First year PharmD students recently received their white coats at the annual White Coat Ceremony for the College of Pharmacy. This represents the first step for each of these individuals into the pharmacy profession.
Monthly Archives: February 2012
Dr. Ficzere Published in Annals of Pharmacotherapy
Dr. Cathy Ficzere of the Department of Pharmaceutical, Social and Administrative Sciences had her manuscript Curriculum and Instructional Methods for Drug Information, Literature Evaluation, and Biostatistics: Survey of Pharmacy Schools accepted for publication in the journal Annals of Pharmacotherapy. An electronic survey was developed and administered to assess pharmacy school curricula and characterize faculty qualifications, educational methods, and recent changes in drug information. The overall outcome of the study shows an increased focus on evidence-based medicine, medication safety, and informatics.
Social Work seniors serve the community with field placements
Fifteen Belmont University social work majors are in the midst of their senior field placements, making a difference in the community while gaining valuable experience. The students have served various organizations in Nashville and middle Tennessee, as well as in remote locations such as Uganda and the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Students are serving and learning at Park Center working with people with a mental health diagnosis, chronic homelessness and co-occurring disorders; at Catholic Charities working with elder refugees; at Samaritan House with people who have addictions; at Vanderbilt with a pregnancy outreach program; at New Transitions working with young adults aging out of foster homes; at The Next Door, Magdalene, and Renewal House with women struggling with addictions, prostitution and incarceration; at the Center for Understanding learning about advocacy for people with autism spectrum disorder; and at Integrative Life Center working with people who struggle with all kinds of addictions. The group of students, as a whole, will provide about 7500 hours of social work service as they learn to become professional social workers.
One of these senior students, Kelsey Lalman, was recently recognized in the online news of The Pilgrimage, where she is currently interning along with her work at Bread for the World.
Dr. Stodghill publishes paper
Dr. Steven Stodghill, in the College of Pharmacy’s Department of Pharmaceutical, Social & Administrative Sciences, has had a paper accepted in Drug Development and Industrial Pharmacy titled Physico-chemical characterization of a novel anti-cancer agent and its comparison to Taxol®.
Stodghill and his collaborators evaluated a model compound, JCA112, which has a very good tubulin binding ability, similar to Taxol. In earlier studies the compound did not perform well in traditional in vitro studies used to screen a New Chemical Entity. This investigation characterized the physicochemical properties of the compound including, solubility, stability, polymorphism, lipophilicity, complexation ability and permeability, leading to identification of several incompatibilities with standard in vitro screening procedures. This suggests that a thorough understanding of the pre-formulation characteristics of the drug substance is vital in understanding the potential outcome of the in vitro screening studies.
College of Health Sciences & College of Pharmacy part of community health fair at Belmont basketball game
As a show of gratitude to the University’s friends, Belmont opened its arms Jan. 28 with a Community Health Fair in the Maddox Grand Atrium of the Curb Event Center in conjunction with the men’s and women’s basketball games against Jacksonville. The free fair, co-sponsored by University Health Services, the College of Health Sciences, the College of Pharmacy and Belmont Athletics, featured 30 booths with blood pressure, body composition and bone density screenings; CPR demonstrations; and information on tobacco cessation, breast cancer awareness, diabetes, healthy eating, self defense and recreation. Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Renfrew Center, Edgehill Community Garden, Edgehill Family Resource Center, YMCA and Real Food Farms had booths.
“Belmont has always been supportive of the community and has done a lot of partnering and programming in the area surrounding campus. This (was) a continuation of those services to share information,” said Director of Health Services Katy Wilson. “Students from all of the health sciences programs, athletics department and fitness and recreation center (were) heavily involved in the fair.” Click here to view photos from the Community Health Fair.
The fair was intended to put wellness and preventive health resources within reach of Belmont’s neighbors and fans with screenings, pamphlets and prizes. Although the event marked the first Community Health Fair at Belmont, it was an extension of the annual Pink Zone through an initiative with the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association and Susan G. Komen for the Cure to promote breast cancer awareness. The women’s basketball team wore pink uniforms. Fans received free pink T-shirts and pom poms.
“We have been fortunate to have a long-standing relationship with Susan G. Komen’s Nashville office. They set up a table in the hope of interacting with fans on game day,” Director of Athletics Marketing Jimmy Frush said. “We chose this doubleheader to reach a wide variety of people, ages and genders and to feature the many different programs and departments with Belmont’s Health Sciences. Hopefully, it (delivered) a valuable service to the fans coming to the game.”