Pharma
Personalis Regis University School of Pharmacy Newsletter
Spring 2015
Dear Friends and Colleagues, Service is an integral part of what we’re about in the School of Pharmacy. Service to our patients is what makes pharmacy such a rewarding profession. And service to our community is a central tenet of the Jesuit order (“men and women in service of others”). This issue of Pharma Personalis highlights many of the service activities that the Regis School of Pharmacy is involved in. Our students, faculty and staff organize and/or participate in service projects from Project Homeless Connect to the 9Health Fair and from Denver to Nicaragua. Take some time to read about some of these projects in the reports from our student organizations in this publication. The School and University support and encourage all our members to be active in service to others. Our students have required service learning in many courses throughout the curriculum. Our faculty and staff are given paid mission leave each year to use to help with a Habitat for Humanity house, to assess health needs of the homeless or to organize a fund raiser for diabetes research. We strive to build a culture where people look for opportunities to serve and take advantage of these when found. Serving others in any way builds an attitude of serving that impacts how our students will view their work with patients and will become servants to their communities as they practice their profession. We welcome anyone in our extended community to join with us as we continue to build this service focus. Working together we all can not only instill the service value in our students but also make a big difference in our communities. Rodney A. Carter, Pharm.D.
Dean, Regis University School of Pharmacy
Executive Editor: Rodney A. Carter, Pharm.D. Dean, School of Pharmacy Regis University 303-625-1300
Editor: Miki Goldwire, PharmD, MSc, BS, BCPS Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice Regis University, School of Pharmacy mgoldwir@regis.edu
White Coat Ceremony 2015 On January 10, members of the pharmacy class of 2018 participated in a special Regis tradition: The White Coat Ceremony. During this ritual, first-year pharmacy students receive a white coat from their faculty adviser. The coat symbolizes care and service and accepting it symbolizes the students’ commitment to the pharmacy profession. During the ceremony, Fr. Dirk Dunfee, S.J., anointed students to mark them as leaders. Throughout history kings, prophets and other leaders were anointed with oil to mark them as leaders. As part of the ceremony, students also recited a pledge of professionalism. This year’s event marked the fourth White Coat Ceremony for the School in which 80 students were “cloaked”. Father Dunnfee anoints Hui Sung Kim.
Students recite the professionalism pledge.
Cheng Chang receives his coat from Dr. Dan Berlau.
Dr. Marianne McCollum applauds the first year students.
Denise Patten shakes hands with Dr. LaToya Braun.
Ade Adetakwi receives his coat from Dr. Erika Frietas.
First year student Nicholas Petty, pictured standing next to Dean Rod Carter, poses next to the ice sculpture made by his parents, Laurie and Kevin Petty owner of Dazzling Ice Sculptures in Loveland, Colorado.
Vivian Nguyen, Benediction Dear Lord, We are truly blessed to join together to celebrate our initiation and to rejoice the accomplishments of our careers. Thank you for bringing us together to start the next chapter of our lives. Without your loving guidance, today would not be possible.
As it is written in the book of James: Consider it pure joy, my brothers [and sisters] whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so you may be mature and complete. We ask for your guidance to give us the strength and perseverance to inspire us to do good in the community and make a difference in the world. Amen.
To our family, friends, and significant others who have lifted our spirits, eased our worries, and provided us with inspirations: Thank you. To our brilliant professors and passionate faculty who have shared an immeasurable amount of knowledge, gifted talents, and lifelong experiences: we are truly grateful. We could not have made it this far into our journey without all of you. Thank you for the lasting friendships that we have made through the good and bad times. May we continue to grow, learn, and support one another to become the future Pharmacists of America. May we wear our white coats with pride and honor and demonstrate patience through our trials, strength through unity, sympathy through affection, leadership through example, and kindness through love.
Vivian Nguyen provides the benediction.
Student Activities Student Professionalism Videos As part of their experiential class experience, second-year pharmacy students developed public service announcements exemplifying one professionalism tenet: altruism, honesty/integrity, respect for others, professional presence, professional stewardship or dedication and commitment to excellence. Over one month, teams of five to six students developed, performed in, and recorded their PSA. Class members voted on the winners. Congratulations to all students for making this assignment a success! Best video highlighting respect: Sydney Gaffin, Ernest Pianim, Asma Rashidi, Kristen Rowe, Briana Stapornkul, and Branden Thompson Runner-up highlighting altruism: Chantel Fernandez, Praicy Mathew, Lance Nelson, Amy Walters, and Audra Wilson.
Best Actress – Lauren Shiroma
Student Professionalism Videos (Continued)
Project Homeless Connect On November 17, Class of 2015 students and faculty from the School of Pharmacy participated in Project Homeless Connect (PHC), a free event to link homeless and at-risk people and families with needed services. PHC serves more than 1,000 individuals. Services included health care, legal aid, haircuts, housing referrals, identification assistance, veterans’ aid, job fairs, and more.
Best Actor – Yon Noriega
Left to Right, Brent McNamee, Corinne Feehan, Dr. Robin Wackernah, Lendy Le, John McGrory, and Dean Rod Carter.
Student National Pharmaceutical Association (SNPhA): Operation Christmas Child 2014 “Since 1993, more than 100 million boys and girls in over 130 countries have experienced God’s love through the power of simple shoebox gifts from Operation Christmas Child. Samaritan’s Purse works with local churches and ministry partners to deliver the gifts and share the life-changing Good News of Jesus Christ.” –Samaritan’s Purse In November, SNPhA organized a collection for Operation Christmas Child, an effort led by the humanitarian organization Samaritan’s Purse. A competition between classes and faculty to see who could collect the most shoeboxes full of donations was held. The winner was provided lunch during finals week. The collection and competition ran for two weeks. A total of 32 shoeboxes were collected with 18 shoeboxes collected from the P3 class. Congratulations to the P3 class on your accomplishment and support!
Student Society of Health-System Pharmacists (SSHP) University of Colorado School of Pharmacy student SSHP members challenged the Regis University School of Pharmacy RU-SSHP student members to a campus challenge. Students participated in a donor designation drive to educate students on the importance of organ, eye and tissue donation and to encourage them to register with Donor Alliance. Both groups succeeded in generating registrations, and the RU-SSHP emerged victorious in the friendly competition registering 50 new donors. The fun, collaborative event was designed to impact our community by raising awareness and busting myths about organ donation.
Left to right, Rebecca Porter, Annie Woo, and Molly Michel pose for a photo on the first day of the Donor Alliance challenge.
Left to right, Stefaine Gann in the yellow with Kelly Kreuter in the Blue and two volunteers from Donor alliance preparing to sign up people to be organ donors.
SSHP held its First Annual Beer & Trivia Night at Odyssey Beerwerks. The event included team trivia with craft beer, prizes for winning teams, and loads of fun! Proceeds will support ongoing activities that promote the advancement of clinical pharmacy and health-system practice.
Left to right, Nate Rader, Dewey Bowne, Michelle Bowen, Nina Taban, Colin Turner, Rich Schuler, and Ashley Schuler
Left to right, Branden Thompson, Lisa Calliham, Carl Buhay, Dr. Dan Berlau, and Dr. Jeff Lallama
Phi Delta Chi For the third year in a row the brothers of Phi Delta Chi volunteered at the Special Needs Bowling tournament by helping to run lanes and cheer as participants competed for the highest score.
Members of PDC stop and pose for a photo during the Special Needs bowling event. Left to right: Chrystal Cardenas, Lauren Hammond, Tylor Heilman, Magdalene Lu-ciano, Katherine Schnieder, Samantha Valdez, and Ashley Schuler
Samantha Valdez smiles with some of the bowlers.
To keep spirits high during the holidays, the brothers of Phi Delta Chi baked Christmas cookies and created ginger bread houses at the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Denver.
Taking a break after baking cookies are left to right, Nate Rader, Briana Stapornkul, Linda Truong, Tylor Heilman, John Le, AJ Wohlers, and Chrystal Cardenas.
John Le and Nate Rader decorate gingerbread homes with the help of a child who is staying at the Ronald McDonald house.
Phi Delta Chi teamed up with SNPhA to raise cancer awareness with our annual No Shave Movember contest. Participants (Left to right: John Le, Dr. Brian Hemstreet, Balar Wang, Dr. Jeffrey Lalama, Jonathan Nguyen, David Yamanaka, Tylor Heilman, Abhi Dhruva) worked hard (or not at all) to grow their best facial hair creations in order to win awards in their respected categories.
From July to January, Phi Delta Chi, with the support of multiple student organizations, worked the First and Fusion concession stand at Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium. Through our joint efforts with multiple organizations on campus we were able to raise funds that went towards numerous social and service events as well as a spring retreat in Grand Lake. Volunteers included, from left to right, Dr. Brandon Sucher, Samantha Valdez, Lina Kim, Briana Stapornkul, Ashley Schuler, Tylor Heilman, and Abhi Dhruva.
The Regis Chapter of Phi Delta Chi teamed up with the University of Colorado’s chapter to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital with a wing-eating contest. Teams of faculty and students raced to eat their wings and raised money to put blazing hot wings on their competition’s plate. The Regis team of John Le, Tylor Heilman, and AJ Wohlers took first place with bragging rights for the next year.
Student APhA APhA Summer Leadership Institute – Washington, D.C. Designed to help APhA-ASP Chapter Officers from across the nation develop their leadership skills as they prepare to guide their Chapter to continued success. Participants included, from left to right, Ernest Ruiz (Minnesota), Sarah Schmidt (North Dakota), Phu Trinh (Regis), Kaity Erickson (Minnesota), Kaitlyn Skulkan (Arizona), Vivian Ton (CU), and Meena Murugappan (Minnesota).
Members of APhA, from left to right, Carl Buhay, Sara Eichner, Lina Kim, Annie Woo, Phu Trinh, Lynn Dang, Lovelace Twumasi-Ankrah, and Andrea Nguyen, chose a new venue for their annual wine tasting fund raiser. This year’s event will take place at Balistreri Vineyards on April 24 from 6 to 11 pm.
Last year, Dean Carter auctioned a dinner at his home.
Members of APhA, Carl Buhay and Phu Trinh, pictured with University of Colorado medical and nursing students, participated in the Barbershop Health Fair, sponsored by the Colorado Black Health Coalition at Hollywood Barbers.
Members enjoyed social time with each other by biking to Sports Authority Field. Left to right: Phu Trinh, Abhi Dhruva, Mary Lee, Lynn Dang, Carl Buhay, Balar Wang, Andrew Yoo, Christina Nguyen, Alex Nguyen, and Thomas Nguyen.
Regis Goes Red for Heart Health The bad news: Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States. The good news: It is preventable, and it’s never too late to make a positive change. Regis University went red for American Heart Month in February. Members of the School of Pharmacy participated in health screening and medication reviews. From left to right, Phu Trinh, Carl Buhay, Amelia Nelson and Bre Sustaita.
Kappa Psi Pharmaceutical Fraternity Zeta Eta Chapter Kicks Off the New Year Zeta Eta chapter started the year off with our first rush event: Pill Poker Night. Brothers Kristen Rowe, Brandon Kondo, Michael Greiner, Jeanette Bouchard, Cassandra Holt, and Marie-Claire Desrosiers spent an entire Saturday elegantly compounding colored flour capsules to be used in lieu of tokens. The event lasted over three hours and was a moderate success, with seven new faces from the P1, P2, and P3 classes in attendance, as well as most of the brothers of the chapter. Later in the semester, the brothers hosted a barbecue night as another event to help interested students become familiar with Kappa Psi. To promote Kappa Psi especially during rush, Brothers Kristen Rowe and Branden Thompson were guests on Script Talks, a dedicated pharmacy radio show on Regis University Campus Radio KRCX. The interview focused on the history of Kappa Psi, our activities and ideals, and our upcoming events.
This semester, the chapter brothers will be concentrating our efforts on wrapping up rush, sending out bids, sending delegates to Southwest Province Spring Conclave (to be held in late-spring in Albuquerque, New Mexico), and getting ready to meet everyone on our own turf during the 57th Grand Council Convention in Denver this summer!
PACK 999- Den 5- Webelos Cub Scouts Learn about Science By Jamie Nash, Associate Dean
On Thursday, January 15, twelve wide-eyed Webelos Cub Scouts from Pack 999 in Arvada visited the Regis University School of Pharmacy’s compounding laboratory to finish requirements for their scientist activity badge. The badge requires scouts to visit a museum, a laboratory, an observatory, a zoo, and aquarium or other facility that employs scientists. The scout is to talk to the scientist about his or her work. The Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences (DPS) Chair Dr. Michael Nelson and DPS faculty member, Dr. LaToya Braun, were very accommodating and jumped at the chance to provide service to these scouts, in a friendly Jesuit way. Not only did the scouts visit the lab and speak to these esteemed scientists they were able to compare and contrast careers of the pharmacy profession, seeing what a pharmaceutical scientist does compared to a pharmacist. Additionally, they learned and applied appropriate laboratory safety measures using different pieces of equipment as they compounded hand sanitizer. Dr. Braun was able to keep the scouts on task allowing time afterwards for Dr. Nelson to provide a tour of the DPS faculty research laboratory, located on the ground level of Peter Claver Hall. Beyond thanking Drs. Braun and Nelson, a huge thanks goes out to our 4th year pharmacy student Kristyn Gutowski for her assistance with the scouts and to the School of Pharmacy’s Lab Assistant, Ms. Shonda Story, for preparing the lab for the visit.
Dr. Michael Nelson informs the group about a laminar flow hood.
Dr. Nash observes his son, Judson preparing his mixed solution for stirring on the mechanical stirring plate. Do we see a future Regis Pharmacist in the works?
Fourth year pharmacy student Kristyn Gutowski instructs a scout measuring out his ingredients.
Dr. LaToya Braun with scouts.
Group Photo of Webelos Den 5 Pack 999 with Dr. Nash (far left), P4 Student Kristyn Gutowski (left side), Dr. Braun (right-side) and Dr. Nelson (far right).
School of Pharmacy Welcomes New Members
Dr. Leticia Shea gave birth to Emma Shea in October.
Dr. Bianca Calderon gave birth to Elena Calderon in September.
Congratulations!
Faculty Publications and Presentations Le L*, Han S*, Goldwire MA. Understanding of off- label drug use among pharmacy students. Poster presentation. ASHP Annual Meeting, Anaheim, CA: Dec 2014. Goldwire MA, Babby J. Evidence-based medicine. In: The Clinical Practice of Drug Information. Burlington, MA: Jones & Barlett Learning; 2016. Lalama JT, Feeney ME*, Vandiver JW, Beavers KD, Walter LN, McClintic JR. Assessing an enoxaparin dosing protocol in morbidly obese patients. J Thromb Thrombolysis. 2014 [DOI# 10.1007/s11239-014-1117-y]. Sucher AJ, Chahine EB. Food- and Waterborne Illnesses. In: Murphy JE, Lee MW, eds. Pharmacotherapy Self-Assessment Program, 2015 Book 1. Infectious Diseases. Lenexa, KS: American College of Clinical Pharmacy, 2015:247-67. Chahine EB, Sucher AJ. Skin and Soft Tissue Infections. In: Murphy JE, Lee MW, eds. Pharmacotherapy Self-Assessment Program, 2015 Book 1. Infectious Diseases. Lenexa, KS: American College of Clinical Pharmacy, 2015:5-27. Sullivan PW, Campbell JD, Ghushchyan VH, Globe G, Lange J, Woolley JM. Characterizing the severe asthma population in the United States: claims-based analysis of three treatment cohorts in the year prior to treatment escalation. J Asthma. 2015;:1-12. Sullivan PW, Ghushchyan V. The burden of asthma in the united states: updated nationally representative estimates of the cost of asthma. Poster presentation 2015 AAAAI Annual Meeting, Houston, TX: Feb 2015. Dr. Allana Sucher was quoted in an article published in the February 2015 issue of Pharmacy Today. Dr. Rod Carter was interviewed by Pharmacy Times about the School of Pharmacy. *denotes a School of Pharmacy student
Dr. LaToya Braun is the featured scientist on a chemistry kit designed to tap into the curiosity of budding young scientists. The kit, Nancy B’s Science ClubTM Stir-It-Up Chemistry Lab and Kitchen Experiments Journal by Educational Insights strives to inspire scientific exploration and discovery. Although the kits are not restricted for use by girls, all of the featured scientists on the various kits are women. In the profiles, the scientists talk about their love for the scientific field that is the theme of the kit led to their current careers and are meant to inspire kids to keep exploring and asking questions. Who knows, one of our future pharmacy students might just be playing with the chemistry kit today!
Experiential Update - Elective Kaiser Permanente Oncology Rotation By Kristen Gutowski, P4 PharmD Student There’s a single word out there that has the ability to strike deep emotion into anyone’s heart. It’s powerful, it’s demoralizing, it’s hopeful- it’s “cancer.” It can cause people to realize how strong they truly are at one of the physically weakest points of their lives; it can also cause people to be very appreciative of what they have rather than what they’d like to acquire. When the average pharmacy student hears the word, “oncology,” their eyes tend to gloss over and they zone out. Yet, when I was given the opportunity to fulfill my ambulatory care requirement in the hematology/oncology setting, I jumped at the chance. As excited, as I was to finally spend six weeks being completely immersed within oncology, I must admit it wasn’t without some hesitation. Having my own personal experiences with this disease, I was unsure of how well I could emotionally handle it. Would it be an uplifting experience? Or would it be quite the opposite? I spent my time split between two different Kaiser Permanente clinics – Franklin Medical offices in downtown Denver and Rock Creek Medical offices in Lafayette. I spent my experience working alongside a fantastic team of doctors, nurses, medical assistants, and pharmacists. Not a single day ever looked the same, yet there were common threads wound through my six-week experience. Some days were spent deciphering the next option for a patient’s therapy while other days were spent analyzing lists of herbal supplements brought by patients wanting to make sure the supplements would not interfere with chemotherapy. Other days were spent with nurses, becoming familiar with administration of certain chemotherapeutic agents, and providing education to patients beginning oral chemotherapy. The exuberant sense of optimism that radiated from the staff was nearly as important for the patients as the chemotherapeutic agents themselves that were being administered. The infusion nurses always had a smile on their face and made it a point to get to familiarize themselves with their patients and to provide a sense of positive comfort. They came to know their patients’ significant others, family, and friends. They began to build a bond with these patients and were treating the whole patient, not just the disease. “Cancer” isn’t a completely defeating word. It will present some challenges, but it’s not a death sentence. That is one of the most important pieces I walked away with from my rotation. Patients can live for years with a malignant diagnosis; it just requires management, much like diabetes or hypertension.
From the Office of Experiential Education Students from all four years are participating in experiential rotations this spring. First year (P1) through third year (P3) students participate in Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experiences (IPPEs) for 80 hours per semester. We have opportunities in basic hospital (institutional), community, advanced practice, and simulation experiences for the IPPE rotations. Traditionally IPPE experiences are purposely integrated throughout the semester but we have also expanded these opportunities to include summer time frames, typically only a few weeks in duration. This allows students to participate in a more immersive experience in the Denver Metro Area. Please let us know if you would like to precept our students for any of those opportunities! Fourth year (P4) students are wrapping up their seventh and final Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE). After this last block, P4 students will come back to campus to participate in a final longitudinal course before graduating on May 2. While on campus students will participate in activities that prepare them to pass the North American Pharmacist Licensure Exam (NAPLEX) and begin their career as a pharmacist. Exciting events already planned include seminars with guest speakers from many aspects of the profession, financial planning, a NAPLEX review course, Federal and Colorado law review courses, graduation rehearsal, and much more. We will be sad to see the class of 2015 leave, but are very excited for all of the opportunities awaiting them!
Calendar of Events April 24, Friday
May 2, Saturday
APhA Annual Wine Tasting and Silent Auction,
Graduation, Class of 2015 Pharmacy Students
Balistreri Event Center
April 27-May 1 Finals Weeks
May 25, Monday APPEs begin