The
Pulse Relay for Life
News from Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
5
April 2012
New Policy Puts Graduates Transition into Physician Assistant Program Graduation came early this December PA program, provided they maintain “Fresh Face” on for five students in the bachelor’s a minimum GPA of 3.2 for each Academic Integrity program in biomedical technology. semester and accrue 1,000 direct Earlier this semester, the College instituted a new Academic Integrity Policy (AIP) to replace the former Honor Code. The AIP governs a range of academic related issues including: plagiarism, unauthorized assistance with assignments or exams, communicating false or dishonest information, and falsification of records or identity. As with the Honor Code, the AIP applies to all undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at ACPHS. The origins of the AIP date back to fall 2010 when the College administered a survey on academic integrity to students and faculty. Over the course of the next year, a task force made up of faculty and students evaluated the survey results and recommended revisions to the existing Honor Code. The new Policy proposed by the task force was approved separately by students and faculty in December 2011 and instituted in January 2012. Under the Honor Code, each alleged violation was reported to a Committee comprised of five students and two faculty members. Under the AIP, the faculty member who is responsible for the course will conduct the initial review, and in the case of a violation, decide the punishment. “The Honor Code was more student driven,” says John Denio, Dean of Students. “The AIP gives the faculty a stronger role to play in reviewing alleged violations. Based on the comments we received in reviewing the process, Continued on Page 4
Marisa Dagostino, Emily Rapasadi, Christopher Wasacz, Elecia Woodard, and Jennifer Woodard completed their degrees in 3 ½ years, paving the way for direct entry into Albany Medical College’s (AMC) Physician Assistant program this past January.
patient contact hours by graduation.
With just 42 students in the incoming class of AMC’s PA program, the five ACPHS students represent a sizeable contingent, and one that is ready for their next challenge. “The faculty at ACPHS The students are the beneficiaries were great. They made sure you of a joint program between ACPHS were learning what you needed to know along the way,” says Chris. and AMC. Under the terms of the arrangement, students are interviewed “As a result, we have a great by both an ACPHS admissions foundation for this program. There counselor and a representative from are lots of people in class stressing AMC prior to enrolling as freshmen. out, but we’re saying, ‘we can do If they successfully pass the interview, this.’” there is a seat reserved for them in the Continued on Page 3
Marisa Dagostino, Chris Wasacz, and Emily Rapasadi are three of five ACPHS graduates who enrolled this semester in the PA program at Albany Medical College.
Spring Break Trip Offers Insider’s Look at NIH, FDA For 12 students and two advisors from the College, this was no ordinary spring break. The group traveled to Washington, DC, to tour the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over three jam-packed days from March 14-16. The visit began at the NIH Clinical Center where Pharmacy Director Robert DeChristoforo met with the group and gave them a tour of the nation’s largest hospital devoted entirely to clinical research. Over the next two days, the students visited the FDA’s main campus
in Silver Spring, MD, and its satellite campus in Rockville, MD. The group heard presentations from more than ten officers at the FDA on topics that included OTC drug regulation, the unapproved drugs initiative, medical devices, drug information services, and generic drugs. Beyond listening to the presentations, the students were also able to have personal conversations with each of the presenters and received valuable
Students gather in front of the FDA headquarters in Silver Spring, MD. Associate Professor Andy Zheng (far right), Career Services Director Kristen Felthousen (not pictured), and Lindsay Davison ’09 (far left) helped coordinate the visit.
advice on career and professional development. “I really enjoyed visiting NIH and learning about all the wonderful and innovative things the Center does,” said Mona Nassiri, one of the students who attended the trip. “It was a great pleasure to be accompanied over the course of our visit by some of the brightest and most elite of our profession. I hope that we can keep growing this relationship between our school and the FDA and NIH for years to come.” Associate Professor Andy Zheng and Career Services Director Kristen Felthousen accompanied the students on the visit, which was organized through the assistance of Lindsay Davison, ACPHS Class of ’09. Lindsay was hired by the FDA as a Consumer Safety Officer following a two-year fellowship at Purdue University where she concentrated in regulatory science.