On the CUSP: June 2026

Awards and Recognitions 

Dr. Hamid Montazeri Aliabadi and Melody Fewx were awarded first place for best Poster in the forum for their poster “siRNA-Loaded Lipid-Polymer Nanoparticles for RSV Therapy,” at the SABPA OC/LA 18th Annual Biomedical Forum in Irvine, CA, May 16, 2026.  

Dr. Amy Kang was awarded the Exemplary Leadership Award for Alumni from the USC Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.  

 Dr. Amy Kang was featured as a guest on Episode #138 of the Duke Antimicrobial Stewardship Outreach Network (DASON) Digest Podcast, “How Much Juice for the Squeeze? Associating Stewardship Outcomes with Resource Allocation,” alongside host Libby Dodds Ashley and guest Bradley Langford (June 2026). 

Grants 

Dr. Keykavous Parang was awarded SOARS funding by Chapman University in the amount of $2,910.79 to cover the cost of open-access publishing in Antibiotics. 

Dr. Keykavous Parang and others’ publication “Cyclic Antifungal Peptides for Drug-Resistant Invasive Fungal Infections,” received an R21/R33 grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in the amount of $445,238. 

Publications 

 Dr. Keykavous Parang and Clare Dinh published “Antimicrobial Resistance in Pediatric Infections: Current Status, Challenges, and Future Directions,” in Antibiotics.  

Dr. Marc Fleming and others published “Substance use disorder among people with intellectual and developmental disabilities: a narrative review,” in the The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse.  

Dr. Aftab Ahmed, Basir Syed, and others published “Plasma proteome profiles of standard-risk and high-risk childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia,” in Expert Review of Proteomics. 

Dr. Reza Taheri, Dr. Keykavous Parang, and Max Foroughi published “Artificial Intelligence Integration in U.S. Healthcare Professional Degree Programs: A Rapid Scoping Review,” as a preprint (Version 1) available at Research Square.  

Presentations 

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

• Dr. Sherry Yun Wang presented “Characterizing Geographic Variation in GLP-1 Receptor Agonist Prescribing Using Interpretable Machine Learning,” at the 14th IEEE International Conference on Healthcare Informatics (ICHI 2026) in Minneapolis, MN, on June 1–3, 2026. 
• Dr. Cintia E. Citterio was an invited speaker by the Endocrine Society at their ENDO 2026 conference on June 12, 2026, in Chicago, IL. 
• Dr. Jeff Goad, and others presented “Expanding the Pharmacist’s Role in Travel Medicine: Engagement, Education, and Impact,” at the PTCe Directions in Pharmacy: Southeast webinar on June 17, 2026. 
• Dr. Cintia E. Citterio, Berenice Morales-Rodriguez, and Laliv Tadri presented “Functional Impact of Variants in the C-terminal Cholinesterase-Like (ChEL) Domain of Thyroglobulin: Implications for Congenital Hypothyroidism,” as a highlighted abstract at the 22nd International Congress of Endocrinology in Kyoto, Japan, on June 3rd, 2026. 

Posters 

• Dr. Lawrence M. Brown, Dr. Marc Fleming, Dr. Enrique Seoane-Vazquez, Adeola Bakare, Mana Rahimian, and others presented “Alignment of Estimated Acquisition Costs in U.S. Gene Therapy Cost Effectiveness Analyses with Standard Price Benchmarks,” at the ISPOR 29th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA, on May 17-20, 2026. 
• Dr. Enrique Seoane-Vazquez, Dr. Marc Fleming, Poonam Bhajtire,and Khashyar Eshtiaghi, presented “Budget Impact Analysis of Exagamglogene Autotemcel for Patients with Sickle Cell Disease and Recurrent Vaso‑Occlusive Events in the United States,” at the ISPOR 29th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA, on May 17-20, 2026 
• Dr. Marc Fleming, Khashyar Eshtiaghi, and Poonam Bhajtire presented “Predictors of 30-Day Hospital Readmission Among Patients with Opioid Use Disorder,” at the ISPOR 29th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA, on May 17-20, 2026 
• Dr. Marc Fleming, Dr. Lawrence M. Brown, and Gerald Ozota presented “Disparities in Utilization of Diabetes Complications-related Preventive Services Among U.S. Adults with Diabetes: Evidence from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS),” at the ISPOR 29th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA, on May 17-20, 2026. 
• Dr. Lawrence M. Brown and Gerald Ozota presented “Health Care Resource Utilization and Cost Incurred in Patients with Multiple Cancers: Evidence from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey,” at the ISPOR 29th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA, on May 17-20, 2026. 
• Dr. Lawrence M. Brown, Dr. Marc Fleming, Dr. Enrique Seoane-Vazquez, Mana Rahimian, and others presented “Analysis of Gene Therapies Authorized by Health Canada, and Comparison with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the European Medicines Agency,” at the ISPOR 29th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA, on May 17-20, 2026. 
• Dr. Lawrence M. Brown, Dr. Marc Fleming, Dr. Enrique Seoane-Vazquez, Mana Rahimian, Adeola Bakare, and others presented “Price Analysis of Gene Therapies Authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration,” at the ISPOR 29th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA, on May 17-20, 2026. 
• Dr. Enrique Seoane-Vazquez, Mana Rahimian, and others presented “Characteristics of FDA Letters Citing Regulatory Violations Involving Patient-Reported Outcomes, 1997-2025,” at the ISPOR 29th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA, on May 17-20, 2026. 
• Dr. Enrique Seoane-Vazquez, Dr. Marc Fleming, Dr. Lawrence M. Brown, Mana Rahimian, and others presented “Comparative Analysis of Gene Therapies Authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency,” at the ISPOR 29th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA, on May 17-20, 2026. 
• Dr. Enrique Seoane-Vazquez and others presented “Fast-Tracked but Falling Short? Therapeutic Value and Policy Alignment of FDA-Approved Antibiotics,” at the ISPOR 29th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA on May 17-20, 2026. 
• Dr. Sherry Yun Wang, Dr. Lawrence Brown, and Daniel Umoru, presented “Real-World Safety Trends of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists in the U.S.: Analysis of FAERS Reports (2015-2025),.” at the ISPOR 29th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA, on May 17-20, 2026. 
• Dr. Cintia E. Citterio, Laliv Tadri, Sha Webster, and others presented “Thermogenesis and Energy Expenditure in a Physiologically Regulated T3-Only State,” as a highlighted poster at the ENDO 2026 Conference in Chicago, IL, on June 13, 2026.