreat – LakeArrowhead, CA.

• Appointed for a 2-year term to the Orange County MissionDelivery Committee for the ADA.

• Won the LEARN Award by the ADA, Orange County Office.

Olivia Phung• Co-author on a paper that won the Cardiology PRN Best

Paper of the Year Award. Baker WL, Phung OJ. Systematicreview and adjusted indirect comparison meta-analysis oforal anticoagulants in atrial fibrillation. Circ CardiovascQual Outcomes. 2012 Sep 1;5(5):711-9

David Sanchez • Served as Co-Chair for the Immunology Disciple with

coordination of all oral and poster presentations fromundergraduate immunology researchers at the AnnualBiomedical Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS) inNashville, TN, November 13-16, 2013.

Gollapudi Shankar• Invited speaker at The World Congress on Endocrinology

2013 Conference, Raleigh, NC, August 25, 2013.

Don Vu (Transplant Pharmacogenomic Research Fellow)• Selected as a finalist in the American College of Clinical

Pharmacy’s (ACCP) Best Paper competition — Vu D,Naraghi R, Hutchinson I, Shah TA, Min D “GeneticVariations in a Sestrin2/Sestrin3/mTOR Axis andDevelopment of New-Onset Diabetes After Transplantationin Hispanic Kidney Transplant Recipients.”

• Received the first place award for the Great 8 PaperCompetition during the 2013 American College of ClinicalPharmacy Annual Meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico.Vu D, Naraghi R, Hutchinson I, Shah TA, Min D. “Geneticvariation in a Sestrin-2/Sestrin3/mTor Axis and developmentof new onset diabetes after transplantation in HispanicTransplant Recipients.”

Jeffrey Wang • Selected as an NIH reviewer for “Methods Development in

Natural Products Chemistry (STTR/SBIR) (R41/R43).”• Appointed Vice President for International Affairs for the

American Chinese Pharmaceutical Association (ACPA) atthe Annual Convention, San Antonio, TX, November 12,2013.

• Completed the year-long Academic Leadership FellowsProgram (ALFP) of AACP.


Publications• Lung S, Li H, Bondy SC, Campbell A. “Low

concentrations of copper in drinking water increase AP-1 binding in the brain.” Toxicol Ind Health.2013 May 29. PubMed PMID: 23719850.

• Guerra R, Vera-Aguilar E, Uribe-Ramirez M,Gookin G, Camacho J, Osornio-Vargas AR, Mugica-Alvarez V, Angulo-Olais R, Campbell A, Froines J,Kleinman TM, De Vizcaya-Ruiz A. “Exposure toinhaled particulate matter activates early markers ofoxidative stress, inflammation and unfolded proteinresponse in rat striatum.” Toxicology Letters S0378-4274(13)01136-3

• Campbell A, Sharman E, Bondy SC (2013) Age-related differences in the response of the brain tochronic dietary melatonin. AGE. DOI:10.1007/s11357-013-9542-y

• Qian S, Zhang Q, Wang Y, Lee B, Betageri G, ChowM, Huang M, Zuo Z. “Bioavailability Enhancementof Glucosamine Hydrochloride by Chitosan.”International Journal ofPharmaceutics.2013;455:365-73 doi:10.1016/j.ijpharm.2013.06.055. Epub 2013 Jul 3

• Liu M, Ravula R, Wang Z, Zuo Z, Chow M,Thakkar A, Prabhu S, Andresen B, and Huang Y.“Traditional Chinese medicinal formula Si-Wu-Tangprevents oxidative damage by activating Nrf2-mediated detoxifying/antioxidant genes.” Accepted19-Nov 2013 Cell & Bioscience.

• McCarren M, Furmaga E, Jackevicius C, et al.“Improvement in guideline beta-blocker prescribingin heart failure: a cluster-randomized pragmatic trialof a pharmacy intervention.” J Card Fail2013;19:525-32.

• Law A, Gupta E, Hata M, Hess K, Klotz R, Le Q,Schwartzman E, Tai B. “Collaborative PharmacyPractice: An Update.” Integrated PharmacyResearch and Practice. June 2013 Volume 2013:2,Pages 1 – 16.

• Le Q. “Probabilistic mapping of the health statusmeasure SF-12 onto the health utility measure EQ-5D using the US-population-based scoring models.” Qual Life Res 2013.

• Nguyen AT, Marquez P, Hamid A, Kieffer B,Friedman TC, Lutfy K. “The rewarding action ofacute cocaine is reduced in β-endorphin deficient butnot in μ opioid receptor knockout mice.” Eur JPharmacol. 686: 50-4, 2012.

• Marquez P, Hamid A, Lutfy K. (2013). “The role ofNOP receptors in psychomotor stimulation andlocomotor sensitization induced by cocaine andamphetamine in mice.” European Journal ofPharmacology. 707(1–3), 41-45. doi: 10.1016/j.ejphar.2013.03.021.

• Du H, Liu L, Wang Y, Nakagawa Y, Lyzlov A, LutfyK, Friedman TC, Peng X, Liu Y. (2013). “Specificreduction of glucose-6-phosphate transporter maycontribute to down-regulation of hepatic 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase Type 1 in diabeticmice.” Journal of Molecular Endocrinology, 20(2),167-178. doi: 10.1530/JME-12-0223.

• Tseng A, Nguyen K, Hamid A, Garg M, Marquez P,Lutfy K. “The Role of Endogenous Beta-Endorphinand Enkephalins in Ethanol Reward.”Neuropharmacology. 2013, 73: 290-300. DOI:10.1016/j.neuropharm.2013.06.001

• Ren X, Lutfy K, Mangubat M, Ferrini MG, Lee ML,Liu Y, Friedman TC. (2013) Alterations inphosphorylated CREB expression in different brainregions following short- and long-term morphineexposure: relationship to food intake. J Obes.2013:764742. doi: 10.1155/2013/764742. Epub2013 Aug 29. PMID: 24073333

• Nazarian A, Tenayuca JM, Almasarweh F,Armendariz A, Are D. “Sex differences in formalin-evoked primary afferent release of substance.” P. EurJ Pain. 2013 Jun 10. doi: 10.1002/j.1532-2149.2013.00346.x. PubMed PMID: 23754308.

• O’Dell LE, Natividad LA, Pipkin JA, Roman F,Torres I, Jurado J, Torres OV, Friedman TC,Tenayuca JM, Nazarian A. Enhanced nicotine self-administration and suppressed dopaminergic systemsin a rat model of diabetes. Addict Biol. 2013 Jul 8.doi: 10.1111/adb.12074. PubMed PMID:23834715.

• Darwish O, Strube S, Nguyen M, Tanios M.“Challenges of anticoagulation for atrial fibrillationin patients with severe sepsis.” Annals ofPharmacotherapy. 2013;47:1266-1271.

• Erickson CE, Gul R, Blessing CP, Nguyen J, Liu T,Pulakat L, Batepe M, Jackson EK, Andresen BT(2013) “The β-blocker Nebivolol Is a GRK/β-arrestin Biased Agonist.” PLoS ONE 8(8): e71980.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0071980

• Pegg KM, Liu E, LaCuran AE, Oelschlaeger P“Biochemical Characterization of IMP-30, aMetallo-beta-Lactamase with Enhanced Activitytoward Ceftazidime.” Antimicrob AgentsChemother. 2013, 57: 5122-6.

• Monti S, Corozzi A, Fristrup P, Joshi KL, Shin YK,Oelschlaeger P, van Duin AC, Barone V “Exploringthe conformational and reactive dynamics ofbiomolecules in solution using an extended versionof the glycine reactive force field.” Phys Chem ChemPhys. 2013, 15: 15062-77.

• Yang KW, Feng L, Yang SK, Aitha M, LaCuran AE,Oelschlaeger P, Crowder MW. “New beta-phospholactam as a carbapenem transition stateanalog: Synthesis of a broad-spectrum inhibitor ofmetallo-beta-lactamases.” Bioorg Med Chem Lett.2013, 23: 5855-9.

• Phung OJ, Sobieraj DM, Engel SS, Rajpathak SN.“Early Dual Therapy is Associated with ImprovedGlycemia in Type 2 Diabetes: A Meta-Analysis.”American Diabetes Meeting, Chicago, IL; June 21-25,2013.

• Phung OJ, Schwartzman E, Allen RW, Engel SS,Rajpathak SN. “Sulphonylureas and risk ofcardiovascular disease: systematic review and meta-analysis.” Diabet Med. 2013;30:1160-71.

• Allen RW, Schwartzman E, Baker WL, Coleman CI,Phung OJ. “Cinnamon use in type 2 diabetes: anupdated systematic review and meta-analysis.” AnnFam Med. 2013;11:452-9.

• Schwartzman E, Chung EP, Sakharkar P, Law AV.“Communication Curriculum in a PharmacyProgram: A Survey of Schools of Pharmacy in theUnited States and Canada.” Currents in PharmacyTeaching and Learning. 5, 6. (2013)

• Shankar GS, Yuan C (2013) Effects of 5HT2cBlockade of Dibenzodiazepines on Thyroid Levels inPatients with Schizophrenia or SchizoaffectiveDisorder. Autacoids 2:102. doi: 10.4172/2161-0479.1000102.

• Grandhi BK, Thakkar A, Wang J, Prabhu S. A novelcombinatorial nanotechnology-based oralchemopreventive regimen demonstrates significantsuppression of pancreatic cancer neoplastic lesions.Cancer Prev Res (Phila). 2013 Oct;6(10):1015-25.

• Wang Z, Xie C, Huang Y, Lam C, Chow M.“Overcoming chemotherapy resistance with herbalmedicines: past, present and future perspectives.”Phytochem Rev, 2013. 1-15.

• Wang Z, Fan J, Liu M, Yeung S, Chang A, Chow M,Pon D, Huang Y. “Nutraceuticals for prostate cancerchemoprevention: from molecular mechanisms toclinical application.” Expert Opin Investig Drugs.2013,22(12):1613-1626

• Du Q, Wang Z, He L, Jiang X, Wang L. “PXRpolymorphisms and their impact on Pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics of repaglinide in healthy Chinesevolunteers.” Eur J Clin Pharmacol. 2013:1-9.

• Liu M, Fan J, Wang S, Wang Z, Wang C, Zuo Z,Chow M, Shi LM, Wen Z, Y Huang.“Transcriptional profiling of Chinese medicinalformula Si-Wu-Tang on breast cancer cells revealsphytoestrogenic activity.” BMC Complement AlternMed. 2013; 13(1):11.

• McAfee L, Tung C, Espinosa-Silva Y, Rahman M,Fatima K, Clark R, Wang Z, Pearce D. “A Survey ofa Small Sample of Emergency Department andAdmitted Patients Asking Whether They Expect toBe Tested for HIV Routinely.” J Int Assoc ProvidAIDS Care. 2013.

• Wang Y, Jin Z, Wang Z, Jiang X, Wang L.“Pharmacokinetic properties of isradipine aftersingle-dose and multiple-dose oral administration inChinese volunteers: a randomized, open-label,parallel-group phase I study.” Biomed Chromatogr.2013 (Epub).


PresentationsArezoo Campbell• Mendoza K, Sioutas C, Pakbin P, Campbell A.

“Urban particulate matter selectively affects primaryhuman neurons.” Society of NeuroscienceConference, San Diego, CA, November 9-13, 2013.

Moses Chow • Lambros M, Kondapalli L, Huang Y, Parsa C,

Orlando R, Chow M. “A Combination of NaturalProduces Protects 3D-Tissues from Irradiation.”American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists(AAPS) San Antonio, TX, November 10-14, 2013.

• Plenary Lecture: “Achieving a Vision for ClinicalPharmacy Through Innovative Practice andResearch: Where Do We Go from Here?” Co-authored by Dan Robinson. At the AsianAssociation of Schools of Pharmacy Conference,Singapore, November 14-17, 2013.

• Co-chair of Symposium: “Key Issues on ClinicalPharmacology and Regulatory Requirements forClinical Drug Development in China and the US.”Annual Meeting of American College of ClinicalPharmacology, Bethesda, MD, Sept 22, 2013.

• Chair of Workshop: “New Integrative Medicine:Concepts/Approaches to Enhance Chemotherapy-Application to Prostate Cancer.” The InternationalConference of the Society for Integrative Oncology,Vancouver, Canada, Oct 22, 2013.

• Keynote speech as Guest-of-Honor at the AsianAssociation of Schools of Pharmacy Conference,Singapore, November 14-17, 2013.

Sheryl Chow• Chow SL, Rietdorf E, O’Barr SA, Patel P, Heywood

T. “The Smokers Hypothesis: Reduction ofinflammation from smoking may benefit acutedecompensated heart failure.” J Card Fail2013;19(8):S55, Heart Failure Society of America(HFSA) Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL, September24, 2013.

• Rietdorf E, Muniz-Delgado M, Phan P, Cameron J,Chow SL, O'Barr SA. “Nicotine DecreasesComplement Expression, Reduces Fibrosis andIncreases Survival in a Zebrafish Model of HeartFailure.” American Heart Association (AHA) ScientificSessions Dallas, TX, November 16-20, 2013.

Karl Hess and Janice Hoffman • Conducted a Mini-session: “Developing and

Implementing A Collaborative Leadership Initiative.”American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy(AACP) Annual Meeting, July 13-17, 2013.

Ying Huang • Lambros M, Kondapalli L, Huang Y, Parsa C,

Orlando R, Chow MS. “A Combination of NaturalProduces Protects 3D-Tissues from Irradiation.”American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists(AAPS) San Antonio, TX, November 10-14, 2013.

Cynthia Jackevicius • “Adherence with Dabigatran Therapy in Atrial

Fibrillation and Comparative Effectiveness ofDabigatran vs. Warfarin in older Patients with AtrialFibrillation.” American Heart Association (AHA)Scientific Sessions Dallas, TX, November 16-20, 2013.

Maria Lambros • Lambros M, Kondapalli L, Huang Y, Parsa C,

Orlando R, Chow MS. “A Combination of NaturalProduces Protects 3D-Tissues from Irradiation.”American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists(AAPS) San Antonio, TX, November 10-14, 2013.

Anandi Law • Patel D, Tai BW, Law A. “Cost-effectiveness analysis

of alogliptin in type 2 diabetes mellitus: a payerperspective.” American College of Clinical Pharmacy(ACCP) Meeting in Albuquerque, NM, October 13-16, 2013.

Kabir Lutfy• “PC2 Null Mice Show Up-Regulation of the Mu

Opioid Receptor in Key Brain Regions Related toNociceptive Information and Addictive Behaviors.”Endocrine Society’s 95th Annual Meeting & Expo,San Francisco, CA, June 15-18, 2013.

• Lutfy K, Tseng A, Hamid A, Marquez PV, Garg M.“The role of the endogenous OFQ/N/NOP receptorsystem in cocaine reward.” Society of NeuroscienceConference, San Diego, CA, November 9-13, 2013.

• Evans CJ, Taylor, AMW, Roberts W, Pradhan A,Walwyn W, Lutfy K, Carroll FI. “The kappa agonist,U50-488H, mediates analgesia via an anxiogeniceffect.” Society of Neuroscience Conference, San Diego, CA, November 9-13, 2013.

Arbi Nazarian • Popkin JA, Juardo J, Natividad L, Carcoba L,

Nazarian A, O’Dell L. “Enhanced rewarding effectsof nicotine in diabetic rats.” Society of NeuroscienceConference, San Diego, CA, November 9-13, 2013.

Mark Nguyen • “Hyperglycemia in Critically Ill Patients: Does the

Current Road Map Lead to Sweeter Success.”California Society of Health-System Pharmacists(CSHP) Seminar, Anaheim, CA, Oct. 31 –Nov. 3, 2013.

• “Management of Sepsis and Septic Shock 101.”Orange County Society of Health-SystemPharmacists Meeting, September 2013.

Steve O’Barr• Rietdorf E, Muniz-Delgado M, Phan P, Cameron J,

Chow SL, O’Barr SA. “Nicotine DecreasesComplement Expression, Reduces Fibrosis andIncreases Survival in a Zebrafish Model of HeartFailure.” American Heart Association (AHA)Scientific Sessions Dallas, TX, Nov. 16-20, 2013.

Peter Oelschlaeger • LaCuran AE, Liu EM, Pegg KM, Oelschlaeger P.

“Elucidating the role of residue 67 in IMP-typemetallo-beta-lactamases.” 5th Congress of EuropeanMicrobiologists (FEMS 2013), Leipzig, Germany,July21-25, 2013.

Olivia Phung• Poster presentation based on a Merck-funded project

co-authored by colleagues at Hartford Hospital.Additionally featured on the Clinical Pearls GuidedAudio. American Diabetes Meeting, Chicago, IL,June 21-25, 2013.

Castor Phan (Ambulatory Care Resident)• Served as OCSHP Delegate at CSHP Seminar.

Doreen Pon • “Drug Interaction between Posaconazole and

Sirolimus in Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem CellTransplantation Recipients.” Hematology/OncologyPharmacy Association (HOPA) Annual Conference,Los Angeles, CA, March 20-22, 2013.

• “Hand-Foot Syndrome in Hematopoietic Stem CellTransplant Patients: Effect of Etoposide, Total BodyIrradiation and Palifermin.” MultinationalAssociation of Supportive Cancer Care/InternationalSociety of Oral Oncology International Symposiumon Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC), Berlin,Germany, June 27-29, 2013.

Sunil Prabhu• Inavolu R, Thakkar A, Wang Z, Prabhu S,

Rojsitthisak P, Wang J. “Cytotoxicity evaluation ofcurcuminoids and their succinate ester derivatives onbreast and pancreatic cancer cell lines.” AmericanAssociation of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) San Antonio, TX, November 10-14, 2013.

David Sanchez • Sanchez J, Sanchez D, Miranda D, Dizon TMA.

“Viral Induced Inhibition of Interferon byModification of Innate Immune Signaling Proteins.”Annual Biomedical Conference for MinorityStudents (ABRCMS) Nashville, TN, November 13-16, 2013.

Expanded Content


Gollapudi Shankar• “Track level 11-Metabolism and Thyroid Gland-

Role of 5HT2c receptor in Metabolic Syndrome,Clinical and Subclinical Hypothyroidism in patientswith Schizophrenia.” The World Congress onEndocrinology 2013 Conference, Raleigh, NC,August 25, 2013.

• “Effects of 5HT2c Blockade of Dibenzodiazepineson Thyroid Levels in Patients with Schizophrenia orSchizoaffective Disorder.” The World Congress onEndocrinology 2013 Raleigh, NC, August 25, 2013.

• Shankar G, Diaz E, Lai WT, Yuan XJ. “Impact ofPsychiatric Hospital Readmission Rates ThroughPharmacist Intervention—A RetrospectiveAnalysis.” American College of Clinical Pharmacy(ACCP) Meeting in Albuquerque, NM, October 13-16, 2013.

• Invited speaker at Heart Failure Society of America(HFSA) Orlando, FL, September 24, 2013.

Jeffrey Wang • Inavolu R, Thakkar A, Wang Z, Prabhu S,

Rojsitthisak P, Wang J. “Cytotoxicity evaluation ofcurcuminoids and their succinate ester derivatives onbreast and pancreatic cancer cell lines.” AmericanAssociation of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) San Antonio, TX, November 10-14, 2013.

Zhijun Wang• “Can herbal substance overcome chemotherapy

resistance? In vitro and in vivo studies in prostatatecancer resistant to docetaxel.” The InternationalConference of the Society for Integrative Oncology,Vancouver, Canada, Oct 22, 2013.

• Wang Z, Natarajan V, Betageri G, Chow MSS. “Use of phosphatidylglycerols to improvenanoparticle encapsulation of very hydrophilic drug-experience with streptomycin.” 5th WorldConference on Drug Absorption, Transport andDelivery (WCDATD): Responding to ChallengingSituations; Upsalla, Sweden June 24-26, 2013.

Poster PresentationsJacob Arlsanian (PharmD ’13), Cynthia Jackevicius,Olivia Phung, Janice Hoffman. “Student PharmacistsPerspective of the Pairing of a Live Geriatric PatientInterview with an EBM Project.” American Associationof Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Annual Meeting,Chicago, IL, July 13-17, 2013.

Patrick Chan, Amy Lo (PharmD ’14), Nikki Zhu(PharmD ’14), Janine Ng (Alumnus; CO2013),WesternU CAPSLEAD Team, WesternU CSHP SkinCancer Awareness: Doreen Pon (COP Faculty), JoonHwang (P3), John Flores (P3), Daisy Park (P3), RachelChung (P2), Jennifer Ito (P3), Catherine Van (P3),Danny Tang (P3) California Society of Health SystemPharmacist (CSHP) Seminar, Anaheim, CA, Oct. 31–Nov 3, 2013.

Scott Helf, Sunil Prabhu, Daniel Robinson. “TheAcademic Progress Portal — Catching Students BeforeThey Fail.” American Association of Colleges ofPharmacy (AACP) Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, July 13-17, 2013.

Karl M. Hess, Mary Hudson-McKinney (College ofAllied Health Professions). “Teaching Durable MedicalEquipment to Student Pharmacists: AnInterprofessional Approach Utilizing Student PhysicalTherapists.” American Association of Colleges ofPharmacy (AACP) Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, July 13-17, 2013.

Anne J. Kugler, Hyma P. Gogineni, Bik-Wai Tai,Anandi V. Law, Eunice P. Chung. “Student Pharmacists’Perceptions and Preferences Regarding the FlippedClassroom.” American Association of Colleges ofPharmacy (AACP) Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, July 13-17, 2013.

Ng J, Jeng A, Chan PG. “Evaluation of carbapenemempiric therapy in the era of increased antibioticresistance.” American Society of Health SystemPharmacist (ASHP) Midyear Conference, Orlando, FL,December 2013.

Lo A, Zhu Z, Richman M, Joo J, Chan PG.“Evaluation of time to first dose intravenous antibioticadministration in hospitalized patients.” AmericanSociety of Health System Pharmacist (ASHP) MidyearConference, Orlando, FL, December 2013.

Castor Phan, PharmD; Mark Nguyen, PharmD, BCPS;Amy Kum, PharmD, BCPS, Cathy Hirokawa, PharmD;Sophie Sokolow. “Therapeutic and pathological riskfactors associated with serve hypoglycemia in acommunity hospital.” American Society of HealthSystem Pharmacist (ASHP) Midyear Conference,Orlando, FL, December 2013.

Lee NC, Hirpara H, Yin RV, Lee A, Lee S, Llanos S,Phung OJ. “Increased risk for atypical fracturesassociated with bisphosphonate use.” AmericanSociety of Health System Pharmacist (ASHP) MidyearConference, Orlando, FL, December 2013.

Hirpara H, Lee NC, Yin RV, Phung OJ. “Momordicacharantia (Bitter melon) does not show any significanteffect on type 2 diabetic patients.” American Society ofHealth System Pharmacist (ASHP) MidyearConference, Orlando, FL, December 2013.

Joon Hwang, Rachel Chung, Jennifer Ito and DaisyPark. “Sunscreen Use among High School Teens” Theposter was presented on behalf of the WesternU studentchapter of CSHP/ASHP and the faculty advisor for theproject was Dr. Doreen Pon. American Society ofHealth System Pharmacist (ASHP) MidyearConference, Orlando, FL, December 2013.

Expanded Content

www.westernu.edu/scholarship-golf-classic

For more information or questions, pleasecontact Renee Cook at(909) 706-3826or [email protected]

Signature Sponsor

March 3-4 ASHP Ambulatory Care Conference and Summit,Dallas, TX

March 5 California Pharmacy Legislative Day, Sacramento, CA

March 26 WesternU College of Pharmacy Scholarship GolfClassic, Beaumont, CA

March 28-31 APhA Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL

April 2-4 AMCP 26th Annual Meeting & Showcase, Tampa, FL

April 3 Honors Day, WesternU Pomona, CA

April 12 East-West Scholarship Dinner, San Gabriel, CA

April 17 Ray Symposium, WesternU, Pomona, CA

April 24-27 CPhA West Coast Pharmacy Exchange, Palm Springs, CA

May 2-3 CALTCM 40th Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, CA

May 8 Poster Day, WesternU, Pomona, CA

May 19-22 Western States Conference for Residents, Fellowsand Preceptors, San Diego, CA

May 13 Commencement Dinner, Pasadena, CA

May 14 Commencement, Pasadena, CA

May 31 – June 4 ISPOR Annual Meeting, Montreal, Canada

May 31 – June 4 ASHP Summer Meeting, Las Vegas, NV

June 11-14 ASCP Midyear/Spring, Phoenix, AZ

Calendar 2014

309 E. Second Street • Pomona, CA 91766-1854

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