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Doreen Pon:  Pharmacy Abroad, Medical Missions

8/31/2015

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Doreen Pon, PharmD, a faculty member at WesternU, regularly goes on medical missions to third world countries.  She shared her experiences on 8/31/15 with student taking the Seminar Elective.  A couple of reflections written by student pharmacists are posted below:
Reflection #1:  Clarissa Ko, PharmD Candidate 2019
Dr. Pon talked about medical mission trips and her personal experiences during her own trips she went on. Her struggles of not qualified to partake in these trips resonated with me. It wasn’t until she came across a guy she met in Cambodia who found out that she was a pharmacist and told her that she was a doctor and needed to help the people there that she really thought deeper about making it a reality. Overcoming this lack of confidence is a keeper that I plan on applying throughout my life during my professional and personal life. Differentiating my wants and the reality of things by being more confident and putting deeper thoughts into my decisions is something I want to improve on and continually apply.
Dr. Pon continued on with her presentation by addressing issues that arose during her trips, such as unpredictable weather, language barriers and, ways in which her and her team worked around them. Also, she asked questions such as, “Why go on mission trips?” and “Is medical mission for me?” to get us all thinking about factors that help people decide if they want to go on one. Issues such as mortality rates in other countries, lack of health care infrastructure, and uneasy feelings (due to uncertainty, unfamiliarity, and uncleanliness) need to be thought over before committing oneself to joining. Lastly, Dr. Pon mentioned ways in which teams prepare for the trips, such as fundraising, studying the culture, formulary planning, and paperwork for customs were essential things to take care of beforehand. Overall, Dr. Pon shared her experience and opened our eyes to the different stages, possibility anxieties, and procedures needed to be performed before joining and committing to the strenuous yet rewarding journey of going on medical mission trips. 
Reflection #2:  Nancy Nguyen, PharmD 2019
Dr. Doreen Pon’s presentation was about the following: how to go on a medical mission trip, why we should participate, and what are the pharmacists’ duties. She also shared some personal experiences from her medical mission trip to Guatemala and Haiti. To go on a medical mission trip, we would first need to find a mission through either school organizations, websites such as Medicalmissions.org, or a faith-based organization. A few of the reasons why most people go on a medical mission trip is because they want to help people. Many countries such as Haiti and Guatemala have almost doubled the number of child and adult mortality rates compared to the United States. As a pharmacist, Dr. Pon dispensed medications, did patient counseling, and even participated in special projects such as making spacers out of water bottles when teaching the patients on how to use an inhaler.
    One “keeper idea” that I obtained from this presentation was that Dr. Pon was able to take away more from the experience with medical missions than how much she was actually contributing. After being in the profession for some time, work eventually felt like it was a daily task. With the medical mission trip, Dr. Pon was able to renew her excitement with her profession and realized the reason why she initially wanted to go into healthcare. This “keeper idea” will be useful in my life when I consider doing any sort of volunteer work. Although helping others is already rewarding enough, I feel like I will be able to gain more from the experiences and the people that I meet through the volunteer opportunity just like Dr. Pon did through her medical mission trip.
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Raffi Kaprielian:  Managed Care Role of the Pharmacist

8/15/2015

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Raffi Kaprielian, PharmD 2007, Director of Pharmacy at Regal Medical Group, spoke to the AMCP Student Chapter on the role of the pharmacist in managed care.  He graduated from WesternU in 2007, the same year as Dr. Micah Hata, currently the faculty advisor for the AMCP Student Chapter.  A couple of reflections written for the Seminar Elective are posted below.
Reflection #1:  Nare Karabekyan, PharmD Candidate 2019
During this presentation, I learned a lot about Dr. Raffia Kaprielian and his role in Managed Care Pharmacy. I learned that Dr. Raffia Kapirelian is part of the WesternU alumni. This resonates with me because seeing him so passionate and successful made me sure that I picked the right school! He was really happy that he has a work and life balance, which is very important to me as well because I hope to have children and a family in the future along with a successful career. 
I learned about Managed Care and the goals it tries to achieve each day. For example, one of their major objectives is to provide quality healthcare while keeping costs low. He explained that in the past, pharmacists were not very involved in Managed Care, but now pharmacists are very involved in all the aspects of Managed Care and Dr. Raffia Kaprielian is living proof of this historical change. 
My main “Keeper” from this presentation was learning about the role pharmacists play in Managed Care. They focus on improving patient outcomes by managing the quality of patients drug therapies. Dr. Kaprielian explained the process he goes through every day with hospital discharge notices. He checks for duplicate medications patients could be taking and evaluates what medications are being utilized correctly or incorectly. This is a “Keeper” for me because Dr. Kaprielian made me realize that pharmacists truly have a valuable asset to add to the Managed Care team and it is something I should definitely consider for my future as a pharmacist.
Reflection #2:  Jing Liu, PharmD Candidate 2019
Dr. Kaprielian is currently a pharmacist in Heritage Provider Network, and their focus is managed care in the healthcare system. He shared the importance of focusing on managed care in order to control cost of medication and increase the clinical outcome. The healthcare system is evolving due to the involvement of pharmacists and their new roles. The Affordable Care Act provided more access and affordability to patients which has significantly increased the number of patients. This has brought patient safety management and monitoring in focus to improvement patient care. Many times, physicians can prescribe drugs but they cannot monitor if the patients actually adhere to the plan, so it is the pharmacists’ jobs to make sure that the patients are properly taking their medication. The keeper of this speech was that the need for managed patient care is increasing, and all of the pharmacists now should quickly develop management abilities so that they can better adapt to the changes in the healthcare system. This means that as a candidate of pharmacist I should start to develop leadership characteristics now so by the time that I graduate I can practice managed care to my patients to insure their safety and quality of treatment. Especially for elderly patients who are on multiple medications, it is very important to make sure that they are not taking unnecessary drug which can bring side effects to their health conditions. Therefore, manage care is a broad term that can be applied to different groups of people and it is important for everyone to have the high quality healthcare.
Reflection #3:  Alvin Fong, PharmD Candidate 2019
Dr. Raffi Kaprielian came in to talk to us about his current profession in the managed care field of pharmacy. He described to us the pharmacist’s role in making sure that their patient’s medication is being used as effectively as can be while also minimizing the costs. He gave several examples of his experiences while working at Regal Medical Group as the Director of Pharmacy Services. As trivial as it may sound, the main keeper message that I took from Dr. Kaprielian’s presentation was the fact that he was an avid motocross racer. At times, I tend to stress out about how busy and tired I will be when I am going through pharmacy school and practicing pharmacy after I graduate. It was really nice to see a fellow Western University Pharmacy student that has gone through everything that I will go through still have time to enjoy his passion for racing. I take his lifestyle as an example for me to always make time for play so that I will not get over stressed out with my studies and patients.  
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Robert Piepho Seminar

8/14/2015

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The Faculty Orientation & Development (FOD) Committee hosted a seminar and lunch on Thursday August 13, 2015 for College of Pharmacy faculty as well as a number of faculty from the other colleges and units on campus.  Robert W. Piepho, PhD, FCP presentation has entitled "Faculty Hold 'em:  Playing a Winning Hand with your Academic Career Trajectory".  Dr. Phiepho is Professor Emeritus of Pharmacology and Toxicology & Dean Emeritus at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. 
Using a poker analogy, the  four ACES he discussed were:  Attitude, Commitment, Enthusiasm and Service.  He described the importance of these in his own life and how they can be useful concepts to incorporate in the the career trajectory of young faculty.  A few of the quotes I liked from his presentation were: 
    "Humility is not thinking less of yourself but about thinking of yourself less."
    "Learn to face rejection, I keep getting up."
    "Small acts of kindness and love."
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Brian Kawahara:  It's All About Time, Money, CSHP &...

8/14/2015

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Brian Kawahara, PharmD spoke to the CSHP Student Chapter about CSHP membership and time and money.  Dr Kawahara is Director of Pharmacy at Hemet Valley Medical Center and also serves as Chair of the CSHP House of Delegates.  The presentation was also part of the Elective Seminar lectures series.  Check out the reflections from some of the students:
Reflection #1:  Patrick Potives, PharmD Candidate 2019
Dr. Brian Kawahara has a very interesting outlook on the pharmacy profession. His presentation began with some figures that represented the amount of money that we will make in the future and how miniscule the price we are paying now.  Dr. Kawahara also emphasized time and how important it is to not take it for granted.  What I took out of this presentation as a keeper and what I believed was the most interesting is when he mentioned that being a part of an organization has much to do with having a voice. These organizations will be a voice for you and the pharmacy profession as well. I never thought joining an organization would provide me with this kind of “voice” which I personally am very excited about this because I like to be heard.  As of right now I am not sure which organization I would like to be a part of. After Dr. Kawahara’s presentation I will definitely consider the organizations that he listed off and be involved in the programs. I know that these organizations will better the pharmacy profession and it will help me develop as a pharmacist throughout the rest of my career.      
Reflection 2:  Tina Menedjian, PharmD Candidate 2019
On August 11, 2015, Dr. Brian Kawahara spoke to our elective class about “CSHP Membership and the Future of Pharmacy.” Dr. Kawahara emphasized the importance of networking, staying informed updated about laws, and, essentially, feeling as though you are helping make a difference in the world. He spoke about the value of our pharmacy education and that time is more valuable than money. He mentioned that our pharmacy education, though expensive, time-consuming, and draining, is a wonderful investment with Return on Time Invested (ROTI). What is important, he discussed, is utilizing the time we have in pharmacy school to become an active member in an organization and build strong connections with our peers, preceptors, government officials, and etc.
Keeper Idea: The excellent speaker, Dr. Kawahara, rhetorically asked if any of the students remembered their community’s pharmacist by name. My reply to this rhetorical question would regretfully report that I did not, in fact, remember by childhood pharmacist by name (nor did I expect my parents to). I felt sadness and frustration that most Americans could name their primary care provider like they could name their favorite television show. Patients visit their community pharmacist’s at least once a month (much more frequently than visits to their primary provider) for their medication refills but pharmacists have some how blended and blurred into the background as simply figures behind their counters. With this notion, I vow to be that pharmacist who takes an extra stride to know each patient by name and be known for her character, integrity, and helpfulness rather than a head on a stick counting tablets in a quiet corner.  
Reflection 3:  Layla Najibfard, PharmD Candidate 2019
This seminar was presented by CSHP and the guest speaker was Dr. Brian Kawahara who is the CSHP House of Delegates Chair. The objective of his speech was to inform the students on why they should join CSHP or get involved in any organization. Some key reasons to get involved were networking, staying up to date on legislation, leadership, teamwork and making a difference in pharmacy. Dr. Kawahara suggests that pharmacists are their own enemy because they don’t get involved. He advised us to not give up on the involvement after school and continue to stay connected to the cause and the advancement of pharmacy. The biggest threat to pharmacy is that people want to get rid of it because they don’t understand the need for it. Being involved with associations means that delegates can fight off these threats for you so it is worth your time and money.
One keeper idea I got from this seminar is to "not ask what pharmacy can do for you but what you can do for pharmacy". This meant a lot to me because people are so concerned about the job market and want to make sure that the time and money they are spending on their degree is going to pay off but don’t feel the need to do anything about it. They feel somewhat entitled to the money and respect they believe comes with a PharmD. Public perception is important; if the general public doesn’t see the value in the field of pharmacy then they wont be willing to create a place for pharmacists at the table. It is the duty of any and every one in the field to not only prove themselves to the world by being the best at what they do but to continuously push the field in a progressive direction. If pharmacy advocates weren't there when the ACA was being written and the scope of practice of other healthcare professionals were being expanded then we would've got left behind. The idea that just the degree makes you a pharmacist and guarantees you a place at the table is outdated. The world is changing and pharmacy should be changing with it. I plan to constantly think about what I can do for the field of pharmacy. Whether that be in a small way like applying my knowledge in the work place and practicing to the full extent of my training or on a larger scale by following the legislation and fighting as an advocate for the field.

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Dean's Dinner

8/12/2015

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Dean Robinson and his wife Jackie hosted a dinner for all WesternU student pharmacists  at his home in Alta Loma on August 11, 2015.  CVS Health and Albertson/Safeway provided sponsorship for the event.  Everyone enjoyed the tacos, frozen yogurt and the raffle prizes.
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EZRX Pharmacy

8/12/2015

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Gopol Sojitra, PharmD opened his first pharmacy recently at 649 Indian Hill Blvd, Pomona, CA 91767.  He is a 2013 graduate of WesternU and previously worked at CVS and Walmart.  He will have a grand opening soon.  Congratulations Dr. Sojitra.
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Michael Conner:  Your Future Now

8/11/2015

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Michael Conner, PharmD, MBA gave an inspiring presentation to the APhA/CPhA Student Chapter at WesternU on August 10, 2015.  It was also a first in a series of lectures in the Seminar Elective. As part of the elective, students write brief reflections on what they learned and how they may apply their learning to their practice and/or life.  I have selected a few reflections about this presentation:
Reflection 1:  Joseph Kanaan, PharmD Candidate 2019
The informative presentation that was given by Dr. Conner dealt with the future that we, as students, will face when becoming practicing Pharmacists.  With the growth of the profession, especially in the state of California, it is becoming more and more necessary to take initiative and become effective leaders. One huge factor that resonated with me (keeper) was that I need to avoid using victim statements, such as, “I don’t have time”. I have used this excuse many times in my life and in order to grow as an individual, I will work hard to expunge this phrase from my vocabulary. I feel that becoming more involved will be crucial in not only growing as a more well rounded individual, but also in making our communities a better place. Lastly, with the passing of SB 493, I am becoming even more excited to be a pharmacist because I, along with my colleagues, will be able to broaden our scope as practitioners and will have the opportunity to make a large and positive difference in the lives of the many who will come to see us.
Reflections 2:  Diane Javier, PharmD Candidate 2019
Dr. Conner started his presentation with a brief introduction to SB 493. This bill allows pharmacists to be recognized as healthcare providers and conduct the following actions: perform patient assessments, order and interpret drug therapy related tests, and bill for services, among others. Dr. Conner got more personal by telling us that, as future pharmacists, we need to learn to avoid victim statements. Excuses such as, “Sorry I was late, there was so much traffic” or “I don’t have time for this or that” are no longer tolerated. Furthermore, Dr. Conner also mentioned the critical value of communication; it doesn’t matter how smart we are, if we do not know how to communicate efficiently with patients, we are not going to be successful pharmacists. On the bright side, he let us know that WesternU was going to shape us into efficient communicators, but it’s up to us to apply those lessons. Dr. Conner finally emphasized the importance of getting involved, especially since what we do today will affect how we do tomorrow. He advised us to be part of organizations at the national, state, and local level.
The Keeper I took from Dr. Conner’s presentation was the sustainment of relationships. Although it is good to make connections, it is much more meaningful to build upon those relationships throughout my years at WesternU and after I graduate. However, in order to build these strong relationships, I must first make them, and in order to do so I will need to immerse myself in the clubs offered by the school of pharmacy and other clubs offered by the university. Only then will I encounter the students, faculty, or people of interest who can motivate and shape me into the well-rounded pharmacist I want to be.
Reflection #3: Thuy Khong, PharmD Candidate 2019
Dr. Michael Conner was a very passionate and motivational speaker. His presentation was aimed to motivate us students to become more involved outside of the classrooms. To build up a successful future, we cannot depend solely on what we learn through books, but we also need to develop ourselves socially as well to become a well-rounded pharmacist. In order to do this, we need to get involved, invest time and efforts in different clubs and organizations. This way, we can build up relationships and connect with people that will be helpful to us in the future. Knowing the right people will open up more career opportunities later on once we graduated. In addition, we need to actively ask questions, since it is the best way for us to learn. By developing a strong knowledge base, we will be able to become better leaders in our field.
Most importantly, one keeper for me is that we need take “I don’t have time” out of our vocabulary. Throughout my student years, I realized that I need to be more involved in extracurricular activities, but I keep using the “I don’t have time for it” as an excuse. After listening to Dr. Conner’s talk, I realized that I need to make time for the things that I wanted to do. Prioritizing my tasks and take out unproductive things are very important in order to fit in the things that will help me advance in my career. 
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President's Lunch 2015

8/9/2015

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After Convocation and the White Coat Ceremony, the WesternU Community gathered back on the campus for the President's Lunch of Tri-tip, BBQ chicken, chili beans and salad.  In addition to music, dancing and Hawaiian shaved ice, the students and their families met with participants in the Vender fair and toured the campus.
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White Coat 2015

8/9/2015

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Dean Robinson welcomed the WesternU College of Pharmacy Class of 2019 and the IPBP Class of 2018 and their families to the White Coat Ceremony on August 8, 2015 in the Vineyard Room at the Sheraton Fairplex.  Rebecca Cupp, Director of Pharmacy at Ralphs gave the keynote address, Jim Scott, PharmD led the new students in the "Pledge of Commitment" and Emmanuelle Schwartzman, PharmD in the "Pharmacist's Oath".  Dean Robinson also recognized Daniel Rim and Cardinal Health for their support of the White Coat Ceremony, scholarships and other endeavors of the college.
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Convocation 2015

8/9/2015

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The WesternU academic year officially began on August 8, 2015 with the Convocation Ceremony at the Sheraton Fairplex and Conference Center.  The College of Pharmacy was honored to have the alumni speaker, Nogie Demirgian, PharmD 2013 and two major award winners Fadi Khasawneh, PhD and Kabir Lutfy, PhD. who received the Award for Leadership and Service and Provost's Distinguished Scholar Award respectively.  The inspiring Keynote Speaker was  Pedram Salimpour, MD, President of the the Los Angeles Medical Association.  The most touching part of the ceremony was the tribute to President and Mrs Pumerantz for their great service to the WesternU.
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