Biomedical Sciences
Biomedical Sciences
The Department of Biomedical Sciences is chaired by Dr. Nissar A. Darmani. COMP faculty and staff responsible for the Biomedical Science portion of WesternU’s Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine curriculum are listed here with their contact information. For additional background information on selected faculty and staff, click on the name.
Departmental Contact
Nona S. Williamson, Manager
Tel: (909) 469-5595
Fax: (909) 469-5698
nwilliamson@westernu.edu
Faculty & Staff – Biomedical Sciences
COMP
Associate Dean, Biomedical Sciences and Research
Chair, Biomedical Sciences
Professor of Pharmacology
COMP-Northwest
Vice-Chair, Biomedical Sciences
Associate Professor of Microbiology
COMP
Assistant Chair, Biomedical Sciences
Professor of Biochemistry
COMP
Professor of Physiology, Daljit and Elaine Sarkaria Endowed Professor in Neuroscience
COMP
Professor of Immunology
Vice Dean, Academic Affairs
Faculty & Staff – Translational Research
Mohamed Radwan Ahmed, MD,
Vikrant Rai, PhD, MBBS
Emeritus Faculty
Jeffrey Felton, PhD
Steven J. Henriksen, PhD
James Martin, Dr.rer.nat.
COMP
Professor of Physiology and Behavioral Sciences (Emeritus)
Stanley Wong, PhD
Support Staff
Melissa Braga
Jeannette Dowling
Adrianna Flores
Tammie McQuistan
Nona Williamson, BS
Hello,
I am Nissar A. Darmani, Chair of the Department of Biomedical Sciences (BMS) and Associate Dean for for Research at the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific (COMP-Pomona) both at our Pomona, California, and Lebanon, Oregon (COMP-Northwest) campuses at Western University of Health Sciences (WesternU). I joined COMP in February 2005 to help further develop and organize the well-established teaching mission of the department and to expand basic and clinical research. The department of BMS is one of two basic science departments operating at COMP, the other is the Department of Medical Anatomical Sciences (MAS). With 20 faculty members in the Department of BMS and 13 in the Department of Anatomy, the two departments cover the COMP preclinical curricular and research needs in medical biochemistry, microbiology, immunology, pharmacology, physiology and anatomical sciences for both Pomona and Lebanon campuses. Teaching, basic and clinical research is conducted in close collaboration between the various departments at COMP. COMP was established in 1977 with its two basic science departments, and was the first and founding college of Western University of Health Sciences. WesternU is deeply invested in the future and is rapidly expanding its campus in downtown Pomona, CA, and the class extension of COMP at the Lebanon, Oregon campus (COMP-Northwest). COMP-Northwest’s first class was inaugurated in August 2011.
Education is one of our primary academic missions. Our approach to medical teaching is interprofessional education grounded with the philosophy that physicians are part of the Health Provider Team who must be well prepared, life-long learners who keep pace with the new advancements in the life sciences. We believe that this philosophy is the platform upon which future health care excellence is built. Another major mission of COMP is basic, translational and clinical research with bench to bedside approach.
BMS and MAS faculty members have adopted a systems-based medical curriculum to integrate the basic and clinical sciences. This curriculum provides a firm scientific foundation for the medical education of our students and introduces our osteopathic medical students to the clinical world in their first two years of education through interactions with in-house and guest clinicians. Our faculty actively continues their engagement with the students electronically throughout their medical education. COMP is uniquely positioned to prepare well-educated and compassionate physicians and medical scientists who will develop into highly skilled future practitioners and innovators that will not only deliver effective health care but also become leaders of medicine.