Accomplishments

Awards and Recognition

Congratulations to the following dedicated employees for their milestone years of service here:

15 years: Christine Nguyen

Publications

Drs. David Pham, John Andraos and Joelle Ayoub recently published an informative review paper in Reviews of Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders entitled “Insulin icodec: A novel once‑weekly formulation for the treatment of type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus”.  This was a collaboration that began in December 2023.  Please see the link to access the article.

Wong, J.; Gill, C.; Abdo, A.; Eisa, A. The Influence of Financial Incentives on Vaccination Hesitancy: A Narrative Review of Recent Research. Vaccines 2025, 13, 256. https://doi.org/10.3390/ vaccines13030256. This paper found that the effectiveness of financial incentives for boosting vaccination rates varies widely by region, and more effective in economically disadvantaged developing countries. In contrast, in developed nations, they may be ineffective or counterproductive due to factors like financial background and lack of trust in the healthcare system. Educational programs and addressing mistrust through transparency often yield better results in resource-rich areas.

PPAD faculty were authors for 2 chapters in the book Patient Assessment in Pharmacy, available through this link.

PPAD faculty Drs. Joelle Ayoub and Micah Hata, and Dr. Hata’s former resident, Dr. Banh collaborated with two physician assistants on a chapter on headaches. Chapter 16: Headaches; Naomi Banh; Joelle Ayoub; Micah Hata; Sampath Wijesinghe; Seth Lauterbach

PPAD faculty Drs. John Andraos and Anthony Sengul, along with a physician assistant from USC published a chapter on ear, nose and throat symptoms. Chapter 10: Symptoms Related to the Ears, Nose, and Throat; John Andraos; Sunitha Husson; Anthony Sengul

Dr. Mona Ligvani participated as a panelist in the WesternU Women’s History Month event on Monday 3/31/25.

Awards and Recognition

Congratulations to the following dedicated employees for their milestone years of service here:

20 years: Tirin Lutfy

Presentations

Dr. Jason Wong gave an interdisciplinary presentation to optometrists at our own WesternU School of Optometry’s Dry Eye Symposium as a Continuing Education session for optometrists. This Symposium is organized by the Optometry School’s CE department.  There were learners on-campus and on Zoom. The recording will be active on the school’s website for two years as an on-demand CE program.  The topic was “Managing Dry Eye Disease with Novel Medications”, an area of special interest to Dr. Wong.

Publications

Aleda Chen, Krisy Thornby, Anandi V. Law. Curricular Assessment Blueprint and Needs Analysis for the Social, Administrative, and Behavioral Foundational Sciences. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education. Volume 89, Issue 1101346, January 2025. DOI: 10.1016/j.ajpe.2024.101346

Aleda M.H. Chen, Kyrie Eleyson R. Baden and Anandi V. Law. Advancing pharmacy research on health literacy. Chapter 16 In Health Literacy in Medicines Use and Pharmacy, 2024. 978-0-12-824407-4 Elsevier Publishing.

Awards and Recognition

Congratulations to the following dedicated employees for their milestone years of service here:

20 years: Cynthia Jackevicius

5 years: Yuna Chang

Podcast

Dr. Jason Wong serves as group leader for ASHP’s Section of Community Pharmacy Practitioner, Section Advisory Group on Education, Communication, and Training and recorded a podcast that is now officially on the ASHP website called “Student Well-being and Resilience: A Conversation with PharmD Candidates”.  Featuring: Dr. Wong and our P3 student, Deema Nasla; along with three students from other pharmacy schools.  This podcast serves as a starting point for discussing student well-being and resilience. A panel of students from various backgrounds, geographic COP locations, and times in their pharmacy career journey discussed mental health, work/life/family balance, self-care, and support systems to improve overall well-being.  Here’s the ASHP link.

Publications

WesternU fellow alumn, Dr. Eunhee Kim recently published an article in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association in collaboration with her former fellowship director, Dr. Anandi Law, as well as Dr. Samantha Yum (WesternU alumn).  The article is titled “Pharmacist roles in the medication use Process: Qualitative analysis of stakeholder perceptions.”

Grants

Dr. Evelyn Kim, Dr. Lilian Nguyen, and Dr. Vivian Ly were each individually awarded the APhA Foundation Incentive Grant for their research project proposals.  Dr. Kim is completing her WesternU PGY1 Community-based Residency in partnership with Ralphs Pharmacy under the Direction of Dr. Micah Hata.  Her research is titled “Technician Roles in Vaccinations: Impact of California Immunization Registry (CAIR) Access on Vaccine Co-Administration Rates in Community Pharmacies”. Dr. Nguyen and Dr. Ly are completing their WesternU PGY1 Community-based Residency in partnership with 986 Pharmacy under the Direction of Dr. Micah Hata.  Dr. Nguyen’s research is titled “Addressing Social Determinants of Health in the Homeless Population: Determining Change in Healthcare Access”. Dr. Ly’s research is titled “Challenges to Implementing and Maintaining Smoking Cessation Services in Community Pharmacies”

CSHP

Dr. Joelle Ayoub provided a CV Pearls Workshop for student programming.

Dr. Anthony Sengul, Dr. John Andraos and Dr. Joelle Ayoub gave a presentation on continuous glucose monitors entitled “Adapting To Change: An Interactive Overview of Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs)”.

Dr. John Andraos gave a presentation entitled ““Pharmacogenomics & Opioids: A Practice Using CPIC Guidelines to Understand Pharmacogenomic Considerations for Opioid Therapy” with Dr. Alexa Andraos AND another presentation entitled “How to Answer Weight Management Questions You’re ZepBOUND to Get” with Drs. Alexa Andraos and Shilpa Krishnan.

Dr. Rebecca Tran gave a 1-hr CE presentation: “Drugs of Abuse: Acute and Chronic Effects on the Heart”

Dr. Jignesh Patel gave a 1-hour CE Presentation: “Updates on the Treatment of Hepatorenal Syndrome: Meet the Newest Kid on the American Block”

Dr. Patrick Chan was senior author for 2 posters that included co-author, Dr. Jignesh Patel and involved several COP students as co-author as well!

Sin P, Huynh D, Guevara A, Inoue T, Abdelmasih V, Patel J, Chan P. Assessment of Inpatient and Discharge Medications for Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome (AWS), AWS Assessments, Counseling and Outpatient Referrals. California Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists Seminar, November 2024, Palm Springs, CA (Poster Presentation).

Huynh D, Sin P, Guevara A, Inoue T, Abdelmasih V, Patel J, Chan P. Analysis of Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome Medications at Discharge and Factors Associated with Alcohol-Related Readmission. California Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists Seminar, November 2024, Palm Springs, CA (Poster Presentation).

PPAD Health Economics, Outcomes Research and Managed Care Fellow, Dr. Jeongmin (Hana) Kim moderated the session, “Cardiovascular Conundrums – Thrombolytics for Pulmonary Embolism, the Pharmacist’s Role in Ventricular Assist Device Management, and Heart Failure Myth Busting”.

Posters

Dr. Jignesh Patel and Dr. Patrick Chan had a poster entitled “Evaluation of Outcomes in Patients Presenting with Acute Variceal Bleed Receiving Prophylactic Antibiotics” at the ACCP meeting.

Dr. Wonhee So presented a poster at the ACCP Meeting that also involved 2 WesternU COP alumni when they were students, entitled: Clinical and Microbiological Outcomes of Carbapenem-Resistant Organisms (CROs) in Adult Hospitalized Patients from a Comprehensive Cancer Center

Quyen Nguyen (current P4 student) represented Dr. Hyma Gogineni’s research team at the ACCP meeting by presenting the following two posters: Implementing Pharmacy-Patient Care Processes: Comparison between Virtual-Based Simulations and Paper-Based Synopses and Implementing Pharmacy-Patient Care Processes: Comparison Pre-and Post-Implementation of Virtual Based simulations

Dr. Doreen Pon was recognized as an item writer (along with the other item writers) for Clinical Pharmacy Challenge competition at ACCP.

Awards and Recognition

Congratulations to the following dedicated employees for their milestone years of service here:

25 years: Eunice Chung and Maria Lambros

15 years: Patrick Chan

5 years: Joelle Ayoub, Jignesh Patel, Shawn Smith and Ayaz Shahid

Awards and Recognition

Congratulations to the following dedicated employees for their milestone years of service here:

25 years: Anandi Law and Stephen O’Barr

20 years: Sheryl Chow and Eric Gupta

Dr. Anandi Law was awarded a 2-year WesternU Intramural Grant entitled “ Use of a comprehensive approach to address SDOH barriers to medication adherence among the unhoused” of $41,420. Co-investigators on this grant are Drs. Micah Hata and Skai Pan.

Dr. Anandi Law, Associate Dean for Assessment and Professor was sworn in as the President of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) during its annual meeting in Boston, MA last week.  In her acceptance speech, Dr. Law outlined her presidential vision by calling on the academy to “Reach Out. Engage. Elevate.” on behalf of the pharmacy profession. Dr. Law emphasized the role of pharmacy education as a focal point with a wide reach in initiating and educating students and all stakeholders about advocacy, branding, and communication. All of us who attended the meeting were present to cheer her on as she received this prestigious recognition by the academy. Her family, close friends and mentors were also in attendance to mark this important moment of her career thus far. Dr. Law’s presidential appointment is for one year culminating at the AACP annual meeting in Chicago in 2025, upon which she will continue to serve for an additional year as past-President.

Publications

Wong JC, Hekimyan L, Cruz FA, Brower T. Identifying Pertinent Digital Health Topics to Incorporate into Self-Care Pharmacy Education. Pharmacy 2024;12:96. https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy12030096  https://www.mdpi.com/2838386

Wong J, Lao C, Dino G, Donyaei R, Lui R, Huynh J. Vaccine Hesitancy among Immigrants: A Narrative Review of Challenges, Opportunities, and Lessons Learned. Vaccines 2024;12(5):445. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines12050445 https://www.mdpi.com/2761200

Dr. Wonhee So published the following paper in the journal Infection (2023 IF: 5.4) entitled, “Implementation and outcomes of beta-lactam allergy management protocol at a comprehensive cancer center”, in which they observed a significant decrease in mero/aztreonam use in patients who were delabeled from beta-lactam allergies. Dr. So’s team included Dr. Sohana Khalak (Dr. So’s AE student at the time and WesternU alum), Drs. Ho and Ross (ID pharmacists at the City of Hope), and Drs. Dadwal, Puing, Nanayakkara, Kaur, Taplitz and Dickter (ID physicians at the City of Hope). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s15010-024-02274-1

Dr. Law attended the Pharmaceutical Care Network of Europe in Basel, Switzerland and also actively participated in the International Collaboration of Pharmacy Journal Editors (who previously released the Granada Statements to improve the visibility and quality of pharmacy practice and education research, which has been now adopted and published in 14 pharmacy journals.

Dr. Anthony Sengul (first author) and Dr. Cynthia Jackevicius (senior author), Coauthors include WesternU COP Alumni Drs. Edison Escobar, John R. Flores, Michelle Kwok, and Shogo Kono, as well as Dr. Gordon Guyatt. Noninferiority trials: a systematic review on methodological quality and reporting standards in the Journal of General Internal Medicine (2023 IF 4.3).

Presentations

Julie Darnell will be presenting a poster entitled “A decade of Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE) communication scoring trends in pharmacy students”. Co-authors are Anthony Sengul and Anne Kugler.  (Poster board number is 1).

Julie Darnell will also be presenting an oral session called “Walking the Walk: Putting Inclusive Language Into Action Across the Roles of Pharmacy Educators” on Monday 7/22 at 2:15-3:45.

Joelle Ayoub will be presenting a research poster entitled “Addition of Imposter Syndrome Workshop to Pharmacy Student and Resident Curriculum”. Co-authors are Anthony Sengul, John Andraos, Mark Nguyen, and Micah Hata. (Poster board number is 198).

Joelle Ayoub will also be representing the College by presenting our school poster entitled “Professional Development, Recognition and Celebration to Strengthen Faculty and Staff Success”. Co-authors on the school poster are Mark Goggin, Janice Hoffman, Cynthia Jackevicius, David Sanchez, Steve O’Barr, Anandi Law.

John Andraos will be presenting a research poster entitled “Trends in Students’ Scores in an Asynchronous Pharmacy Calculations Course. Co-authors are Lan Lertpanit, Don Hsu, Yun Yu Tsai and Pat Chan. (Poster board number is 143).

Rebecca Tran was co-author on a poster entitled “Comparison of Pre-NAPLEX Performance and Pharmacist Licensure at a Doctor of Pharmacy Program”, with the presenting author as Dr. Quintin Broussard, PharmD, BCPS, BCCCP, BCNSP, her colleague at KGI.

Awards and Recognition

WesternU College of Pharmacy has been selected as one of the inaugural Academia – Community Transformation (ACT) Community Pharmacy Centers of Excellence from AACP! The award recognizes institutions that have demonstrated a significant commitment to community pharmacy advancement in teaching, service, scholarship, leadership and partnerships. This national honor has been awarded to only 18 out of 143 schools of pharmacy around the nation, and the only one in our state. The Centers of Excellence will serve as ambassadors for pharmacy academia through convenings with pharmacy and healthcare industry leaders, uniting to mobilize and amplify community pharmacy practice transformation efforts.  The achievement is a result of a collaborative team effort from Drs. Micah Hata (who will serve as our ACT champion), Anandi Law and Preeti Kotha! They will be formally recognized by the AACP during the annual meeting in Boston next month.

Awards and Recognition

In late March 2024, Dr. Shawn Smith was appointed to the San Bernardino County Health Center Governing Board by the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors.

Dr. Cynthia Jackevicius has been invited to serve as a member of the American Heart Association (AHA) International Committee for a 2-year term from July 2024 – June 2026. This committee’s work involves supporting AHA’s international initiatives, strategies and programs.

Dr. Cynthia Jackevicius was  reappointed to the AHA Outpatient Quality Improvement Advisory Committee as a member for the same 2-year term. This group provides strategic guidance and direction to the AHA to support implementation of quality improvement efforts related to cardiovascular disease in the outpatient setting.

Publications

Drs. John Andraos, David Pham and Shawn Smith along with one of Dr. Pham’s colleagues published a recent paper, Narrative Review of Data Supporting Alternative First-Line Therapies Over Metformin in Type 2 Diabetes, where they discuss the relevant literature regarding the downgrading of metformin as a lone first line agent for type 2 diabetes: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40200-024-01406-6

Moon J, Ozaki AF, Chong A, Sud M, Fang J, Austin PC, Ko DT, Jackevicius CA. Comparing Measures of Adherence and Persistence to P2Y12 Inhibitors in Acute Coronary Syndromes. Am J Cardiol. 2024 May 1:S0002-9149(24)00329-1.doi:10.1016/j.amjcard.2024.04.047

Awards and Recognition

Dr. Cynthia Jackevicius was recently appointed as a Director to the Board of Directors of Pharmacotherapy Publications, Inc. (PPI) for a 2-year term. The PPI Board provides oversight and direction for both official journals of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP), Pharmacotherapy and the Journal of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (JACCP) in addition to other professional publications associated with ACCP.

Presentations

Dr. Law was an invited speaker at University Of Oklahoma College Of Pharmacy Ashby Distinguished Lecture Series March 4, 2024. The title of her talk was ‘A 360 degree on pharmacy: view through a new lens.’

Dr. Pan gave a podium presentation at APhA with Dr. Law as the senior author.

Pan, X., Estephan, D., Kim, E., Tran, M., Lee, S. J., & Law, A. V. (2024). Comprehension, cosmetics, convenience, content, and credibility of infographic patient information leaflets (iPILs) compared to existing PILs (ePILs) Podium presentation at APhA2023 Annual Meeting and Exposition, March 22-25, 2024.

Dr. Shawn Smith was highlighted in a video in the opening session of APhA, with his work at Symba Center highlighted. He proudly wore his WesternU jacket for all to see! If a video is available for general viewing, we will be sure to share it.

Dr. Smith also gave a CE presentation entitled Innovations in Homeless Healthcare: An Interdisciplinary Wellness Approach, at the APhA meeting.

Posters

Several posters were presented at APhA by residents (Drs. Lamie, Yu, and Zamora) and fellows (Dr. Pan), with Dr. Law and Dr. Hata as senior and/or co-authors:

Pan, X., Kim, E., Lee, S. J., Nguyen, T., Pitt, B., Wilcox, C., Shah, S., & Law, A. V. (2024). Examining the impact of loop diuretic-induced overactive bladder on quality of life in heart failure patients: Physician and patient perspectives. Poster presentation at APhA2023 Annual Meeting and Exposition, March 22-25, 2024.

Yu, A., Pan, X., Mancilla, K., Law, A. V., & Hata, M. (2024). How can the pharmacy profession improve equity and access to healthcare for the unhoused population? Poster presentation at the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Conference.

Zamora, J., Peraza, J., Pan, X., Law, A. V., & Hata, M. (2024). Comparison of redesigned and existing patient information leaflets on cosmetics, convenience, content, and credibility in Spanish-speaking patients. Poster presentation at the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Conference.

Lamie, M., Pan, X., Sarino, L., Cheng, D., Law, A. V., & Hata, M. (2024). Assess the influence of SDOH resource guide on pharmacist’ SDOH assessments. Poster presentation at the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Conference.

P. Desai, S. Prabhu, “Tumor treating fields (TTFields) targeted self-assembling nanoparticles for pancreatic cancer treatment: in vitro and in vivo assessment”.  The poster was shortlisted as a meritorious poster; only 33 posters were shortlisted from over 7,000 presented. This research work was funded through a Novocure-AACR Research Fellowship grant and the findings were recently filed for a patent.

K. Bang and P. Desai, “Development of paclitaxel-loaded nanoparticles with high charge density”  Ms. Bang has accepted an offer to continue her PhD work at the University of California, San Francisco this fall.

Publications

Moon J, Udell JA, Chong A, Fang J, Austin PC, Ko DT, Stukel TA, Atzema CL, Booth GL, Tu K, Naimark DMJ, Jackevicius CA. Time to SGLT2 inhibitors initiation in patients with heart failure. J Am Heart Assoc 2024;13:e032296. Epub 2024 Mar 2. DOE: 10.1161.JAHA.123.032296.

Oelschlaeger P, Kaadan H, Dhungana R. Strategies to name metallo-b-lactamases and number their residues. Antibiotics (Basel) (2023), 12, 1746. DOI: 10.3390/antibiotics12121746

Oelschlaeger P. Molecular mechanisms and the significance of synonymous mutations Biomolecules (2024), 14, 132.  DOI: 10.3390/biom14010132

Awards and Recognition

Dr. Chow served as co-chair on the overall American Heart Association Chronic Kidney Metabolic Health (CKMH) initiative and SAG, and also served on this subcommittee with others to provide input during the development of a risk calculator. This important initiative created the PREVENT calculator, the development of the model was led by Sadiya Khan MD and Jo Coresh, MD, PhD (and the epi research team at Hopkins).

Dr. Preeti Kotha:  WesternU Pharmacy has been awarded an Mpox Grant of $55,000 by CDPH!  This grant will support various initiatives aimed at increasing awareness about Mpox, providing education and facilitating access to vaccines to those persons who may face barriers.  WesternU Pharmacy’s commitment to providing vaccines at the Pride Center and WesternU Pharmacy during the outbreak in 2022 played a significant role in securing this grant.

Dr. Jasmine An has been leading our TikTok social media initiative and has created a unique and creative acetaminophen toxicity video explained through cat memes.  Dr. An has created content with a common medication (acetaminophen) mechanism of action.  The acetaminophen toxicity video has now accumulated 1.5 million views. There are over 1,000 comments posted, with many wishing all drugs were taught this way!

Publications

Fraser M, Page RL, Chow SL, Alexy T, Peters L.  Pharmacotherapy in the Heart Transplant Recipient: A Primer for Nurse Clinicians and Pharmacists. Clinical Transplantation 2024.  Accepted January 17, 2024.

Dr. Chow has previously published on complementary and alternative medications in cardiovascular disease and was recently asked to share her expertise on this article in Medscape about ginkgo injections on behalf of the American Heart Association in this linked article.

Publications

Dr. David Pham collaborated with endocrinologist colleagues from Santa Barbara on a comprehensive review of continuous glucose monitoring in pregnant women with Type 1 diabetes, entitled: Pharm DQ, Thorsell A, Castorino K, Cobb B. A review of CONCEPTT study findings including subanalyses in pregnant women using continuous glucose monitoring with type 1 diabetes and their offspring. Endocr Connect 2024;13:e230407.  Dr. Pham was lead and corresponding author for this detailed review, successfully working with his colleagues for 2 years to complete this important work. Please see the link below and PDF attached.

Dr. Shawn Smith was the lead author on a paper that started initially as a CAPSLEAD project surveying students at 14 pharmacy schools in California. The final paper involved several WesternU student pharmacists since its inception (now WesternU alumni: Destiny Farihi , Nalea Trujillo, Sharon Truong , Tracy Ly , Stephanie Lee, Leslie Banuelos), as well as faculty from 2 other schools of pharmacy, and is entitled:  Smith SR, Banuelos L, Tujillo N, Farihi D, Lee S, Truong S, Ly T, Dadiomov D, Kawahara N, Gavaza P. Adverse childhood experiences among California student pharmacists. Mental Health Clinician 2024;14: 1–9.  The study found a high prevalence of adverse childhood experiences among other related findings.

Posters

Moon J, Udell JA, Chong A, Fang J, Austin P, Ko DT, Stukel T, Atzema C, Booth G, Tu, K, Naimark D, Jackevicius C. Time to SGLT2i initiation in patients with heart failure. Circulation 2023;148:15007.

Kiener T, Roosan D, Le Q. Impact of CDK4/6 inhibitors on health-related quality of life outcomes in patients with metastatic breast cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis” was awarded a Bronze medal. Also, it was selected as a moderated oncology poster tour.

Kiener T, Yousif A, Le Q, Roosan D, Jeong A. Evaluating body mass index effects of ocrelizumab administration in patients with multiple sclerosis.

Dr. Nare Hakobyan, WesternU PGY1 Pharmacy Resident, under the direction of Dr. Janice Hoffman, presented a poster at CSHP in October 2023 and ASHP last week on her project titled, “Evaluation of Nirmatrelvir/Ritonavir Use in Skilled Nursing Facility Residents During the COVID-19 Pandemic.”  Co-investigators on the project include Dr. Minelie Asadorian (WesternU residency alumn), Dr. Aida Oganesyan (WesternU alum and preceptor), Dr. Jeff Wang (WesternU faculty), and Dr. Hoffman.

Dr. Mariam Lamie, WesternU PGY1 Community-Based Pharmacy Resident, under the direction of Dr. Hata was awarded a $2500 grant from the American Pharmacists Association for her project titled, “Assessing the influence of SDOH resource guide on pharmacists’ SDOH assessments.”  Co-investigators on the project include Dr. Hata, Dr. Anandi Law, and Dr. Skai Pan (WesternU fellow).

Dr. Anni Yu, WesternU PGY1 Community-Based Pharmacy Resident, under the direction of Dr. Hata was awarded a $1000 grant from the American Pharmacists Association for her project titled, “Assessing how the pharmacy profession can improve equity and access for the unhoused population.” Co-investigators on the project include Dr. Hata, Dr. Anandi Law, Dr. Skai Pan, and Dr. Kevin Mancilla (WesternU alumn and preceptor).

Publications

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

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

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

Novel Prediction Equations for Absolute Risk Assessment of Total Cardiovascular Disease Incorporating Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic Health: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association, Khan SS, Coresh J, Pencina MJ, Ndumele CE, Ragaswami J, Chow SL, Palaniappan LP, Sperling LS, Virani SS, Ho JE, Neeland IJ, Tuttle KR, Rajgopal R,, Elkind MS, Lloyd-Jones DM; on behalf of the American Heart Association.  Circulation. 2023;XXX:e00–e00. DOI: 10.1161/CIR.0000000000001191.

Dr. Chow also had a peer-reviewed editorial published last month: Page RL, Chow SL. Polypharmacy and the Clinical Inertial Conundrum for GDMT JACC Heart Fail. 2023 14:S2213-1779(23)00542-5.  doi: 10.1016/j.jchf.2023.08.015.

Awards and Recognition

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

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

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

Presentations

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

Dr. Janice Hoffman was very active at the recent (California Association of Long term Care Medicine) CALTCM Summit for Excellence Annual Meeting Nov 2-4 2023 at the Sheraton Universal City. She delivered 2 invited presentations plus a roundtable discussion. Hoffman J. New Drugs for Older Adults 2022-23; Hoffman J, Ferrini R, Wasserman M. Conflict Resolution; Hoffman J, Oganesyan A.A roundtable on the Beers’ criteria Update

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

Posters

“Effect of pre-transplant angiotensin II type 1 receptor antibody (AT1R-Ab) positivity on kidney transplantation graft outcomes,” Nare Gevorgyan, Pharm.D, Yassir Qazi, MD, David Min, Pharm.D. (Presenting), the Scientific Poster Session I – Original Research on Saturday, November 11, 2023

“Non-Inferiority Trials: A Systematic Review On Methodological Quality and Reporting Standards,” Anthony Sengul PharmD, APh (Presenting), Edison Escobar PharmD, John R. Flores PharmD, Michelle Kwok PharmD, Shogo Kono PharmD, Gordon Guyatt MD, Cynthia Jackevicius BScPhm, PharmD, MSc., Scientific Poster Session II: Late-Breaking Original Research Sunday November 12, 2023

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

Kim C, Asadorian M, Marco N, Oganesyan A, Hoffman J.  “Utilizing and prescribing practice of opioid therapy in older adults within a skilled nursing facility” California Association of Long-Term Care Medicine (CALTCM) Summit of Excellence, Universal City, CA, November 2023. (Encore)  (This is based on a 2023 WesternU COP graduate AE project with Dr. Kim.)

Hakobyan N, Asadorian M, Marco N, Oganesyan A, Hoffman J. “Evaluation of Paxlovid Use in Skilled Nursing Facility Residents During the COVID-19 Pandemic” California Association of Long-Term Care Medicine (CALTCM) Summit of Excellence, Universal City, CA, November 2023.  (Dr. Hakobyan is the current LAJH resident, and a 2023 WesternU graduate.)

Asadorian M, Marco N, Oganesyan A, Hoffman J. “Pharmacist-led interdisciplinary transition of care medication reconciliation of short-term patients in a skilled nursing facility, a pilot study” California Association of Long-Term Care Medicine (CALTCM) Summit of Excellence, Universal City, CA, November 2023. (Dr. Asadorian was Dr. Hoffman’s LAJH resident and this research of hers from 2023 won second place in the research category.)

Awards and Recognition

Dean Sunil Prabhu, BPharm, PhD, is the featured guest on the podcast EdUp HealthUp with host Geoffrey M. Roche and on the Pharmacy Focus: Student Edition podcast from Pharmacy Times.

Dr. Janice Hoffman was part of the CALTCM grant writing team that secured a $750,000 education grant from CDPH’s Healthcare-Associated Infection Program for CALTCM to work with underperforming skilled nursing facilities to improve leadership and infection control. She is also participating in teaching 3 cohorts, totaling 30 Medicare score 1-2 star skilled nursing facilities to improve their ratings with improved leadership and infection control. Their project, the Leadership and Management in Geriatrics Infection Prevention and Control Leadership Program combines the methodology from two established CALTCM programs, CALTCM SNF 2.0® and CALTCM’s Leadership and Management in Geriatrics (LMG)®. It combines leadership training, Quality Assurance/Process Improvement (QAPI) exercises, and interactive team-based training to build cohesive leadership teams that will work collaboratively and effectively to improve processes critical to the delivery of safe, high-quality, person-centered care.

Symposiums and Presentations

Dr. Jignesh Patel was part of the planning committee for the inaugural Southern California Society of Critical Care Medicine regional, multidisciplinary symposium held on September 15, with planning taking place over the last year. The theme of the symposium was cardiac arrest and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). They had a great turnout of over 80 people join in person and over 20 people via Zoom, with plans for the symposium to become annual event. At this symposium, Dr. Patel had an abstract accepted for platform presentation which was on preliminary results of his on-going study of various medication regimens for the management of advanced liver failure. Co-authors on this abstract included 3 alumni (Kenneth Mata (CO 2022), Michelle Tran and Nalea Trujillo (CO 2023), as well as COP faculty, Dr. Patrick Chan.  They won the top scoring abstract award from a very competitive pool of candidates, an award that was created and presented by the founding father of this Southern California SCCM Chapter. Dr. Patel also served as an abstract reviewer for this symposium. Dr. Patel’s involvement with this symposium and award provide excellent exposure for WesternU and his research group.

Transforming our Understanding of Continuous Glucose Monitoring and its Impact both Outpatient and Inpatient; Joelle Ayoub, PharmD, BCACP, APh; Huan Mark Nguyen, PharmD, BCPS, FCSHP; CSHP Seminar

Pearls to Transforming Your Curriculum Vitae; Joelle Ayoub, PharmD, BCACP, APh; CSHP Seminar

Updates on Beta-Lactam Dose Optimization Across Various Modes of Renal Replacement Therapies; Jignesh Patel, PharmD., B.Sc.; Erik Skoglund, PharmD; CSHP Seminar

Update on Beers’ Criteria 2023 and Age-friendly Safe Medication Use; Janice Hoffman-Simen, PharmD, EdD, APh, BCGP, FASCP; Aida Oganesyan, PharmD, BS,APh, BCGP; CSHP Seminar

Posters

Dr. Erik Skoglund presented the following poster at ID week last week, that also involved COP students:  Skoglund E, Banuelos L, Farihi D. Evaluation of a Weighted-Incidence Syndromic Combination Antibiogram (WISCA) to guide empiric therapy in pneumonia. Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) ID Week. Oct 2023. Boston, MA.

The WesternU CAPSLEAD poster was presented by the below students and supported by faculty advisors, Drs. Andraos, Bulley, Chan, and Smith: Assessing Student Pharmacists’ Confidence in Counseling Drug Classes Within the Top 200 Drugs; Annie Lam, PharmD 25’ Candidate; Daniel Huynh, PharmD 25’ Candidate; Nancy Huynh, PharmD 25’ Candidate; Quyen Nguyen, PharmD 25’ Candidate; Sharon Kim, PharmD 25’ Candidate; Thu Phu, PharmD 25’ Candidate; Victoria Le, PharmD 25’ Candidate; Marilyn Carrasco, PharmD 26’ Candidate; John Andraos, PharmD, APh; Patrick Chan, PharmD, PhD; Shawn Smith, PharmD, APh; Simon A. Bulley, PhD

Dr. Janice Hoffman also had a poster presentation: Christine Kim, PharmD Candidate 2023 , Minelie Asadorian, PharmD, Noah Marco, MD2 Aida Oganesyan, PharmD, APh, BCGP , Janice Hoffman, PharmD, EdD, APh, BCGP, FASCP  “Utilizing and prescribing practice of opioid therapy in older adults within a skilled nursing facility”.

Publications

Moon J, Ozaki AF, Chong A, Sud M, Fang J, Austin PC, Ko DT, Jackevicius CA. Trajectories of P2Y12 inhibitor adherence in patients with acute coronary syndromes. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Safety 2023; doi: 10.1002/pds.5704.

Dr. Jenny Kang worked with 2 WesternU COP students (now in P3), James Hariyanto and Ashley Ma, as the senior author to publish the following critical appraisal of the SURMOUNT-1 trial in a recent issue of the Journal of Contemporary Pharmacy Practice.

Awards and Recognition

Congratulations to the following dedicated employee for their milestone years of service here:

20 years: Jeffrey Wang

Publications

Ton IT, Moon J, Sengul A, Mody FV, Rahman T, Han J, Jackevicius CA. Evidence-based cardiovascular disease medicines’ availability in low-cost generic drug programs in the United States. Ann Intern Med 2023; doi:10.7326/M23-0287.

Awards and Recognition

Dr. Jason Wong was appointed to serve as a member on ASHP’s Section of Community Pharmacy Practitioners Education, Communication, and Training Advisory Group for the 2023-2024 term. He was chosen from a record number of qualified nominations because of his skills and potential insight.

“Dr. Lacroix (COMP) and Dr. Luo (COP) have been awarded a total of $1,476,258 for their multi-PI NIH R01 renewal titled, “Pharmacological modulation of mechanosensitive Piezo ion channels .”   Previous R01 funding (2019-2023) led the WesternU team to identify structural bases for Piezo1 modulation by mechanical force and small molecules. These important discoveries were published in high-impact journals, including Nature Communications, PNAS, Cell Report, and Communications Biology.   This R01 renewal (2023-2027) will leverage this structural knowledge to rationally design new modulators that may lead to novel therapeutic approaches for a diversity of diseases such as malaria, cancer, hypertension and lymphedema.”

Presentations

Dr. Chow gave the following invited presentation on Friday, July 14th for the 29th Annual San Diego Heart Failure Symposium through UCSD School of Medicine, La Jolla, CA:  Complementary and Alternative Medicines for Treating CV Disease lecture, followed by case study panel discussant.

Dr. Moses Chow gave the following invited presentations in South Africa, Macao, and Guangzhou, China: Pharmacy Education in the Era of AI-a Personal Perspective. School of Pharmacy, University of Western Cape, Cape Town, S. Africa June 14, 2023; Improving the Success of Translational Research – Journal of an Academic Pharmacist. School of Pharmacy, University of Western Cape, Cape Town, S. Africa June 14, 2023; AI Challenge to the Pharmacy Profession and Human Society-How Can We Best Adapt?  11th AASP Conference, Macao, China August 4, 2023; Tisdale J, Chow M, Desai P. Enhancing Pharmacy Education/Research to Meet the Challenge of AI-a Therapeutics Grand Rounds Demonstration. 11th AASP Conference, Macao, China August 4, 2023; Challenge to Pharmacy Profession by Artificial Intelligence-How Can We Best Adapt? 2nd Sun Yat-sen University International Pharmacy Symposium. Guangzhou, China. Aug 5, 2023

Publications

Ozaki AF, Ko DT, Chong A, Fang J, Austin P, Stukel T, Udell JA, Gillian B, Atzema C, Naimark D, Tu K, Jackevicius C. Prescribing patterns and factors associated with sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor prescribing in patients with diabetes mellitus and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. CMAJ Open 2023;11:E494-E503.

Jackevicius CA. Pharmacists are medication stewards. Can J Hosp Pharm 2023;76:3-4. (editorial)

Godoy LC, Farkouh ME, Austin PC, Shah BR, Qiu F, Jackevicius CA, Wijeysundera HC, Krumholz HM, Ko DT. Association of beta-blocker therapy with cardiovascular outcomes in patients with stable ischemic heart disease. JACC 2023;81:2299-2311.

Shweikialrefaee B, Ko DT, Fang J, Pang A, Austin PC, Dorian P, Singh SM, Jackevicius CA, Tu K, Lee DS, Abdel-Qadir H. Statin use and stroke rate in older adults with atrial fibrillation: a population-based cohort study. JAHA 2023;12:e028381. DOI: 10.1161/JAHA.122.028381. 

Shurrab M, Ko DT, Jackevicius CA, Tu K, Middleton A, Michael F, Austin PC. A review of the use of propensity score methods with multiple treatments in the general internal medical literature. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf 2023;1-15. DOI: 10.1002/pds.5635

Shurrab M, Jackevicius CA, Austin PC, Tu K, Qiu F, Singh SM, Crystal E, Caswell J, Faith M, Andrade JG, Ko DT. Association between concurrent use of amiodarone and DOACs and bleeding risk in atrial fibrillation patients. Am J Cardiol 2023;186:58-65.

Dr. Chow was a co-author and the sole pharmacist author on the American Heart Association Scientific Statement “Dual-organ transplantation: indications, evaluation, and outcomes of rheart-kidney and heart-liver transplantation”. This important transplant scientific statement was just published in Circulation and was many years of work in preparation.  Link to the AHA Science News page on Professional Heart Daily which includes the commentary by Shelley Hall, and the Top  Things to Know written by Rashmi Jain. Dual-Organ Transplantation: Indications, Evaluation, and Outcomes for Heart-Kidney and Heart-Liver Transplantation – Professional Heart Daily | American Heart Association

Drs. Andraos and Smith, along with Dr. Andraos’ former student from Touro (now a PGY1 resident) published the following article, a thorough review of the evidence of a newer antihyperglycemic agent, tirzepatide, with GLP-1 analogues. It has already been accessed 285 times online on the journal website.  Andraos J, Muhar H, Smith SR. Beyond glycemia: comparing tirzepatide to GLP-1 analogues. Rev Endocr Metab Disord (2023).

Awards and Recognition

Dr. John Andraos passed the board exam to become a Board Certified Ambulatory Care Pharmacist (BCACP) through the Board of Pharmacy Specialties. This certification recognizes Dr. Andraos’ expertise in Ambulatory Care Pharmacy Practice and validates that he has the advanced knowledge and experience to optimize therapy for ambulatory patients.

Dr. Don Roosan’s expertise in informatics was recognized as he has been invited to serve as a guest editor for the journal MDPI for the special issue “The Applications of Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence in Pharmacy and Healthcare”.

Presentations

Dr. Julie Darnell presented the session “Watch Your Language! Principles of Inclusive Communication to Promote Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Anti-racism, and Well-being” as part of a panel of speakers on Sunday, July 23, 2023 at the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Annual Meeting.

Dr. Jasmine An provided an invited CE presentation at The 2023 Western Foot and Ankle Conference in June 2023, which is one of the largest podiatric continuing education meetings in the country. During her presentation called “The Impact of Polypharmacy on Balance and Fall Risk”, she provided her geriatrics expertise in relation to polypharmacy and introduced the concept of deprescribing to increase the awareness of podiatric providers regarding the impact of medications in relation to potential differential diagnosis.

Publications

Darnell JC, Lou M, Goldstone LW. Evaluating change in student pharmacists’ familiarity, attitudes, comfort, and knowledge as a result of integrating digital health topics into a case conference series: cohort study. JMIR Med Educ 2013;9:e43313.

Awards and Recognition

Dean Sunil Prabhu, BPharm, PhD, was unanimously elected as the Chair of the California Pharmacy Council (CPC) during the recently concluded California Pharmacists Association (CPhA) annual meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Drs. Bradley Andresen, Jianming Xie, and Peter Oelschlaeger were awarded a 2023-2024 Intramural Award by the University Research Office.

Dr. David Jesse Sanchez was awarded a R03 grant in the amount of $143,000 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of NIH for the project “HIV Redirecting Innate Immunity by Vpu Targeting of JAK1”.  This grant focuses on the discovery by Dr. Sanchez’s laboratory that HIV can destroy a key protein in immune cells that would normally allow a cell to stop the virus from replicating.  Understanding how HIV targets this protein may allow new avenues of therapy allowing the immune system to recover antiviral activity against HIV.  With this grant, Dr. Sanchez’s laboratory in the College of Pharmacy has been awarded more than $1.1 million in NIH funding to study the immune response to HIV and AIDS.

Presentations

Dr. Erik Skoglund showcased his infectious disease expertise in multiple ways recently in presentations and authorship.  He gave an invited presentation last month on blood culture contamination and strategies for reducing their clinical impact at a regional microbiology conference in Ohio: Skoglund E. Best practice for blood culture collection and impact on reducing contamination rates. Platform presentation.  South Central Association for Clinical Microbiology. 2023. Sandusky, Ohio.

Publications

Wang J (BPSD), Chow SL (PPAD), Chow MSS (PPAD), Paik A (MSPS 2019), Louie SG (USC), Dong F (CPM), Sathananthan A (COMP), White S (COMP) J Sex Med. 2023 May 4:qdad056. doi: 10.1093/jsxmed/qdad056. Online ahead of print. PMID: 37147929 Pharmacokinetics comparison of vardenafil as administered by an intranasal spray formulation vs a 10-mg oral tablet.

Mercado A (PharmD 2023), Pham A (PharmD 2024), Wang Z (Ketchum University), Huang W (City of Hope), Chan P (PPAD), Ibrahim H (Kaiser San Jose), Gogineni H (PPAD), Huang Y (BPSD), Wang J (BPSD)  Front Pharmacol. 2023 Apr 5;14:1133415. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2023.1133415. eCollection 2023. PMID: 37089960 PMCID: PMC10113450  Effects of bariatric surgery on drug pharmacokinetics – Preclinical studies.

Eunhee Kim, Marcia M. Worley, Anandi V. Law. Pharmacist roles in the medication use process: Perceptions of patients, physicians, and pharmacists. Journal of the American Pharmacists Association (2023).

Skoglund E, Howington G. Ampicillin. In: Mattu A and Swadron S, ed. CorePendium. Burbank, CA: CorePendium, LLC. https://www.emrap.org/corependium/drug/recgEEjUchuspYT2f/Ampicillin. Updated April 10, 2023.

Skoglund E. Acyclovir. In: Mattu A and Swadron S, ed. CorePendium. Burbank, CA: CorePendium, LLC. https://www.emrap.org/corependium/drug/recSPWLHK7Zk97oHi/Acyclovir. Updated May 11, 2023.

Dr. Don Roosan published a book chapter “Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence: Applications in Pharmacy” in the book titled “Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence”. This chapter addresses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Augmented Reality (AR) applications in pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences.

Awards and Recognition

Congratulations to the following dedicated employees for their milestone years of service here:

10 years: Abdul Hamid

5 years: Benito Machado

Dr. Kabir Lutfy’s support and guidance through the research process of the MSMS 2023 students who received second place for their project presentation in the MSMS Research Symposium.

Dr. Kabir Lutfy was awarded the 2023 Outstanding Review Editor certificate from Frontiers.

Dr. Micah Hata was re-installed as a CPhA Officer on the Board of Trustees.

Dr. Preeti Kotha began her position as SIG Chair-elect (Community Pharmacy) for 2023-24 and will be Chair next year 2024-25.

Upon invitation, Dr. Rachel Ryu contributed cardiology items for the Annual Pharmacy Quiz Bowl Competition, which is a state-wide competition among the California schools of pharmacy.

Dr. Shawn Smith received a CPhA award. Click here to read the article.

Posters

Sardar PK, Yeung S, Shahid A, Andresen BT, Huang Y. Effect of the β-blocker carvedilol in DMBA-induced mammary gland tumor growth. AACR Annual Meeting. April 2023 (Poster presentation)

Shahid A, Andresen BT, Lutfy K, Huang Y. Deletion of β2-adrenergic receptor (Adrb2) gene protects skin injuries induced by chemical warfare agents. Society of Toxicology Annual Meeting. March 2023 (Poster presentation)

Congues F, Huang Y, and Andresen BT. Role of Intracellular Ca2+ in Neoplastic Transformation of Murine Epidermal Cells. UC Irvine 6th Annual Skin Symposium. Jan 20, 2023 (Poster presentation)

Publications

Shamim MA, Shahid A, Sardar PK, Yeung S, Reyes J, Kim J, Parsa C, Orlando R, Wang J, Kelly KM, Meyskens FL Jr, Andresen BT, Huang Y. Transfersome Encapsulated with the R-carvedilol Enantiomer for Skin Cancer Chemoprevention. Nanomaterials 2023, 13, 929. Author information: Shamim MA is an MSBPS alumnus, Sardar P is a current MSBPS student, and Kim J is part of PharmD 2022.

Escolero V, Tolentino L, Muhammad AB, Hamid A, Lutfy K. The Involvement of Endogenous Enkephalins in Glucose Homeostasis. Biomedicines. 2023; 11(3):671.

Iqbal A, Hamid A, Ahmad SM, Lutfy K. The Role of Mu Opioid Receptors in High Fat Diet-Induced Reward and Potentiation of the Rewarding Effect of Oxycodone. Life. 2023; 13(3):619.

Tolentino L, Iqbal A, Rahman S, Lutfy K. The Role of Beta-Endorphin in Food Deprivation-Mediated Increases in Food Intake and Binge-Eating. Brain Sciences. 2023; 13(2):212.

Dr. Jignesh Patel published a manuscript entitled Retrospective evaluation of chemical venous thromboembol.

Prabhu, S., Desai, P., Thakkar, A. Lipid emulsified drug delivery systems for chemoprevention and treatment. US 11607384B2, United States Patent and Trademark Office, 21 May 2023. Click here to read.

Presentations

Shane Desselle, Anandi V. Law, Sanna Passi and Efi Mantzourani. ‘A Culture for Sustained Mentoring: Organizational Perspective.’ FIP webinar on May 2, 2023.

Seena Haines, Anandi V. Law, Ginger Lemay and Shawn Riser Taylor. ‘Pharmily Flow: Incorporation of Yoga Practice & Principles in Pharmacy Curricula’. AACP Webinar on April 25, 2023.

Anandi V. Law, ‘Making a Meaningful Contribution to the Literature.’ Invited panelist for Rx Writing Challenge Spring 2023.

Awards and Recognition

Congratulations to the following dedicated employees for their milestone years of service here:

15 years: Janice Hoffman

20 years: Kabirullah Lutfy

Dr. Anandi V. Law, Associate Dean of Assessment, received the Research Achievement Award in the Pharmaceutical Sciences at the APhA annual meeting on March 26, 2023 in Phoenix, AZ. This award from the APhA Academy of Pharmaceutical Research and Sciences recognizes members who have accomplished outstanding research and peer-reviewed publications in the scientific professional literature. To qualify, they must have an established “stream of research”, international recognition, leadership and other recognitions, new concepts/innovative research in pharmaceutical sciences, utilization/implementation of research by the profession, research community, and other disciplines.

Dr. Ryu has also accepted an invitation to serve as an Editorial Board Member for the journal, Clinical and Applied Thrombosis/Hemostasis (IF=3.512);

Dr. Ryu was elected and installed as an officer for CSHP’s Inland Chapter (ISHP), as Membership Committee Chair. She will serve in this capacity from 2023-2024.

Publications

Elizabeth Buckley, Simi Gunaseelan, Benjamin D. Aronson, Heidi N. Anksorus, Victoria Belousova, Tram B. Cat, Kristine M. Cline, Stacey D. Curtis, Christina E. DeRemer, David Fuentes, McKenzie S. Grinalds, Seena L. Haines, Hannah E. Johnson, Karen Kopacek, Jessica M. Louie, Nkem P. Nonyel, Natasha Petry, Shawn Riser Taylor, Suzanne C. Harris, Cheryl A Sadowski and Anandi V. Law. Well-being Content Inclusion in Pharmacy Education Across the United States and Canada. Am J Pharm Educ 2023; 87(3) ajpe8918; DOI: https://doi.org/10.5688/ajpe8918 (also attached)

Michelle L. Blakely, Elias B. Chahine, Roshni P. Emmons, Emily F. Gorman, Kevin N. Astle, Jay L. Martello, T. Joseph Mattingly, Anna Nogid, Amy Pick, Anandi V. Law. AACP Faculty Affairs Standing Committee Report of Strategies for Faculty Self-Advocacy and Promotion. Am J Pharm Educ 2023; ISSN 0002-9459. (In Press, Journal Pre-Proof).

Dr. Ryu published an original manuscript as well as 2 distinct letters in JAMA and Clinical and Applied Thrombosis/Hemostasis. Dr. Ryu’s work in her original manuscript examines the potential impact of holidays on INR goal attainment in a retrospective cohort study. The letters provide a chance for her to share her expertise regarding new evidence on DOACs in valvular heart disease, as well as add critical insight about a retrospective study that identified an association between ARBs and epilepsy in hypertension.

“Association Between Use of Angiotensin Receptor Blockers and Incidence of Epilepsy in Patients With Hypertension” Click Here to Read

“DOACs in Valvular Heart Disease: Latest Key Updates on PROACT Xa (Apixaban) and INVICTUS (Rivaroxaban)” Click Here to Read

“Potential Association of Holidays on Internationalized Normalized Ratio in Warfarin-Users at a Multidisciplinary Clinic” Click Here to Read

Awards and Recognition

Shawn Smith received 2 grants through the Symba Center recently, both related to enhancing provision of COVID-19 testing and treatment initiatives.

The first is a $55,000 award from Duke University’s The RADx-UP CDCC Community Collaboration Mini-Grant Program provides for direct costs to support community partners to help advance capacity, training, support, and community experience with COVID-19 testing initiatives. Symba Center will use funding to remove barriers to COVID-19 communication and outreach, COVID-19 testing and diagnosis, and COVID-19 data collection and dissemination testing. They will also provide training and education for community members around COVID-19 testing topics of interest or generate communication materials related to COVID-19 testing.

The second is a $348,000 award from the California Department of Public Health. CDPH partnered with Physicians for a Healthy California and Center for Care Innovations to expanding access to COVID-19 therapeutics to communities disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Symba Center plans to increase the number of safety net providers that provide access to COVID-19 therapeutics for eligible patients within 48 hours of patient presenting to care and to increase utilization of COVID-19 therapeutics by communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. They will hire clinical providers including a nurse practitioner and pharmacist who are designated by the FDA Emergency Use Authorization to prescribe antivirals and monoclonal antibodies. These providers serve local homeless shelters and homeless encampments in the area as well as accept community referrals.

Publications

Mercadante AR, Chen AMH, Chu V, Wong JC, Law AV. Examining General Vaccine Acceptance and COVID-19 Vaccine Intention: Comparison across Pharmacies in California and Ohio. Pharmacy. 2023; 11(2):46.

Erik Skoglund, Joelle Ayoub, Huan Mark Nguyen, Precepting strategies to develop trainee resilience and overcome unexpected challenges in experiential learning, American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 2023 Mar.

Hyma Gogineni was the primary author for a book chapter, Chapter 3 Neurobiology and Mechanisms of Nicotine Addiction, that she wrote along with her colleagues Dr. David Sachs and Dr. Darlene Brunzell in “Tobacco Dependence a Comprehensive Guide for Prevention & Treatment” which has been published electronically. This book was created for the American Thoracic Society fellows, medical residents and all healthcare professionals.

Moses Chow published an article that was inspired by the FOD seminar series: Therapeutic Grand Rounds (TGR): Practice and Research in the Age of AI. The first article which contains Dr. Chow’s introduction to the TGR was published as an editorial (which was written per request of the Journal editor, Dr. Jerry Bauman) in the March issue of the Journal of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (JAACP). Dr. Chow hopes that additional TGR articles will be published in future issues of the Journal.

Presentations

Kim E, Smith S, Law AV. Validating the Comprehensive Assessment of Challenges to medication Adherence (CAChA) tool in underserved populations: Incorporating Social Determinants of Health. American Pharmacist Association Annual Meeting. Phoenix, AZ, March 2023.

Heikali D, Kugler AJ. Impact of Pharmacist-Led Education on Prescribing Practices of Guideline Directed Medical Therapy for the Management of Chronic Heart Failure. American Pharmacist Association Annual Meeting. Phoenix, AZ, March 2023.

Banh N, Hata M, Kim E, Sarino L, Merritt K, Law AV. Impact of Auto-refill Termination on Community Pharmacy Performance and Adherence Measures. American Pharmacist Association Annual Meeting and Exposition. Phoenix, AZ, March 2023.

Awards and Recognition

Congratulations to the following dedicated employees for their milestone years of service here:

15 years: Doreen Pon

College of Pharmacy Class of 2022 graduates had an outstanding showing in the National Pharmacy Licensure Exam (NAPLEX). COP is tied for the top spot in California with one other school, according to NAPLEX 2022 official results. For the first time in COP’s history, the College is ranked No. 3 (tied) in the entire nation and No. 2 (tied) among all private pharmacy schools for NAPLEX first-time passing rates.

Dr. Jignesh Patel attended the Society for Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) meeting in San Francisco in January for which he served as an abstract and case report reviewer, and moderated abstract and case report presentations, helping to facilitate discussion of all presentations within his session (Pharmacology/Research). Each presenter has 4 minutes to present and 2 minutes for questions and answers. Dr. Patel brought recognition to his critical care expertise and to WesternU at this important, multidisciplinary critical care conference.

Dr. Preeti Kotha was awarded a successful grant to WesternU Pharmacy from the Test2Treat Equity Grant by Physicians for Health California (PHC) in the amount of $45,000. This grant was established by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to assist COVID positive patients to receive treatment as soon as possible to reduce morbidity and mortality. It was opened to physician offices and some pharmacies. WesternU Pharmacy has been working closely with CDPH throughout the pandemic, and was among the pharmacies that were awarded this grant. Dr. Kotha has continually led efforts since the start of the pandemic to improve access to COVID therapeutics.

Presentations

Dr. Roosan presented to the prepharmacy club at the UCI School of Pharmacy about the future of informatics in October 2022. The club invited Dr. Roosan to present the future of AI and machine learning in the field of pharmacy. Several students showed interest in working in the field and this outreach to prepharmacy students may stimulate their interest in applying to our WesternU PharmD program.

Dr. Roosan presented his work at the International Conference on Biomedical and Health Informatics conference in November 2022 on developing an AI-based tool to score dementia test results automatically, which can be used in dementia and Alzheimer’s. The project was supported by a WesternU intramural grant that Dr. Roosan received in 2022.

Publications

Dr. Roosan and his team, which includes Dr. Law, published an article entitled “Artificial Intelligent Context-Aware Machine-Learning Tool to Detect Adverse Drug Events from Social Media Platforms” that focused on utilizing Artificial Intelligent (AI) based software to detect adverse drug events automatically from social media platforms. Click here to read. 

Dr. Roosan and his team published an article entitled “Power of Heuristics to Improve Health Information Technology System Design”. Click here to read.

Dr. Roosan and his team, which includes Dr. Law, and her fellow. Dr. Kim, published an article entitled “Development of a dashboard analytics platform for dementia caregivers to understand diagnostic test results”.

Awards and Recognition

Dr. Kabir Lutfy has recently accepted the invitation to serve as the Section Editor-in-Chief for the Neuroscience of Pain section.

Dr. Kabir Lutfy has also been serving as an Editorial Board Member for the Neuropharmacology section.

Publications

Shahid A, Chen M, Lin C, Andresen BT, Parsa C, Orlando R, Huang Y. The β-Blocker Carvedilol Prevents Benzo(a)pyrene-Induced Lung Toxicity, Inflammation and Carcinogenesis. Cancers 2023 15(3), 583.

Author information: Mengbing Chen is an MSPS alumni in Dr. Huang’s lab, and Carol Lin is part of the Class of PharmD 2024, 2022 University Summer Fellowship recipient.

Congues F, Huang Y, Andresen BT. Role of Intracellular Ca2+ in Neoplastic Transformation of Murine Epidermal Cells. UC Irvine 6th Annual Skin Symposium. 2023 January 20; Irvine CA. (Poster presentation)

Desai, P. (2022). Nanocarriers-Based Targeted Drug Delivery Systems: Small and Macromolecules. In Targeted Drug Delivery, Y. Bachhav (Ed.).

Awards and Recognition

Dr. Anandi Law has been elected as the President-Elect of our pharmacy academy, the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy! She will be installed as President-Elect in July 2023 at our annual AACP meeting in Aurora, CO and will take over the presidential reins during the 2024-2025 academic year. This is truly a remarkable career achievement for Dr. Law having worked so hard in various leadership capacities at AACP culminating in this spectacular recognition by her peers! This is also a moment of celebration for us as a College to have someone from our ranks achieve the highest office in our academy!

As Co-chair of a new initiative, Dr. Sheryl Chow served as a panel discussant at the AHA Corporate Symposium on Cardio-renal metabolic syndrome. The development of heart failure and cardiomyopathy programming and abstract sessions were led by Dr. Chow.  She was also moderator for the following heart failure-related sessions at the scientific sessions:

•  Moderator, Pecha Kucha Says It is in the Genes.  This session focused on cutting-edge data in genetics/genomics in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with heart failure.
• Moderator, Mythbusters: What Do You Really Know About Complementary And Alternative Medicines in HF Management?  This session received a significant amount of media attention and was cited in the daily AHA newsletter along with virtual interviews with speakers from this session.
• Moderator, Hot Debates In Heart Failure Diagnosis And Management.  In this session, several controversial topics were discussed including the sequencing of GDMT for HF, iron supplementation, MRI vs Echo, and the cost of tafamidis in patients with ATTR amyloidosis.

Publications

Rachel Ryu, and colleagues investigated the possible role of beta-blockers in patients receiving vasopressors and inotropes (V/I) for cardiogenic shock. Journal website.

Sheryl L. Chow, PharmD, lead author and chair of a new AHA scientific statement, The Complementary and Alternative Medicines in Heart Failure Scientific Statement.

Accomplishments of PPAD faculty at the California Society of Health-System Pharmacists (CSHP) Seminar 2022:

Poster Presentations

Drs. Jignesh Patel and Patrick Chan along with a current student and an alumni presented 2 posters:

Patel JH, Mata K, Trujillo N, Lam L, Vang N, Chan P. Evaluation of midodrine, octreotide, and albumin (MOA) therapy in patients with hepatorenal syndrome.

Tran I, Lam P, Chan P, Patel JH. Evaluation of Medications in the Treatment of AWS and the Association to Future Alcohol-Related Readmissions.

Dr. Rachel Ryu, along with 2 WesternU alumni presented the following poster: 

Gutierrez A (CO 2022), Huynh A (CO 2022), Ryu R. Potential Cost Savings of Clinical Pharmacist Interventions During Multidisciplinary Rounds.

Oral Presentations

Dr. John Andraos presented on “Semaglutide for Obesity – A New Emerging Medication in an Old but Growing Disease”.

Dr. Joelle Ayoub gave a presentation in student programing, “Conquering the Curriculum Vitae”.

Drs. Joelle Ayoub and Mark Nguyen gave a presentation together: “The Rise of Continuity of Care in COPD Management”.

Dr. Janice Hoffman gave 2 presentations with alumni:

Hoffman J & Oganesyan A: “Preparing for the Tsunami of Older Persons: Opportunities fir Pharmacists” and

Zatarain D, Oganesyan A, Hoffman J: “Medication Safety: The Pharmacist Role in Reducing Anticholinergic Burden for Older Adults”.

Dr. Rachel Ryu was invited to speak along with her pharmacist colleagues from UC Irvine, Stanford, VA San Diego, and Kaiser Permanente at a roundtable session that was called “New Practitioner Growing Pains, Presented by the CSHP New Practitioner Executive Committee.”

Committees, Board, and Other Participation

Dr. Rachel Ryu represented CSHP’s Inland chapter as a Board Member, as well as a member of CSHP’s New Practitioner Executive Committee and Membership Committee (state-wide).

Awards and Recognition:

Harriet K. and Philip Pumerantz Award for Leadership and Service

Dr. Preeti Kotha’s leadership and service were evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. She helped roll out over 35,000 vaccine doses to WesternU as well as the surrounding communities such as Pomona Unified School District, CalPoly, Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center and La Verne University. She has fostered interprofessional education and practice during this important vaccine campaign. She has been recognized by the City of Pomona for her services to the homeless and underserved communities. Her efforts also resulted in the receipt of grant funds for vaccine procurement and administration. Dr. Kotha embodies the WesternU Way of science, caring and humanism.

Provost’s Distinguished Scholar Award

Dr. Anandi Law has been an educator/researcher for over 20 years at WesternU. She has to her credit over 70 peer-reviewed articles, 96 peer-reviewed presentations, 9 book chapters and 3 reports, and serves as editor-in-chief, associate editor, and manuscript reviewer for research journals. She has been credited with the development of innovative practice/payment models. Dr. Law has received funding from the community pharmacy foundation. Her scholarly work has addressed pharmacist services, patient reported outcomes, methodology, and teaching modalities.

Dr. Shawn Smith’s Symba Center has recently been awarded a Community Routes: Access to Mental Health Care grant in the amount of $75,000. This grant is provided by Teva Pharmaceuticals, the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics (NAFC) and Direct Relief partnerships and will expand mental health counseling services to homeless shelter clients in Victorville, CA.

Dr. Smith presented a presentation at the 2022 National Association of Free and Charitable Clinic Symposium in Indianapolis, IN on ‘New Tobacco Cessation Treatment Guideline Updates’.

PPAD was well represented at the American College of Clinical Pharmacy 2022 Global Conference in San Francisco in October!

Dr. Tiffany Tran presented her posted entitled “Rationale and Methods for the Metabolic Adverse Effects of Low-Dose Quetiapine (MAEL-Q) Study” as part of the ACCP MeRIT Program.

Drs. Moses Chow and Sheryl Chow presented a poster of their clinical study entitled “Comparison of Pharmacokinetics of Vardenafil Administered Using an Intranasal Spray Formulation Vs. Single 10mg Oral Tablet”.  Other co-authors of the study are Dr. Jeffrey Wang from PSD, Amy Paik, Stan Louie, Airani Sathananthan, and Stephanie White.

Dr. Hyma Gogineni, on behalf of her team (faculty Drs. Jeff Wang, Patrick Chan, Ying Huang, WesternU alum Dr. Hajer Ibrahim, and WesternU student pharmacist Angela Mercado [CO 2023]), she received the Top Trainee Research in Progress for the study “Impact of Bariatric Surgery on Pharmacokinetics of Psychotropic Medications” by the Adult Medicine Walk Rounds Committee.

Dr. Sheryl Chow was an invited speaker for the presentation: “Telepharmacy Managing Medical Safety and Adherence in Heart Failure Patients“ in the session titled Update on Heart Failure Drug Therapies: 2022 Edition.

Dr. Anne Kugler served as a poster judge for the Endocrine and Metabolism PRN.

Publications

Wang Z, Yeung S, Yang S, Huang Y, Chow MS. Chemosensitizing Effect and Efficacy of Wilforlide A in Combination With Docetaxel in Drug-resistant Prostate Cancer. In Vivo. 2022;36(5):2020-2031. doi:10.21873/invivo.12928

Awards and Recognition

The California Association of Long Term Care Medicine (CALTCM) is an interdisciplinary, professional organization that advocates for quality of care in the continuum of long term care for older adults. CALTCM includes California physicians, medical directors, nurses, pharmacists, administrators, and other professionals working in long-term care as its members, with the majority of members being physicians.  At this meeting, Dr. Janice Hoffman started her term as the FIRST non-physician President of CALTCM.

Publications

Prince A, Sabio Y, Effron L, … Darnell D, … et al. Facing the digital divide: increasing video visits among Veterans experiencing homelessness. Ann Fam Med 2022;20:486.

Law AV, Sanchez DF, Hata M, Hsu DI. The Critical Role of the Pharmacist in the Global COVID-19 Pandemic. In: Contemporary Issues in Global Medicine and Moving Toward International Healthcare Equity. IGI Global, June 2022.

Moon J, Jackevicius C. Evidence-based appraisal of the EMPEROR-Preserved Trial. J Contemp Pharm Pract 2022;69:13-17.

WesternU Postdoc alum Dr. Amanda Mercadante recently published an article with her former director, Dr. Anandi Law – Khare M, Zimmerman K, Kazungu F,…Mercadante AR, Law AV et al. COVID-19 Vaccine Attitudes and Barriers Among Unvaccinated Residents in Rural Northern/Central Illinois. Ethnicity and Disease 2022, 32(4):305-314.

Bugarin P (2022),  Zatarain D (2021), Marco, N, Oganesyan A (WesternU alum 2013), Hoffman J.  “Economic Impact of Deprescribing Interventions Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic for Geriatric Patients Living Within the Skilled Nursing Facility”  This poster which was Patricia Bugarin’s, (PharmD 2022) Advanced Elective project won the “People’s Choice Award” as most interesting and liked poster at the conference.

Dominique Zatarain PharmD (2021), PGY1 resident at WesternU/Los Angeles Jewish Health (LAJH) also won for her research project.  Zatarain D (2021), Oganesyan A (WesternU alum 2013), Marco N, Hoffman J. “Assessing the Impact of a Pharmacist-Led Medication Review on Reducing Anticholinergic Burden in Older Adults”

Warner AL, Lu L, Ghaznavi Z, Jackevicius CA. Inpatient quality-of-care measures for heart failure: treatment gaps and opportunities in the contemporary era. Circulation Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes 2022;e008936.

Awards and Recognition

Congratulations to the following dedicated employees for their milestone years of service here:

20 years: Mark Goggin

15 years: Arbi Nazarian and Mark Nguyen

Dr. David Sanchez, Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences has been named our next Director of Diversity Equity and Inclusion. His appointment will be effective September 15, 2022. Dr. Sanchez brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in this area.

Awards and Recognition

Congratulations to the following dedicated employees for their milestone years of service here:

15 years: Moses Chow and Micah Hata

WesternU fellow and alum, Dr. Eunhee Kim won an award as one of the best trainee posters presented at the 2022 AACP Annual Meeting in Grapevine, Texas.  Dr. Kim’s poster was entitled, “Physician Perceptions of Pharmacists’ Roles in the Medication use process.”  Dr. Kim is completing her second year as the WesternU Health Outcomes Research Fellow under the guidance of Dr. Law.

At the 28th Annual San Diego Heart Failure Symposium in July 2022, Dr. Sheryl Chow was an invited speaker for the sessions: Complementary and Alternative Medicines for Treating CV Disease; and was a panelist for the panel discussion: Reducing Risk of CV and CK Disease.

Dr. Sheryl Chow was reappointed as a member of the AHA Council of Operations Committee (COC) for a 3 year term; and was appointed as co-Chair for the AHA Initiative for cardio-renal-metabolic (CRM) conditions. It’s purpose is to build a person-centered approach to creating healthier, longer lives for people at risk for or living with cardio-renal-metabolic (CRM) conditions by convening key opinion leaders, identifying areas for future research and implementation science and create a compendium that will support clinical treatment and management and address gaps.

Congratulations to Drs. Ayoub, Chung, Gogenini, Hata, Hsu, Kotha, Law, Nguyen, Pon, Ryu, and Smith on their respective presentations at at the 123rd Annual Meeting of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, July 23-27, 2022.

Dr. Julie Darnell gave these 2 invited presentations at the 123rd Annual Meeting of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, July 23-27, 2022:

“Practice Ready. Team Ready. Digital Health Ready? Preparing Students for New and Emerging Roles.”

“Don’t Reinvent the Wheel! How to Teach Digital Health Using Existing Clinical Patient Cases.”

Moses S.S. Chow, PharmD and Hyma Gogineni, PharmD presented a plenary talk entitled: Therapeutics Grand Rounds: Pharmacy Practice and Research in the Age of AI: Management of Patient with Bariatric Surgery at the 10th Asian Association of Schools of Pharmacy Conference, July 29-31, 2022 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Ying Huang, MD, PhD was an invited speaker, presenting a lecture on “Topical Drug Delivery for Skin Diseases” at the 10th Asian Association of Schools of Pharmacy Conference, July 29-31, 2022 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Publications

Wong JC, Lau CT, Yousif MM, Luga JM. Fast Tracking – Vaccine Safety, Efficacy, and Lessons Learned: A Narrative Review. Vaccines 2022;10:1256. DOI: http://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines10081256. Of note, the journal Vaccines has an impact factor of 4.961.

Ayoub J, Pon D, Nguyen M, Kugler A, Gogineni H, Kang J, Hsu D, Chung E. A longitudinal integrative course series to prepare students for advanced pharmacy practice experiences. INNOVATIONS 2022;13(2), Article 12 DOI.

Awards and Recognition

Congratulations to the following dedicated employees for their milestone years of service here:

15 years: David Pham
10 years: Anne Kugler and Jennifer Sandoval
5 years: Simon Bulley and Preshita Desai

Dr. Anandi Law was appointed to 3 national committees – 2022-23 APhA-APRS (Academy of Pharmaceutical Research and Science) Policy Standing Committee, 2022-2023 AACP Professional Affairs Committee and the AACP COD/COF Faculty Workload Reimagined Joint Task Force.

Publications

Law AV, Lee S. Survey Research in Pharmacy Settings. In: Aparasu RR, Bentley JP, Pate AN. eds. Student Handbook for Pharmacy Practice Research: A Companion Book to Conduct Practice-Based Research in Pharmacy. McGraw Hill; 2022. Accessed July 16, 2022.

Anandi V. Law, Marcia M. Worley, Chapter 3 – Use of common models to inform and design pharmacy and health services research,  Editor(s): Shane P. Desselle, Victoria García-Cárdenas, Claire Anderson, Parisa Aslani, Aleda M.H. Chen, Timothy F. Chen, Contemporary Research Methods in Pharmacy and Health Services, Academic Press, 2022, Pages 37-47, ISBN 9780323918886.  URL for book.

Chen C, Oelschlaeger P, Wang D, Xu H, Wang Q, Wang C, Zhao A, Yang K-W. Structure and Mechanism-Guided Design of Dual Serine/Metallo-Carbapenemase Inhibitors. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 2022;65(8):5954-74.

Dhungana R, Oelschlaeger P. Automated Class B Beta-Lactamase (BBL) Renumbering of NDM Enzymes. ASM Microbe 2022 In-Depth Symposium AAR07 Where do We Stand Now? The Continued Evolution of Beta-lactamases. 2022 June 9 – June 13; Washington DC.

Brown D, Alcala H, Oelschlaeger P, Andresen BT. Chapter Five – Polymorphisms in common antihypertensive targets: Pharmacogenomic implications for the treatment of cardiovascular disease. In: Campbell WB, Imig JD, editors. Advances in Pharmacology: Academic Press; 2022. p. 141-82. (Link to Abstract)

Vaffis S, Patel M, Potisarach P, Warholak T, Law A, Comparison of the properties of the English and Spanish versions of the Patient Satisfaction with Pharmacist Services Questionnaire 2.0, Journal of the American Pharmacists Association (2022).

Awards and Recognition

Congratulations to Dr. Arbi Nazarian on receiving an NIH National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) R15 grant for $429,000.  The three-year project, “Pain-induced Impulsivity in Rats and Its Mechanisms,” will explore the neurobiological mechanisms underlying pain-induced impulsivity, a cognitive factor that contributes to substance abuse and psychiatric comorbidities found in people with chronic pain. The project aims to examine the influence of gonadal hormones and various neurotransmitter systems on the formation and modulation of pain-induced impulsivity.

PPAD Faculty Drs. Rachel Ryu, Janice Hoffman, and Emmanuelle Schwartzman who gave invited presentations at the CSHP Pacific Coast Preceptor Conference 2022 as follows:

Dr. Rachel Ryu, Zywiec K, Ibrahim HG. Preceptor Pearls: A Roundtable Discussion on the Successes and Challenges of Preceptorship.
Dr. Janice Hoffman: Introducing Geriatric Care to Student Pharmacists
Dr. Emmanuelle Schwartzman: Pearls for a Successful ASHP Residency Accreditation/Re-Accreditation

Dr. Shawn Smith was notified that Simba center received the Gold Quality Standard Rating achievement from the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics. This quality standard award reflects their commitment to providing high quality health care among the uninsured, homeless, and low-income in the High Desert community. Last year, they received a Bronze Rating as a first-year clinic, and have now been recognized with a Gold Rating! We are proud of his accomplishment and his work to meet the healthcare needs of low income, homeless, and uninsured.

Dr. Shawn Smith was appointed to the City of Victorville Homeless Solutions Task Force as the Community Stakeholder representing Alcohol and Drug Services due to his involvement during the pandemic providing medical oversight for homeless shelters and his continued work providing primary care services to this population.  Dr. Smith’s expertise and service to this population is recognized by this appointment as he serves in this important role.

Dr. Patrick Chan (PI) and his team, which includes Drs. Hyma Gogineni (PPAD), Ying Huang (PSD), Hajer Ibrahim (WesternU alum), Jeffrey Wang (PSD), and Zhijun Wang (Ketchum) were awarded an intramural grant for the study “Impact of vertical sleeve gastrectomy on the pharmacokinetics of antidepressants”.  Vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG), a type of gastric bypass surgery, is becoming increasingly popular to treat obesity and other chronic conditions. However, the impact of VSG on medications after surgery is unclear. The purpose of this project is to examine how VSG affects medications in rats and develop a model of how the medications may be affected in humans.  Dr. Chan will serve as PI, leading this important work on his collaborative research team.

Dr. Ying Huang received a 5-year R01 grant from NIH/NCI for a total amount of $1,612,690.  The project entitled “Preventing UV-induced Immunosuppression and Skin Carcinogenesis with R-carvedilol”, will focus on the non-β-blocking enantiomer of a β-blocker, R-carvedilol, in preventing skin cancer linked to sunlight UV overexposure. The project’s goals are to determine the molecular targets, safety and efficacy of R-carvedilol against UV-mediated skin damage, inflammation, defective immunity and cancer development. Her research team includes co-investigators Dr. Bradley Andresen (COP), Dr. Jeffrey Wang (COP), postdoctoral fellow Dr. Ayaz Shahid (COP), pathologist consultant Dr. Cyrus Parsa (COMP) and external consultants Dr. Frank Meyskens and Dr. Kristen Kelly at the University of California, Irvine.

Publications

Dr. Don Roosan, wrote an invited editorial in the journal Pharmacogenomics.  The editorial called for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives for the disadvantaged dementia population to improve medication therapy outcomes utilizing digital health. The paper focused on Dr. Roosan’s previous work on the Pharmacogenomics Cascade Testing (PhaCT) to reduce adverse drug events in a shareable informatics platform.

Ryu R, Tran R. DOACs in Mechanical and Bioprosthetic Heart Valves: A Narrative Review of Emerging Data and Future Directions. Clin Appl Thromb Hemost 2022;28:10760296221103578.

Awards and Recognition

Dr. Ryu represented California Society of Health-System Pharmacists (CSHP) New Practitioner Executive Committee (NPEC).   Ryu R, Zywiec K, Ibrahim HG. “Preceptor Pearls: A Roundtable Discussion on the Successes and Challenges of Preceptorship” [ACPE-accredited]. California Society of Health-System Pharmacists Pacific Coast Preceptor Conference. May 2022.

Dr. Roosan was an invited speaker for a virtual 15th international conference on health informatics in February 2022, attended by participants from 30 different countries) to present on database development of the MedScrab app he developed.

Dr. Simon Bulley received an AHA Institutional Research Enhancement Award (AIREA) award in the amount of $154,000, for his two-year project entitled, “The Role of Aquaporins in Resistance-Sized Arteries”.  The project will explore the effects of dehydration on the expression and functions of aquaporins in resistance-sized artery vascular smooth muscle cells.  The three aims of the project are (1) to see the effect of dehydration and water restrictions on aquaglyceroporin expression and function in resistance-sized arteries, 2) to determine whether estrogen regulates aquaglyceroporin expression and function in females, and (3) to measure the effect of glycerol pretreatment on aquaglyceroporin expression in resistance-sized arteries.

Publications

Mercadante AR, Chu V, Chen AMH, Wong JC, Khare MM, Law AV. COVID-19 behavioral questionnaire (CoBQ): Comparing the pandemic’s impact on health behavior in three US states. J Am Coll Clin Pharm. 2022;1‐9. doi:10.1002/jac5.1625.

Dr. Sheryl Chow was invited to be part of 2 writing groups for AHA guidelines and scientific statements.  Based on the prior AHA Presidential Advisory paper (presidential advisory) she led on the impact of opioid use on heart and brain health, she was invited to give expert commentary on a recently published article in Circulation on opioid prescriptions after heart device procedures.

Roosan D, Wu Y, Tran M, Huang Y, Baskys A, Roosan MR. Opportunities to integrate nutrigenomics into clinical practice and patient counseling. Eur J Clin Nutrition 2022 Apr 20:1-9.

Roosan D, Wu Y, Tatla V, Li Y, Kugler A, Chok J, Roosan MR. Framework to enable pharmacist access to health care data using Blockchain technology and artificial intelligence. J Am Pharm Assoc 2022. Published online February 28, 2022.

Roosan D, Chok J, Baskys A, Roosan MR. PGxKnow: a pharmacogenomics educational HoloLens application of augmented reality and artificial intelligence. Pharmacogenomics J 2022. Published online January 27, 2022.

Dr. Roosan coauthored a book chapter on his work about pharmacogenomics and CYP 450 variant selection.  Agúndez, J. A. G., García-Martín, E., eds. (2022). Insights in Pharmacogenetics and Pharmacogenomics: 2021. Lausanne: Frontiers Media SA. doi: 10.3389/978-2-88976-103-6

Hoi Y, Reinert A, Bulley S. The function of beta3-adrenergic receptors in resistance-sized arteries. Experimental Biology; 2022 April 2-5; Philadelphia, PA.

Awards and Recognition

Dr. Micah Hata for being recognized as a fellow of the California Pharmacists Association (FCPhA)!  The FCPhA designation is an honor and it signifies that the recipient has made significant contributions to CPhA and to the profession of pharmacy that go far beyond regular pharmacy practice. To become eligible as a Fellow of CPhA, the candidate should demonstrate sustained contributions and excellence in pharmacy practice, professional leadership, teaching, professional advocacy and community engagement.

Publications

Ho A, Younis I, Le QA. Impact of biologics on health-related quality of life in patients with Ankylosing spondylitis: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Semin Arthritis Rheum. 2022 19;54:151996.

Awards and Recognition

Congratulations to the following dedicated employees for their milestone years of service here:

15 years: La Donna Tucker
5 years: Jason Wong

Dr. Don Roosan’s research team in collaboration with WesternU IT and Claremont Graduate University developed a digital health game application, called Medscrab, and are releasing a beta version of it. Medscrab is a scrabble-based game about medication information that is fun and intuitive. (Flyer attached.) Participants can play and learn about crucial medication information in an interactive mobile or web platform. The game is free to download from Apple or Android store for smartphones. The game can also be played online. Watch a short video to learn more about the game.

Dr. Anandi Law was appointed to the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education (AJPE) as an Associate Editor. AJPE is a premier journal for pharmacy education scholarship and receives hundreds of requests for peer-review of manuscripts from around the world. In 2019, 530 manuscripts were submitted to the Journal with 480 undergoing peer review. Out of this, only 125 were accepted for publication (26% acceptance rate).

Jeffrey Wang, PhD and his team on their NIH sub-award in the amount of $36,340. The WesternU team includes Research Scientist Preshita Desai, PhD as a Co-Investigator, and Dean Sunil Prabhu, PhD as Other Significant Contributor.  The team will work with University of Minnesota’s Masonic Cancer Center to conduct nano-formulation and bio-analysis experiments for their R01 research project entitled “Lung Cancer Prevention and Treatment by Targeting ALDH1 and CD44 Expressing Putative Lung Cancer Stem Cells”

Publications

Dr. David Pham recently published the study entitled “Prevalence and Roles of Vice-Chairs in Schools and Colleges of Pharmacy” in the journal Pharmacy Education. This study was inspired when he was in the role of Vice-Chair for PPAD when Dr. Anandi Law was Department Chair. This was a collaboration with two other Vice-Chairs from local pharmacy schools, Dr. Karl Hess from Chapman University School of Pharmacy, who many of us know, and Dr. Joycelyn Yamzon from Marshall B. Ketchum College of Pharmacy.  This is the first pilot study of its kind that estimates the prevalence of Vice-Chair positions within U.S. schools and colleges of Pharmacy and describes their roles and responsibilities, including to support the Department Chair’s responsibilities and focus on specific departmental mentorship and developmental needs.

Dr. Rachel Ryu was recently featured in a California Society of Health-System Pharmacists (CSHP) newsletter that is sent out to all CSHP members and is also published on their website. (Please see pages 1-2). Dr. Ryu was invited to share her pharmacy journey, especially all of her service/involvement with CSHP.

Sureshkumar K, Saenz A, Ahmad SM, Lutfy K. The PACAP/PAC1 Receptor System and Feeding. Brain Sciences. 2022;12(1):13. PubMed PMID: doi:10.3390/brainsci12010013.  Link to Article

Singh PK, Lutfy K. The Role of Beta-Endorphin in Cocaine-Induced Conditioned Place Preference, Its Extinction, and Reinstatement in Male and Female Mice. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience. 2021;15. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2021.763336. Link to Article

Dr. Kabir Lutfy served as a co-editor for Frontiers Research Topic “The Role of Neuropeptides in Drug Addiction and Other Psychiatric Disorders”.  Dr. Lutfy edited three papers and reviewed two of the 10 research articles.  Link to Frontier Research Topic

Awards and Recognition

Congratulations to the following dedicated employees for their milestone years of service here:

10 years: Hyma Gogineni
5 years: Karina Radford

Dr. Shawn Smith applied for and was awarded a Care and Capacity grant!  The National Association of Free Clinics (NAFC) and CVS Health Foundation collaborated to provide funding for non-profit organizations to address social determinants of health, expanding capacity building & volunteers, and COVID support. Symba Center was awarded $30,000.

The funding request will be primarily directed towards implementing a behavioral health program at five homeless shelters in Victorville, CA. A community development director will be hired to help build relationships between mental health providers and local homeless shelter agencies where Symba Center provides services. This grant will also allow the ability to establish a telehealth system for patients and providers to utilize. Lastly, funding will allow the Center to purchase additional COVID tests that are imperative to continuing their COVID-19 prevention and mitigation efforts at the facilities.

Dr. Daniel Robinson has been awarded the UCSF School of Pharmacy “Distinguished Alumni Award” for 2022! The alumni event is scheduled over two days, on April 29-30, at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco. He has also been invited to give an acceptance speech in recognition of this honor.

Publications

Dr. Janice Hoffman recently published in Senior Care Pharmacist journal as senior author! The study (PDF attached) entitled “The impact of a pharmacist-led hypertension medication management program in older people in a skilled nursing facility” found that patients had improvements in one of the primary outcomes: diastolic blood pressure, and in a secondary outcome: greater deprescribing, with positive signals in other secondary outcomes.

Awards and Recognition

Dr. Janice Hoffman received her recertification as a Board Certified Geriatric Pharmacist (BCGP)! Her board certification is an external recognition of her expertise in the area of geriatric pharmacotherapy.

Dr. Cynthia Jackevicius was named Preceptor of the Month for Greater Los Angeles VA Pharmacy Department via an anonymous nomination process.

Publications

Dr. Hyma Gogineni published the following study that was conducted as an Advanced Elective Project with WesternU alum (CO 2019), Dr. Hajer Ibrahim (currently serves as an Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice and Administration at WesternU), and with former WesternU Assistant Professor, Dr. Benjamin Malcolm.

Shah SP, Dixit NM, Mendoza K, Entabi R, Meymandi S, Balady-Bouziane N, Chan P. Integration of clinical pharmacists into a heart failure clinic within a safety-net hospital. J Am Pharm Assoc (2003). 2021 Nov 14:S1544-3191(21)00473-8. doi: 10.1016/j.japh.2021.11.012. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34896014.

Shurrab M, Ryu R, Jackevicius CA. Off-label direct oral anticoagulant dosing: caution advised. Circulation Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes 2021; published online ahead of print. The editorial discusses a meta-analysis that published in the journal regarding clinical outcomes with off-label under and over-dosing of DOACs in AFib. It highlights and summarizes the harms of using off-label dosing, which is very common in practice, and advises caution with this approach.

Chen G, Ghazal M, Rahman S, Lutfy K. Chapter Two – The impact of adolescent nicotine exposure on alcohol use during adulthood: The role of neuropeptides. In: Bell RL, Rahman S, editors. International Review of Neurobiology: Academic Press; 2022. p. 53-93. Link to Abstract

Nielsen TB, Yan J, Slarve M, Lu P, Li R, Ruiz J, Lee B, Burk E, Talyansky Y, Oelschlaeger P, Hurth K, Win W, Luna BM, Bonomo RA, Spellberg B, Monack D. Monoclonal Antibody Therapy against Acinetobacter baumannii. Infection and Immunity. 2021;89(10):e00162-21. doi: doi:10.1128/IAI.00162-21. Link to Abstract

Dr. Cynthia Jackevicius was a co-Guest Editor (along with Dr. Bill Baker from UConn) for a Special Theme issue for the journal Pharmacotherapy (ACCP’s official journal) on Advances in Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy that was published as the December 2021 issue of the journal.

Link to her editorial

Podcast where Dr. Baker and she are interviewed

Rahman S, Rahman ZI, Ronan PJ, Lutfy K, Bell RL. Chapter Five – Adolescent opioid abuse: Role of glial and neuroimmune mechanisms. In: Bell RL, Rahman S, editors. International Review of Neurobiology: Academic Press; 2022. p. 147-65. Link to Abstract

Awards and Recognition

Dr. Shawn Smith received a $15,000 grant from the Kaiser Foundation Hospitals Community Benefit Charitable Contributions Program to expand chronic disease management for uninsured High Desert residents. This program will serve an important need to improve the health of residents in the High Desert community.

Dr. Shawn Smith was also appointed to serve on the California Pharmacists Association (CPhA) Education Advisory Committee (3-year term). The committee is responsible for: planning educational programming at Western Pharmacy Exchange, including review of the proposed educational programs/speakers and, if necessary, suggesting topics/speakers that were not submitted through the formal proposal process; reviewing and approving abstract submissions at Western Pharmacy Exchange; and providing input on current pharmacy related educational topics/trends.

Dr. Tiffany Tran passed the board certification exam to become a Board Certified Psychiatric Pharmacist (BCPP), a testament to her advanced knowledge and expertise in psychiatric pharmacotherapy! Our P2 students will be fortunate to have her teaching them in the Spring Term!

Presentations

Dr. Sheryl Chow has once again had a strong presence at this year’s American Heart Association Annual Scientific Sessions.  Dr. Chow served on the AHA Committee on Scientific Sessions Program (CSSP) and was appointed as the lead for the HF and Cardiomyopathy programming at the 2021 AHA Annual Sessions (held virtually this year).  She also served as AHA abstract reviewer and also led the HF and Cardiomyopathy abstract poster slotting this year.  Due to the high quality of her work, she has been invited next year again to lead this important responsibility at Sessions.

Publications

Nandkeolyar S, Doctorian T, Fraser G, Ryu R, et al. Predictors of In-hospital Mortality in Cardiogenic Shock Patients on Vasoactive or Inotropic Support. Clinical Medicine Insights: Cardiology. 2021. doi:10.1177/11795468211049449.

Park B (C2021), Stone R (PGY-1 Geriatrics 2021), Oganesyan (C2013) A, Smith R, Marco N, Hoffman J. “Evaluating Use of Psychoactive Medications During COVID-19 Isolation in Elderly Residents Living in a SNF” American Society of Consultant Pharmacists, San Diego CA, November 2021.

Zatarain, D (C2021) Stone R (PGY-1 Geriatrics 2021), Oganesyan A (C2013), Smith R, Marco N, Hoffman J. “A Quality Assurance Study of Osteoporosis Medication Management per AACE guidelines on Older Persons in a SNF” American Society of Consultant Pharmacists, San Diego CA, November 2021.

Awards and Recognition

Dr. Sheryl Chow was the recipient of the 2021 ACCP Cardiology PRN Service Award (award was given November 3 2021) for her more recent contributions to the American Heart Association (AHA) along with history of service to the Cardiology PRN as secretary, vice-chair, chair, and liaison between ACCP and other cardiology institutions on collaborative programming and papers.

Dr. Sheryl Chow served as invited judge for 2021 Best Poster in original research at ACCP’s poster session on October 19, 2021.  This team of 4 judges reviewed e-posters and conducted Q&A with investigators to determine the winner and runner up.

Dr. Cynthia Jackevicius, Interim Chair, PPAD has received two prestigious awards during the recent ACCP Cardiology PRN on Nov 3, 2021:

Distinguished Investigator Award – This award is given to a member who has demonstrated extraordinary contributions to original research in cardiovascular pharmacotherapy.

Outstanding Paper of the Year Award – (this is the second time Dr. Jackevicius has received this Award – prior year received was in 2017)  This award is given to the best paper of the year based on these criteria: significance to cardiovascular pharmacotherapy, including originality, clinical relevance, and ability to advance clinical practice or research, as well as methodological rigor and impact of the journal in which is it published.

Publications

Nandkeolyar S, Doctorian T, Fraser G, Ryu R, et al. Predictors of In-hospital Mortality in Cardiogenic Shock Patients on Vasoactive or Inotropic Support. Clinical Medicine Insights: Cardiology. 2021. doi:10.1177/11795468211049449.

Presentations

Dr. Janice Hoffman and her research team, presented 2 studies at the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists meeting recently in San Diego:

Park B (C2021), Stone R (PGY-1 Geriatrics 2021), Oganesyan (C2013) A, Smith R, Marco N, Hoffman J. “Evaluating Use of Psychoactive Medications During COVID-19 Isolation in Elderly Residents Living in a SNF” American Society of Consultant Pharmacists, San Diego CA, November 2021. 

Zatarain, D (C2021) Stone R (PGY-1 Geriatrics 2021), Oganesyan A (C2013), Smith R, Marco N, Hoffman J. “A Quality Assurance Study of Osteoporosis Medication Management per AACE guidelines on Older Persons in a SNF” American Society of Consultant Pharmacists, San Diego CA, November 2021. 

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PPAD Faculty had a strong presence at the California Society of Health-System Pharmacists Seminar 2021 as shown by the following activities:

Invited Presentations/Panels

Dr. Joelle Ayoub presented in Student Programming “Assembling a Valiant CV: A Curriculum Vitae Workshop”

Dr. Janice Hoffman co-presented 2 sessions with Aida Oganesyan (Class of 2013):  “Gender Disparities: An Update on Osteoporosis in Postmenopausal Women and the Prevention of Mechanical Falls”  and “Treatment Options for Non-motor Symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease”

Dr. Mark Nguyen presented: “Are Corticosteroids a Marvel in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS)?”

Dr. Rachel Ryu presented “Thrombosis Prevention in Valvular Heart Disease: What is the Role of Direct-Acting Oral Anticoagulants?”  And was part of a panel discussion: “Career Transition Discussion” that was presented by the CSHP New Practitioner Executive Committee

Dr. Emmanuelle Schwartzman presented “Pearls for a Successful ASHP Residency Accreditation/Re-Accreditation”

Poster Presentations

Rho Chi Poster: Ly T (CO 2022), Lee S (CO 2022), Low J (CO 2022), Nguyen H (CO 2022), Tabirara Y (CO 2022), Ton I (CO 2022), Schwartzman E, Law A. Student Pharmacist Knowledge, Opinion and Perception to Educate Patients about CBD. Poster to be Presented at CSHP Seminar, November 2-5, 2021

Gogineni HP, Ryu R, Chung EP, Pon D. Student Perceptions of a Virtual Interactive Academic Learning (VIAL) Model in an Integrated Doctor of Pharmacy Course. California Society of Health-System Pharmacists (CSHP) Seminar. November 2021.

Dr. Patrick Chan had 6 poster presentations, in which WesternU student pharmacists from 4 different classes (Classes of 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023)  participated! The first poster was also co-authored by College of Pharmacy Faculty member, Dr. Shawn Smith.

1.       Ekmekciyan K (CO2023), Kono S (CO2023), Medina S (CO2023), Mendoza L (CO2023), Nguyen C (CO2023), Nguyen T (CO2023), Tran Y (CO2023), Vue P (CO2023), Chan P, Smith S. Prevalence of Burnout in California Pharmacy Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic. California Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists Seminar, November 2021, Anaheim, CA

2.       Liu J (CO2021), Varona J (CO2021), Jeong A (CO2020), Hsieh J (CO2020), Balady-Bouziane N, Chan P. Association of Discharging Patients with Bipolar Disorder with an Antipsychotic on Future Alcohol-related Readmissions in Patients with Depression. California Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists Seminar, November 2021, Anaheim, CA

3.       Varona J (CO2021), Liu J (CO2021), Moradi-Masihi A (CO2020), Kevani M (CO2020), Balady-Bouziane N, Chan P. Association of Discharging Patients with Depression Patients on an Antidepressant on Future Alcohol-Related Readmissions. California Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists Seminar, November 2021, Anaheim, CA

4.       Szczeblowski G (CO2022), Roman D (CO2022), Tran M (CO2023), Balady-Bouziane N, Chan P. Association of Discharging Patients with Bipolar Disorder with an Antipsychotic on Future Cocaine or Amphetamine-Related Readmissions. California Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists Seminar, November 2021, Anaheim, CA

5.       Tran M (CO2023), Szczeblowski G (CO2022), Roman D (CO2022), Balady-Bouziane N, Chan P. Association of Discharging Patients with Schizophrenia with an Antipsychotic on Future amphetamine/cocaine-related ER visits. California Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists Seminar, November 2021, Anaheim, CA

6.       Roman D (CO2022), Tran M (CO2023), Szczeblowski G (CO2022), Balady-Bouziane N, Chan P. Association of Discharging Patients with Bipolar Disorder with an Antipsychotic on Future amphetamine/cocaine-related ER visits. California Society of Health-Systems Pharmacists Seminar, November 2021, Anaheim, CA

Committee, Board and Other Participation

Dr. Janice Hoffman participated in the Geriatric Practice Care Council

Dr. Emmanuelle Schwartzman, along with the PGY1 residents and Program Directors participated in the Annual CSHP Residency Showcase

Dr. Mark Nguyen represented the CSHP BOD throughout Seminar and also judged the Clinical Skills and Quiz Bowl competitions.

Dr. Rachel Ryu represented the Inland Regional Chapter of CSHP (ISHP) as the Membership Committee Chair, and as a board member of the following committees: CSHP New Practitioner Executive Committee, CSHP Membership Committee, and CSHP Council on Professional Affairs.

Awards and Recognition

Dr. Mark Nguyen presented a poster at the CHEST conference, which is the national scientific meeting for the American College of Chest Physicians: Nguyen HM, Beltran A, Mac A, Tanios N. VTE Prophylaxis Strategies with Enoxaparin during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Chest 2021;160:4:A1420, with the abstract published online at Chest journal: https://journal.chestnet.org/article/S0012-3692(21)02750-1/fulltext

Dr. Emmanuelle Schwartzman shared her expertise with OSCE at WesternU as an invited speaker for a webinar on October 25, 2021, held by the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy and hosted by the AACP Assessment SIG, entitled: OSCEs as an Assessment Tool for Student Performance/Progression. The session discussed how WesternU and another pharmacy school have found unique ways to use OSCE in assessment.

Dr. Anandi Law was an invited panelist for a panel discussion on October 21, 2021, called Pandemic-Related Publishing Challenges and Tips, which was held as part of the #RxWriting Challenge. She joined in her role as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Contemporary Pharmacy Practice, along with other editors of pharmacy journals to discuss this important issue.

Publications

A.R. Mercadante, S. Lee, K. Uh, A. Chau, U. Truong, A. Jeong, M. Hata, A.V. Law. Impact of adherence goal awareness intervention on PDC in various settings: Does awareness help modify medication-taking behavior?, Exploratory Research in Clinical and Social Pharmacy, Volume 4, 2021, 100072, ISSN 2667-2766.

Dr. Janice Hoffman collaborated with Dr. Tina Meyer from WesternU College of Health Sciences to publish the article: Leadership education in professional and graduate schools. In R. Whitney & J.D. Collins (Eds.). New Directions for Student Leadership: No. 171. Advancing racial equity in leadership education: centering marginalized institutional contexts 2021: (pp 113-122). Wiley.

Awards and Recognition

Congratulations to the following dedicated employees for their milestone years of service here:

• 15 years: Daniel Robinson and Ying Huang

Publications

Aya F. Ozaki, Harlan M. Krumholz, Freny Vaghaiwalla Mody, Tien T. Tran, Quan T. Le, Mai Yokota and Cynthia A. Jackevicius Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

Drs. Roosan, Law, Kim and their research team published an article in npj Digital Medicine, entitled Scoping review: the empowerment of Alzheimer’s Disease caregivers with mHealth applications.

Awards and Recognition

Congratulations to the following dedicated employees for their milestone years of service here:

• 15 years: Arezoo Campbell
• 5 years: Josephine Aranda and Shawnice Ross

Dr. Preeti Kotha secured funding in the amount of $10,000 through CalVaxGrant, which is funded by California Department of Public Health (administered by Physicians for a Health California) in support of COVID-19 vaccination efforts in the community. Moreover, the application received and additional $1,000 given the high priority areas being served.

Poster Presentations

Dr. Shawn Smith attended the Association of Diabetes Care and Education Specialists Annual Conference, and presented a 40-minute breakout session titled, “New Recommendations for Tobacco Cessation Treatment.”

Nguyen NL (Class of 2021), Nguyen, ST (Class of 2021), Nguyen H, Gogineni HP. Impact of Limiting Short-Acting Opioids on Chronic Pain Management in Veterans at VA Loma Linda.

Aljanabi R (Class of 2021), Mendoza K (Class of 2021), Uong S (Class of 2021), Gogineni HP. Innovative Teaching Methods During COVID-19: Pre-Recorded Video Lectures Vs. Virtual Case-Based Learning.

Publications

Ozaki AF, Krumholz HM, Mody FV, Jackevicius CA. National trends in the use of sacubitril/valsartan. J Card Fail 2021;27:839-47.

Jackevicius CA. A practical introduction to conducting and using case-control studies. J Amer Coll Clin Pharm 2021:DOI:10.1002/jac5.1501.

Cohen Sedgh R, Moon Jungyeon, Jackevicius CA. Neoplasm reports in food and drug administration adverse event reporting system following angiotensin receptor blocker recalls. Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes 2021.

Chow SL (Chair), Sasson C (Vice Chair), Benjamin I, Califf RM, Compton WM, Oliva EM, Robson C, Sanchez, EJ, on behalf of the American Heart Association.  Opioid Use and Its Relationship to Cardiovascular Disease and Brain Health: A Presidential Advisory From the American Heart Association.  Circulation. 2021;144:00–00. DOI: 10.1161/CIR.0000000000001007. Click here for article.

Awards and Recognition

Congratulations to the following dedicated employees for their milestone years of service here:

• 25 years: Dr. Sunil Prabhu
• 20 years: Mark Iannuzzo
• 15 years: Bradley Andresen, David Sanchez and Steven Yeung

Appointment

Dr. Anandi Law has been selected to serve as a delegate for the American Pharmacist Association, Academy of Pharmaceutical Research and Science (APhA-APRS). Dr. Law will be attending all APhA-APRS caucuses and APhA House of Delegate sessions. This is an honor and distinction as Dr. Law was chosen amongst all her peers to represent the Academy based on prior service. It is also a great opportunity to advocate for the profession. Her term began on July 21, 2021 and concludes on June 30, 2022.

Publications

Lieu E, Mercadante AR, Schwartzman E, Law AV. Transitions of Care at WesternU Health: An Implementation Science Approach. RSAP (2021).

Publications

Dr. Ryu and colleagues published a manuscript in Clinical and Applied Thrombosis/Hemostasis titled “Critical Analysis of Apixaban Dose Adjustment Criteria.” The authors examined each dosage adjustment criteria for the use of apixaban, and the associated clinical outcomes for the treatment of venous thromboembolism. The authors concluded that the rationale for reduced-dose apixaban for non-valvular atrial fibrillation (based on age >80 years, weight <60 kg, and SCr >1.5 mg/dl) appear arbitrary, as these criteria are not consistent with the cut-off points reported in clinical studies. After a thorough literature review including both pharmacokinetic and clinical data, the clinical relevance of applying the manufacturer-recommended dosing criteria requires additional analysis and further confirmation in well-designed randomized controlled trials.”

Vu A, Qu TT, Ryu R, et al. Critical Analysis of Apixaban Dose Adjustment Criteria. Clinical and Applied Thrombosis/Hemostasis. 2021;27:16.

Dr. Ryu also submitted a letter to the editor in response to the article “Thromboembolic events in atrial fibrillation: Different level of risk and pattern between peripheral artery disease and coronary artery disease,” published in Archives of Cardiovascular diseases. In her response, Dr. Ryu discussed the concern with censoring patients who were prescribed anticoagulants, and the need to provide such data to reduce bias in future studies.

Ryu R. Letter to the editor: Response to “Thromboembolic events in atrial fibrillation: Different level of risk and pattern between peripheral artery disease and coronary artery disease,” by Yu-Sheng Lin, et al., 2021. Archives of Cardiovascular Diseases. 2021;114:176-186.

Nandkeolyar S, Ryu R, Mohammed A, et al. A Review of Inotropes and Inopressors for Effective Utilization in Patients with Acute Decompensated Heart Failure. Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology.

Wagh PR, Desai P, Prabhu S, Wang J. Nanotechnology-Based Celastrol Formulations and Their Therapeutic Applications. Frontiers in Pharmacology. 2021;12(1292). doi: 10.3389/fphar.2021.673209.

Continuing Education

Dr. Ryu provided an ACPE-accredited CE for CSHP on May 18, 2021 entitled: “2021 Updates to Heart Failure Management: Where do the New Drugs Get SQUEEZED In?” The program was very well-received with a high turnout rate. Dr. Ryu received a request to provide a similar talk through an educational event for a CSHP affiliate chapter in Northern California this fall.

Awards and Recognition

Congratulations to the following dedicated employees for their milestone years of service here:

25 years: Julie Avila

Publications

Maged Tanios, Huan Mark Nguyen, Quang A. Le, Hyunsoon Park, and John W. Devlin. Fentanyl- and midazolam-induced coma each influence days of mechanical ventilation and 28-day mortality: a post hoc analysis of a randomized controlled analgosedation trial. Intensive Care Med.

David J. Sanchez, Ph.D. is featured in American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy’s Academic Pharmacy Now discussing WesternU student pharmacists’ roles with social media to advocate for the COVID-19 vaccine. Cantlupe JA. Voicing Support for Vaccination. Academic Pharmacy Now. 2021 April 27;(2): 5-8. Link to Article

Abdel-Qadir H, Singh SM, Pang A, Austin PC, Jackevicius CA, Tu K, Dorian P, Ko DT. Evaluation of the risk of stroke without anticoagulant therapy in men and women with atrial fibrillation aged 66 to 74 years without other CHADS2-VASc factors. JAMA Cardiol 2021;doi:10.1001/jamacardio.2021.1232. Published online May 19, 2021.

Faheem M, Zhang CJ, Morris MN, Pleiss J, Oelschlaeger P. Role of Synonymous Mutations in the Evolution of TEM β-Lactamase Genes. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. 2021;65(6):e00018-21. doi: 10.1128/aac.00018-21. Link to Article

Conference Presentations

Anne Kugler, Mark Nguyen, Jason Wong. Perspectives on Remote Rotations: An Interactive Panel Discussion. May 13th
Please note, this session was moderated by 2016 alumni, Dr. Brandon Samson.

Joelle Ayoub, Erik Skoglund, Mark Nguyen. How to Maintain Resilience and Overcome Challenges of Virtual Experiential Learning. May 13th

Emmanuelle Schwartzman. Precepting Pearls: Structuring Your Learning Experience to Support Student/Resident Success. May 15th

Awards and Recognition

Congratulations to the following dedicated employees for their milestone years of service here:

5 years: Mario Jimenez

Dr. David Jesse Sanchez on his R21 grant in the amount of $347,212 from the NIH National Cancer Institute for the project, “Disruption of Type I Interferon Induction by a KSHV Homologue of IPS-1”. Due to its proposed work on Kaposi’s Sarcoma, this project was awarded under a NIH notice of special interest on “High” Priority AIDS Research on AIDS-defining Cancers. This grant focuses on the discovery by Dr. Sanchez’s laboratory that KSHV, the virus that causes Kaposi’s Sarcoma, often in AIDS patients, has stolen and modified a gene from the human genome so the virus can block the activation of antiviral immunity.

The aims of these studies will allow new avenues of therapy allowing the immune system to recover immune activity against this virus. With this grant, Dr. Sanchez’s laboratory in the College of Pharmacy has been awarded almost one million dollars in NIH funding to study the immune response to HIV and AIDS-associated malignancies.

Dr. Sheryl Chow was recently invited by AHA to provide a 40-minute Q&A on the topic of opioids overdose and cardiac arrest. She currently serves on numerous AHA committees and is Immediate Past-Chair of the AHA Clinical Pharmacology Committee and Writing Group Chair of the AHA Presidential Advisory Paper on Opioids in the Management of Cardiovascular Disease and Brain Health. Naloxone and Pharmacy segment (YouTube Video).

Full 40 minute program (YouTube Video)

Publications

Dr. Don Roosan coauthored a paper entitled: SARS-CoV-2 early infection signature identified potential key infection mechanisms and drug targets.

Ayoub J, McGregor JC, Castner RM, Singh H. Opportunities for successful de-escalation of proton pump inhibitors at a federally qualified health center. BMC Pharmacol Toxicol 22, 20 (2021). David Sanchez: Cantlupe JA. Voicing Support for Vaccination. Academic Pharmacy Now. 2021 April 27;(2): 5-8. Link to Article

Awards and Recognition

Dr. Ying Huang (PI), Dr. Brad Andresen (Co-I), Dr. Cyrus Parsa (Consultant; COMP), and Dr. Ayaz Shahid (Postdoctoral Fellow) on their $141,000 R03 NIH-National Cancer Institute grant, “Chemoprevention of lung cancer with the β-blocker carvedilol”. This two-year project addresses the unmet need of lung cancer, the deadliest type of cancer worldwide.

Dr. Rachel Ryu, Sylvia Uong (PharmD 2021), and Edison Escobar (PharmD 2021) volunteered at Foothill Presbyterian Hospital as well as Pomona Valley Hospital to be in the front lines assisting with COVID vaccine administration. Their efforts were recognized and highlighted in a recent issue of InfoSource, California Society of Health-System Pharmacists newsletter.

Dr. Maria Lambros (PI) received an NIH-National Cancer Institute R41 (Small Business Technology Transfer) Award in collaboration with DoricPharma. The $299,559 award entitled, “Using Targeted Lipid Nanoparticles to Deliver Chemotherapeutic Agents Against Pancreatic Cancer” will further develop the laboratory’s intellectual property of Targeted Lipid Nanoparticles.

Arbi Nazarian, PhD was named a co-editor of the journal Neuropharmacology’s special issue on Vulnerabilities to Substance Abuse.

Kabir Lutfy, PhD received a $50,000 contract with Astraea Therapeutics, LLC for the project entitled “Characterization of Nociceptin Ligands in Mouse Models of Reward”. The goal is to study the effects of a series of novel NOP/MOP bifunctional ligands and their effects on oxycodone reward.

Kabir Lutfy, PhD received a $139,000 contract with Astraea Therapeutics, LLC for the project entitled “Validating the Nociceptin Receptor for Treating Craving and Withdrawal-associated Affect in Cocaine Addiction Pharmacotherapy”. The goal is to study the effect of NOP ligands on cocaine sensitization as well as on anxiety associated with cocaine withdrawal in mice. This project is a part of Astraea Therapeutics, LLC’s NIH NIDA U18 Grant Award.

Dr. Anandi Law, the Associate Dean of Assessment for the College of Pharmacy, has had another successful ACCP Peer Review of her Research Fellowship in Health Outcomes. The peer-review committee found that Dr. Law’s program meets the ACCP Fellowship Guidelines and was given the full 5 year mark for her next review. Dr. Law has coordinated and managed a strong and well-admired fellowship program. Her program emphasizes research (75%) and teaching. This fellowship, established in 2003, was the first post-doc program in the COP. Since then, Dr. Law has graduated 7 health outcomes Fellows and is currently precepting her 9th Fellow. Her 8th fellow left the program early to pursue a career in industry. Her fellows have been involved in numerous publications and grants during their fellowships. In total, Dr. Law’s Fellows have published 25 journal articles, 49 posters/abstracts, and 2 book chapters with Dr. Law.

Dr. Rachel Ryu has been selected as the Membership Committee Chair for the Inland Regional Chapter of the California Society of Health System Pharmacists. She will be installed tonight, Thursday, March 11th.

Publications

Dr. Don Roosan’s publication in the August 2020 issue of The Pharmacogenomics Journal has been selected to be in the collection Readers Choice: The best of The Pharmacogenomics Journal 2020. The article titled “Pharmacogenomics Cascade Testing (PhaCT): a Novel Approach for Preemptive Pharmacogenomics Testing to Optimize Medication Therapy” is among the top 12 articles of 2020 for the journal.

Jackevicius CA, Lu L, Ghaznavi Z, Warner AL. Bleeding Risk of Direct Oral Anticoagulants in Patients with Heart Failure and Atrial Fibrillation. Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. Link to Abstract

Cruz B, Carcoba LM, Flores RJ, Espinoza EJ, Nazarian A, O’Dell LE. Insulin restores the neurochemical effects of nicotine in the mesolimbic pathway of diabetic rats. J Neurochem. 2021 Jan;156(2):200-211. doi: 10.1111/jnc.15104. Epub 2020 Jul 22. PMID: 32562571; PMCID: PMC7749845. Link to Abstract

Nazarian A, Negus SS, Martin TJ. Factors Mediating Pain-Related Risk for Opioid Use Disorder. Neuropharmacology. 2021:108476. Epub 2021/02/02. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2021.108476. PubMed PMID: 33524407. Link to Abstract

Stephen CB, Arezoo C. Melatonin and Regulation of Immune Function: Impact on Numerous Diseases. Current Aging Science. 2020;13(2):92-101. doi: Link to Abstract

Neshan M, Campbell A, Malakouti SK, Zareii M, Ahangari G. Gene expression of serotonergic markers in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Heliyon. 2020;6(8):e04716. doi: Link to Abstract

Fatemeh A, Farid D, Arezoo C, Farrokh A, Ghasem A. Characterization of Dopamine Receptor Associated Drugs on the Proliferation and Apoptosis of Prostate Cancer Cell Lines. Anti-Cancer Agents in Medicinal Chemistry. 2021;21(9):1160-71. doi: Link to Abstract

Chan P, Uchizono J. Chapter 2: Pharmacokinetics. In: Luu B, Kayingo G, McCoy V, eds. Advanced Pharmacology for Prescribers. New York, NY, USA: Springer Publishing; 2021.

Uchizono J, Chan P. Chapter 3: Pharmacodynamics. In: Luu B, Kayingo G, McCoy V, eds. Advanced Pharmacology for Prescribers. New York, NY, USA: Springer Publishing; 2021.

Sharon J, Gogineni HP, Ferry LH, Kim J, Kim R, Suppogu N, Wei J, Conn K, and Merz CN. Delayed Care of Microvascular Angina in a Bikini Healthcare System. Arch Clin Case Rep 2021; 2:120-124.

Stojakovic A, Ahmad SM, Malhotra S, Afzal Z, Ahmed M, Lutfy K. The role of pituitary adenylyl cyclase-activating polypeptide in the motivational effects of addictive drugs.

Nguyen K, Kanamori K, Shin CS, Hamid A, Lutfy K. The Impact of Sex on Changes in Plasma Corticosterone and Cotinine Levels Induced by Nicotine in C57BL/6J Mice. Brain Sciences. 2020;10(10):705. PubMed PMID: doi:10.3390/brainsci10100705.

Nega S, Marquez P, Hamid A, Ahmad SM, Lutfy K. The role of pituitary adenylyl cyclase activating polypeptide in affective signs of nicotine withdrawal. Journal of Neuroscience Research. 2020;98(8):1549-60.

Smith SR, Ruiz CW, Ali S, et al. A pharmacist-led collaborative care model for cardiometabolic risk reduction: a case study. ADCES in Practice. Published online February 17, 2021.

Awards and Recognition

Congratulations to the following dedicated employees for their milestone years of service here:

15 years: David Min and Renee Cook

10 years: Quang Le

5 years: Wesley Botello-Smith

Dr. James Scott, Associate Dean for Experiential and Professional Affairs for the College of Pharmacy, is the new President-Elect for the California Society of Health-System Pharmacists. Through the years he has held many leadership positions in CSHP and has served on its Board of Directors.

Dr. Don Roosan has been appointed to the FDA’s Network of Digital Health Experts (NoDEx) committee. NoDEx will support Digital Health Center of Excellence, the goal of which is to empower stakeholders to advance health care by fostering responsible and high-quality digital health innovation.

The Rho Chi Gamma Sigma Chapter at WesternU has been selected as a 2019-2020 finalist for the Chapter Achievement Award! The winner will be determined on March 6th, 2021. This is the second time that the WesternU chapter has won this distinction. Congratulations to Dr. Emmanuelle Schwartzman for her mentorship and the 2019-2020 chapter officers for their hard work.

Publications

Roosan D, Hwang A, Law AV, Roosan MR; The inclusion of health data standards in the implementation of pharmacogenomics systems: a scoping review, Pharmacogenomics 2020 21:16, 1191-1202

Roosan D, Chok J, Karim M, Law AV, Baskys A, Hwang A, Roosan MR, Artificial Intelligence–Powered Smartphone App to Facilitate Medication Adherence: Protocol for a Human Factors Design Study; JMIR Res Protoc 2020;9(11):e21659, DOI: 10.2196/21659, PMID: 33164898, PMCID: 7683257

Rogith D, Satterly T, Singh HM, Sittig DF, Russo R, Smith MW, Roosan D, Bhise V MBBS, Murphy DR. Application of Human Factors Methods to Understand Missed Follow-up of Abnormal Test Results. Appl Clin Inf. 2020;11(05):692–8.

Mercadante AR, Law AV. Will They, or Won’t They? Examining Patients’ Vaccine Intention for Flu and COVID-19 Using the Health Belief Model. Res Social Adm Pharm 2020.

Jackevicius CA. Evidence-Based Medicine in the COVID-19 Era. Can J Hosp Pharm 2021; 74(1):3.

Aranda JP, Smith SR, Nguyen HN, Jap C, Gogineni HP. Virtual Physical Assessment Training During the COVID-19 Pandemic- Student Pharmacists’ Performance and Perceptions. Pharm Ed 2020; 20(2): 165-173.

Dr. Dimittri Delevry (former outcomes fellow of Dr. Quang Le) and Dr. Eric Gupta recently published an article titled, “Bempedoic Acid: Review of a Novel Therapy in Lipid Management,” in the American Journal of Heath System Pharmacy. In this paper, Dr. Delevery and Dr. Gupta provided a review on the role of Bempedoic acid as an alternative for statin intolerant patients, or those who do not adequately achieve target LDL-C goal despite optimal statin therapy. Delevery D, Gupta EK. Bempedoic acid: Review of a novel therapy in lipid management. Am J Health Syst Pharm 2021; 78(2):95-104

Dr. Anandi V. Law led a panel of speakers in an AACP webinar held on Jan 25, 2021 from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM (ET). There were 217 registrants, 152 attendees at the GoTo webinar, and numerous questions that followed. 5 Key Steps for developing Well-Being among our Students Hosted by the Well-Being and Resiliency Community. Objectives: Understanding components of Well Being, Grit and a Growth Mindset. Assessment of Well Being, Grit and Mindset using validated tools. Planning a longitudinal program at our institutions in a step-wise, progressive and practical manner.