On the CUSP: March 2023

Awards and Recognitions

Fellows:

• Dr. Marc Fleming was selected as the Fellow of the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) and was recognized at the  APhA Annual Meeting in Phoenix, AZ March 24-27. More information is available here.
• Dr. Emmanuelle Schwartzman was named a Fellow of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) in recognition of her professional accomplishments and practice leadership. She will be recognized at a ceremony in June at the ASHP summer meeting.
• Dr. Karl Hess was named a Fellow of the International Society of Travel Medicine (FISTM) and will be recognized at the Society’s biennial Congress in May.

Other Awards:

• Dr. Hamidreza Montazeri Aliabadi was awarded the Long Service Award for his dedicated service and commitment of over 5 years to the PLOS ONE Editorial Board.
• Dr. Kamaljit Kaur was appointed for 3 years (2023-2025) to the Medicinal Chemistry Division (MEDI) Long Range Planning Committee (LRPC) of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
• Dr. Laressa Bethishou received the California Pharmacists Association Presidential Leadership & Service Recognition. This is a new recognition created by the CPhA Board of Trustees to highlight members who have demonstrated outstanding leadership and exemplary service to the Association.
• Dr. Amy Kang is the 2023 Unit Faculty Excellence Award for CUSP recipient.  This award was voted by CUSP faculty to recognize, encourage, and celebrate Dr. Kang’s excellence in teaching, creative/scholarly activity, and service.

Grants

Dr. Miao Zhang and Dr. Surya Nauli received an award from the American Heart Association for the “KCa2.3 activators for cilia defect in ADPKD hypertension” project.

Presentations

• Oral (e.g., Platform Presentations, Symposiums, Plenaries, Keynotes)

  • Dr. Jerika Lam did a panel presentation at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) Conference in San Antonio, TX on March 22, 2023 titled “Managed Care Perspective in HIV Prevention”.
  • Dr. Kathleen Hill-Besinque presented a preceptor CE Program for Sharp on February 28, 2023, titled “Utilizing Learners to Improve your Practice”.
  • Dr. Keykavous Parang was the keynote speaker at the Global Conference in Pharmaceutical Sciences in Tokyo, Japan on March 20, 2023, titled “Design and Application of Cyclic Peptides for Anticancer Drug Delivery”.
  • Dr. Laressa Bethishou did an oral presentation at the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Annual Meeting in Phoenix, AZ on March 27, 2023, titled “How To Collaborate with Your TOC Comrades”.
  • Dr. Sherif Elshahawi presented at the American Chemical Society (ACS) in Indianapolis, IN in March 2023 titled “Functionalization of Tryptophan-Containing Peptides Using Biocatalysis”.

• Posters

  • Dr. Miao Zhang, Research Associate Dr. Young Woo Nam, Ph.D. candidate Razan Orfali, Myles Downey, and pre-pharmacy APEx student Grace Yang presented their publication, Genetic Mutations of K_Ca2.3 and K_Ca3.1 Channels Affect Calcium Sensitivity, at the 2^nd Annual CHOC-UCI Rare Symposium & Family Conference on March 10th, 2023.
  • Dr. Miao Zhang, Research Associate Young-Woo Nam, Ph.D. candidate Razan Orfali, and pre-pharmacy APEx student Grace Yang presented their publication “Structure-function studies of loss-of-function K_Ca2.2 mutant channels” at the 2^nd Annual CHOC-UCI Rare Symposium & Family Conference on March 10th, 2023.
  • Student Taran Harris presented the “Characterization of Black Seeds (Nigella sativa) Proteins by ESI QTOF LC/MS/MS” at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Annual Meeting from March 25-28 in Seattle, WA.

Quotables

Dr. Karl Hess was quoted in Washington Post Article “Everything You Need to Know About Foreign Pharmacies: Counterfeit Pills Are A Real Problem“, published online on March 14, 2023.

Publications

• Drs. Albert Bach, Laressa Bethishou, Richard Beuttler, Neeloufar Fakourfar, and Dr. Hindu Rao published Comparison of Virtual Simulations with Peers versus Actors as Standardized Patients on Virtual OSCE Scores in the American Journal of Pharmacy Education (AJPE).
• Dr. Isabella Cattani-Cavalieri, Yue Li, Jordyn Margolis, Dr. Moom Roosan, and Dr. Rennolds Ostrom collaborated with another researcher to experiment and produce Quantitative phosphoproteomic analysis reveals unique cAMP signaling pools emanating from AC2 and AC6 in human airway smooth muscle cells, published in Frontiers in Physiology.
• Drs. Neeloufar Fakourfar and Hindu Rao discussed Pharmacy Student Involvement in Population Health Management of Statin Quality Measures in the Journal of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy.
• Dr. Marc Fleming collaborated with other institutions to create A Motivational Interviewing Intervention to Improve Adherence to ACEIs/ARBs among Nonadherent Older Adults with Comorbid Hypertension and Diabetes in the National Library of Medicine.
• Drs. Keykavous Parang and Rakesh Tiwari, David Salehi, Ph.D. candidates Jonathan Moreno and Khalid Zoghebi, MS candidate Lois Kim, and Sorour Khayyatnejad Shoushtari published Amphiphilic cell-penetrating peptides containing arginine and hydrophobic residues as protein delivery agents in Pharmaceuticals.