2020 Commencement
In adherence to national, state and regional directives about group gatherings during the coronavirus outbreak, WesternU has canceled in-person 2020 Commencement exercises in California and Oregon. We recognize how saddening and painful this decision is, and our colleges and administrators are diligently working on alternative means of celebrating and honoring the remarkable achievements of our 2020 graduates during this unprecedented crisis. We congratulate the Class of 2020 for all they have accomplished. #WesternU2020
Click here to visit the Commencement website and view schedules for each college.
Follow our live coverage of the ceremonies taking place on May 13-15 on WesternU’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter feeds.
20 for ’20
The WesternU Class of 2020 is experiencing a final semester unlike any other. Join the Office of Alumni Relations in supporting our graduates by offering your well wishes of at least 20 words to the Class of 2020! The entire WesternU community is welcome to participate by submitting messages of support at commencement.westernu.edu/20-for-20/
From the College of Pharmacy:
WesternU’s virtual Ray Symposium speaker exposes fraud, health risks in overseas drug manufacturing
As the bulk of generic drug manufacturing moved overseas, lack of oversight and companies that placed profit over safety resulted in widespread cases of data manipulation, fraud, and dangerous conditions.
Investigative journalist Katherine Eban presented “The Hidden World Behind America’s Low-Cost Drugs” at Western University of Health Sciences’ Ray Symposium. The event was held as a virtual Zoom presentation for the first time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing a peak online viewership of 672.
Eban’s book, Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom, represents 10 years of investigative reporting on four continents. She interviewed more than 240 people, reviewed more than 20,000 pages of internal U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) documents and submitted 16 Freedom of Information Act requests.
Click here to read the full story.
Kudos on accomplishments
Congratulations to Dr. Arezoo Campbell, Isaac Nies, PharmD ’20, Krishna Hidalgo, MSBS ’21, and their collaborator, Dr. Stephen C. Bondy, on their recent publication:
Nies I, Hidalgo K, Bondy SC, Campbell A. Distinctive Cellular Response to Aluminum Based Adjuvants. Environ Toxicol Pharmacol. 2020:103404. doi: 10.1016/j.etap.2020.103404. PubMed PMID: PMC7189866. Link to Article
From the College of Podiatric Medicine:
Kudos on accomplishments
WesternU College of Podiatric Medicine alumnus Lt. Aaron R. Chambers, DPM ’14, was featured in an article titled “Navy Podiatrist Aids in Fighting Spread of COVID-19” from the U.S. Department of Defense. Click here to read the full article:
From the College of Graduate Nursing:
WesternU student nurses inspired to help protect health care workers
Western University of Health Sciences College of Graduate Nursing Master of Science in Nursing-Entry level (MSN-E) students Christina Nguyen and Nancy Tran were on a clinical rotation at Methodist Hospital in Arcadia, California when COVID-19 became a pandemic. They were seeing the expanse of a global shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) for all health care workers, which influenced them to find ways to help them be protected and safe.
As members of the WesternU National Student Nurses’ Association, the two student nurses formed project #TogetherWeStand, creating a GoFundMe webpage to help make, acquire, and distribute PPE to medical personnel in hospitals and facilities throughout Los Angeles and Orange counties.
The project raised $5,270, obtained 12,000 gloves, 8,000 surgical masks, and received 205 donated fabric masks.
Click here to read the full story.
Kudos on accomplishments
College of Graduate Nursing alums Lisa Roberts and Glori Huerta published the following: Roberts, L. R., Champlin, A. Saunders, J., Peuschel, R. D., & Huerta, G. M. (2020). Meeting preceptor expectations to facilitate optimal nurse practitioner student clinical rotations. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 32(5), 400-407. doi: 10.1097/JXX.0000000000000304
From the College of Dental Medicine:
WesternU student dentists create informative, inspirational social media content
Second-year Western University of Health Sciences College of Dental Medicine (CDM) student Amanda Puustinen and first-year CDM student Vineza Reduta, who are part of the WesternU club American Student Dental Association (ASDA), created a “survival guide” on ideas to stay safe and healthy during the COVID-19 quarantine. It was part of their weekly Instagram campaign called “Wellness Wednesdays.”
Click here to read the full story.
From the College of Veterinary Medicine:
Kudos on accomplishments
CVM Executive Associate Dean Dr. Manel Lopez-Bejar published the following in Animals:
“Temporary Relocation during Rest Periods: Relocation Stress and Other Factors Influence Hair Cortisol Concentration in Horses.” Jaume Gardela, Annais Carbajal, Oriol Tallo-Parra, Serjio Olvera-Manneu, Manuel Alvarez-Rodriguez, Eduard Jose-Cunilleras.
“Feather Corticosterone Measurements of Greater Flamingos Living under Different Forms of Flight Restraint.” Lukas Reese, Katrin Baumgartner, Lorenzo von Fersen, Roswitha Merle, Mechthild Ladwig-Wiegard, Hermann Will, Gudrun Haase, Oriol Tallo-Parra, Annaïs Carbajal, Manel Lopez-Bejar, and Christa Thöne-Reineke.
From the Office of Mission Integration (OMI), Center for Academic Community Engagement (ACE):
Celebrating the HCL Community- A Team Effort Approach
On Saturday, May 9, WesternU’s Health Career Ladder (HCL), which incorporates Pomona Health Career Ladder and American Indian Health Career Ladder, hosted their final academy virtually. Normally, the final academy is the Awards Ceremony which gathers all the families that participated during the academic year on campus. This year, to ensure everyone’s safety, HCL’s Award Ceremony went virtual! With the help of many individuals (Officers of Pipeline to Health Careers, AIHCL partners, PUSD Leadership, WesternU Leadership, and HCL leadership) the ceremony had around 130 community members join us for interactive games, awkward silences, pictures and most importantly the celebration of the students!
WesternU HCL is also proud to share that that over 400 packages were delivered to the celebrating students and they were able to share their certificates and swag during the ceremony. We want to provide a shout out to all those who made the delivery of the packages possible: WesternU’s Shipping and Receiving Department, WesternU’s Security, WesternU’s Graphic Designers, AIHCL Leadership, HCL Leadership, and USPS! Please feel free to dive into our social media to see all the great pictures on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Check out HCL photos on WesternU’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/westernunews/