On the CUSP: February 2025

Awards and Recognitions

• Dr. Jeff Goad was inducted into the California Pharmacists Association Hall of Fame in February 2025. This honor is bestowed on those with a history of distinguished service to the profession along with character, innovation, and altruism. CPhA will be presenting its awards at the Western Pharmacy Exchange in San Diego in April.
•  Dr. Neeloufar Fakourfar was installed as the President of OCSHP for 2025.

Quotables (Faculty in the News)

• Dr. Laressa Bethishou was interviewed by the American Pharmacist Association’s First Fill Podcast on The Pharmacist’s Role in Optimizing Transitions of Care.
• Dr. Jeff Goad was quoted in an article entitled “Drugmakers prep for a bird flu outbreak, despite the continued low risk” which was published Feb 3, 2025.   

Publications

• Dr. Laressa Bethishou published “Addressing social determinants of health at transitions of care – A case study.” in the journal of the  American Pharmacists Association in February 2025.  
• Dr. Keykavous Parang, Dorna Davani-Davari, and others published “Future applications of cyclic antimicrobial peptides in drug delivery.” in Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery.
• Dr. Sun Yang, Dr. Moom Roosan, Dr. Shirley Tong, Anika Patel, and others published “Crosstalk Between nNOS/NO and COX-2 Enhances Interferon-Gamma-Stimulated Melanoma Progression.” in Cancers.

 Presentations

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

  • Dr. Jerika Lam and others presented “Amplifying equitable access to oral and injectable PrEP through community pharmacies.” to the California State Board of Pharmacy in Sacramento, CA.
  • Dr. Kathleen Besinque and others presented “Building Skills for Career Management: A workshop” at the Innovations in Medical Education Online Conference on February 7, 2025.
  • Dr. Jeff Goad presented “Medication Issues and Travel” as a part of the International Society of Travel Medicine Review and Update Course on Feb 22, 2025
  • Dr. Keykavous Parang presented “Cyclic Peptide-Doxorubicin Conjugates to Overcome Multi-Drug Resistance and Reduce Toxicity,” at Healthcare Next-2025 on February 13, 2025, in Hyderabad, India as the Keynote Speaker.
  • Dr. Keykavous Parang presented “Cyclic Peptide-Doxorubicin Conjugates to Overcome Multi-Drug Resistance and Reduce Toxicity” at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science on February 14, 2025 in Hyderabad, India as an Invited Speaker.
  • Dr. Ajay Sharma presented “Antiaging Protein Klotho as a Potential Treatment for Dry Eye, Translation of Ocular Surface Research into Novel Therapies.” at the Cornea and Ocular Surface Biology, Pathology and Regeneration Gordon Research Conference, in Ventura, CA, on February 16th-21st, 2025.

•  Posters

  • Dr. May Mak and others presented ”Ambulatory Pharmacy Protocols Designed to Improve Patient Safety” at CSHP Pacific Coast Patient Safety Conference 2025, on February 28th-March 1st, 2025, in Santa Barbara, CA
  • Dr. Keykavous Parang, Dr. Innokentiy Maslennikov, Sandeep Lohan, Eman H.M. Mohammed, Naiera M. Helmy, Srishti Kumar Jha, and others presented “Antimicrobial Peptides,” at the Gordon Research Conference in Ventura, CA on February 23rd-27th, 2025.
  • Dr. Kathleen Besinque presented “Real-Case Scenarios to Reduce Moral Distress in Pediatric Hematology Oncology (PHO) Fellows” at the Innovations in Medical Education Online Conference on February 6th-7th, 2025.
  • Dr. Ajay Sharma and others presented “Conjunctival fibroblast-macrophage crosstalk in the immunopathogenesis of ocular GVHD.” at the Cornea and Ocular Surface Biology, Pathology and Regeneration Gordon Research Conference in Ventura, CA, on February 16th – 21st, 2025.
  • Dr. Keykavous Parang, Naglaa Salem El-Sayed, and Dorna Davani-Davari presented “Developing Cyclic Amphipathic Antimicrobial Peptides against Multi-drug-resistant pathogens,” at the Gordon Research Conference on Antimicrobial Peptides in Ventura, CA, on February 23rd – 27th, 2025.