CLASS NOTES

ALUMNI

class notes

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1950s

Irwin Sitkoff, PharmD ’54, is a pharmacist at Eisner Health and was recently inducted into the California Pharmacy Hall of Fame.

1960s

Paul Appelbaum, PharmD ’61, is owner of Whittier Drug.

1980s

Orlando Hernandez, PharmD ’82, has owned and operated Fairmont Pharmacy since 1984. Arthur Dominguez, PharmD ’84, is a clinical pharmacy director at Kaiser Permanente.

Keith MacDonald, PharmD ’84, is a pharmacist at Anne Arundel Medical Center.

Selma Uyeno Yamamoto, PharmD ’84, is a system pharmacy director at MyMichigan Health. Lori Nekota, PharmD ’86, has retired after more than 30 years in pharmacy management. William Templeman, PharmD ’86, is an inpatient supervisor at Kaiser Permanente.

Craig Yasuda, PharmD ’86, is an inpatient pharmacy practice consultant at Kaiser Permanente. Melanie Sue Baker, PharmD ’88, is a clinical pharmacist at Fox Drugs. Scott Hideyuki Takahashi, PharmD ’89, is a pediatric ambulatory care pharmacist at Kaiser Permanente.

1990s

Reginald Gregorio, PharmD ’91, is a pharmacy specialist at Kaiser Permanente.

Duane Skage, PharmD ’91, is an Epic educator at Orlando Health. Stella Abnous Abramian, PharmD ’97, is an outpatient pharmacist at Providence Health & Services.

Jennifer Tomita, PharmD ’97, is a clinical pharmacist at UnitedHealth Group. Rina Trivedi, PharmD ’98, is a pharmacy manager at Rite Aid.

2000s

Preeti Sodhi, PharmD ’02, is a senior medical science liaison at Janssen.

Khanh-Long Thai, PharmD ’02, is CEO of 986 Degrees Corporation. Taleen Kalebjian, PharmD ’04, is an associate medical director in global medical information, specializing in HIV treatment, at Gilead Sciences. Duc Bach, PharmD ’05, is a clinical pharmacist at AHMC Whittier Hospital Medical Center.

Virginia Ginger Craft, MS Regulatory Science ’08, is a project manager at Kite Pharma.

Peter Lee, PharmD ’08, is an ambulatory care pharmacy supervisor at Kaiser Permanente.

2010s

Rosalin Preechakul, PharmD ’10, is an ambulatory care pharmacist at Kaiser Permanente.

Nick Mordwinkin, PhD Pharmaceutical Sciences ’12, is a senior director in corporate development at Gilead Sciences.

Jorge Farias, PharmD ’13, MS Healthcare Decision Analysis ’16, is a field medical outcomes and analytics director in oncology at Pfizer. Sebastian Garcia, PharmD ’14, is head of the department of pharmacy for the U.S. Navy. Melody Sun, PharmD ’14, is a pharmacy safety and quality specialist at Children’s Health Orange County. John Mills, MS Healthcare Decision Analysis ’15, is a business intelligence developer and analyst at Eversana Life Science Services LLC.

Lara Tavakolizadeh, PharmD ’15, is a pharmacy manager at Rite Aid. Shawn Feldman, PharmD ’17, MS Healthcare Decision Analysis ’16, is a senior product manager at Amgen. Kevin Shah, MS Healthcare Decision Analysis ’17, is director of business development at Biofourmis Inc. Sai Upadhyayula, PharmD ’17, is an associate attorney in technology transactions at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

Palok Das, MS Healthcare Decision Analysis ’18, is founder of Healthinnov LLC. He was named to the 2020–2021 “Top 100 Healthcare Leaders” by the International Forum on Advancements in Healthcare.

Elizabeth Gonzales, PharmD ’18, is a pharmacist at Sharp HealthCare. Ryan M. Hays, PharmD ’18, is a pharmacy operations supervisor at Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego.

Nare Iskikian, PharmD ’18, is a pharmacist at UnitedHealth Group. Jonathan Sedaghat, PharmD ’18, is a patient access and reimbursement manager at Amgen. Yoo Kyung Hong, PharmD ’19, is an outpatient pharmacist at Kaiser Permanente.

Aashrey Kaul, MS Regulatory Science ’19, is a regulatory specialist at ResearchDx.

Susie Oh, PharmD ’19, is a pharmacy manager at Walgreens. Darlene Petras, MS Healthcare Decision Analysis ’19, is a field reimbursement manager at LEO Pharma. Eric Pinashin, PharmD ’19, is a marketing and sales training manager at MannKind Corporation. Xiaoxiao Wang, MS Healthcare Decision Analysis ’19, works in accounting at Eyesthetica. Annie Xie, BS Pharmacology and Drug Development ’19, is a secondyear pharmacy student at UCSF School of Pharmacy and an intern pharmacist at Stanford Children’s Health and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford.

2020s

Marquerita Algorri, PhD Clinical and Experimental Therapeutics ’20, MS Regulatory Science ’20, is a manager in global regulatory affairs at Amgen. Lucas Gutierrez, PhD Pharmaceutical Sciences ’20, MS Regulatory Science ’20, is a senior associate in competitive intelligence at Amgen. Nikitha Kolapalli, MS Healthcare Decision Analysis ’20, is a senior associate at Deallus.

Wendi Lau, DRSc ’20, is a senior director in clinical development operations at AbbVie. Ellen Nahm, MS Biopharmaceutical Marketing ’20, is an account manager at Broth.

Swati Reji, MS Management of Drug Development ’20, is a regulatory affairs specialist at IQVIA. Jonathan Salcedo, PhD Health Economics ’20, is an associate in health economics and outcomes research at Analysis Group. Joshua Silva, MS Regulatory Science ’20, PhD Clinical and Experimental Therapeutics ’21, is a principal medical writer and lead at Omni Tech Medical.

Rita Xu, MS Healthcare Decision Analysis ’20, is a decision analytics associate at ZS.

Hanke Zheng, MS Pharmaceutical Economics and Policy ’20, is pursuing a PhD in health economics at USC and is a health economics and outcomes research doctoral fellow at Bristol Myers Squibb. Jing Chen, MS Healthcare Decision Analysis ’21, is a health economics analyst at IQVIA. Tiange Dong, PhD Clinical and Experimental Therapeutics ’21, MS Management of Drug Development ’21, is a senior associate scientist at Amgen. Junjie Gai, MS Healthcare Decision Analysis ’21, is pursuing a PhD in health services and policy at the University of Iowa. Victor J. Gangi, DRSc ’21, is an executive director of regulatory affairs at Zenas BioPharma.

Lena Keossayan, MS Molecular Pharmacology and Toxicology ’21, is a clinical trial manager at ICON Strategic Solutions. Prashil Panchal, MS Pharmaceutical Sciences ’21, is a regulatory affairs specialist at Abbott. Anushka Rajesh, MS Pharmaceutical Sciences ’21, is a research associate at Vir Biotechnology. Maximilian Spatz, BS Pharmacology and Drug Development ’21, is working on an MS in Management of Drug Development while working in the Davies Lab at the USC School of Pharmacy. Vicky Wang, MS Healthcare Decision Analysis ’21, is an associate consultant at L.E.K. Consulting. Zijun Zhang, MS Healthcare Decision Analysis ’21, is an associate consultant at Deallus.

IN MEMORIAM

Ida Mitsuko Kada Watanabe, BS ’50, passed away at home June 17, 2021, in Santa Monica, Calif. Charles Jay Brahms, PharmD ’65, died on July 27, 2020. Lyman Gordon Chan, PharmD ’65, passed away November 13, 2020. Before his retirement, he was a hospital pharmacist in Southern California. He will be remembered as thoughtful and generous, with a sense of humor and love of USC sports. He once drove five hours in a blinding snowstorm in Germany so he could listen to USC play in the Rose Bowl in real time on Armed Forces Radio. Each car he ever bought was either cardinal or gold, and at one time his license plate read TroCHAN. David L. Hines, PharmD ’62, died on January 10. He was owner of Burns Pharmacy in Lancaster, Calif., for 40 years. Kurt Wolf Mayer, PharmD, died on November 20, 2021. Early in his career, he owned and operated a Medicine Shoppe pharmacy in Los Angeles until he and his family moved to Redlands, Calif., in 1984, where he worked as a pharmacy manager for Rite Aid throughout the Inland Empire for 30 years. Known for his intelligence, quick wit, faith and compassion for animals, his family and friends will remember his passion for music, history and USC Trojans football.