Dr. Ashton Beggs, Assistant Professor of Pharmacy, recently made a presentation to the Geriatrics and Gerontology Interest Groups of Vanderbilt Medical Center Department of Nursing Education, Meharry Consortium Geriatric Education Center and the Center for Quality Aging.  The presentation was entitled “Review of Pharmacologic Alzheimer’s Therapies”.

Dr. Michael McGuire, Assistant Professor of Pharmacy, made a presentation last month to the Belmont University Psychology Club as part of the activities of Mental Health Week. Dr. McGuire presented a session on prescription drug abuse.

Thirty-five members of Belmont’s Student National Pharmaceutical Association (SNPhA) and faculty walked in the Oct. 5 HIV/AIDS Walk for Nashville Cares and  raised more than $1,700 through individual donations and a bake sale to benefit the organization. Nashville Cares provides life-saving services to Middle Tennesseans living with HIV/AIDS  as well as offers education, prevention and awareness of HIV/AIDS.

SNPhA members attended an HIV 101 Seminar, during which a speaker from Nashville Cares spoke to members on the history of HIV/AIDS in the United States, the importance of education and prevention and the specific challenges that patients with HIV/AIDS face.

The students also hosted a unique Q&A session on Oct. 10 with Kevin Hartman, pharmacist and owner of Nashville Pharmacy Services. Hartman is AAHIVP-certified by the American Academy of HIV Medicine, meaning he is a pharmacy specialist in HIV care. Hartman is a great source of information regarding how pharmacists can better serve special populations of patients.

Dr. Edgar Diaz-Cruz, assistant professor of Pharmacy, recently presented at the Preventive and Occupational Medicine Grand Rounds at the Meharry Medical College. The audience composed primarily of physicians and medical researchers attended the presentation titled “The Role of the Health Care Provider in the Management of Dietary Supplement Use.” As part of his appointment in the department, Diaz-Cruz has responsibility of providing coursework in natural products and assists in the development and maintenance of the Belmont University medicinal garden.

Fourth year pharmacy students, Chenette Burks and Melissa Holloway, have spent the past month at United Neighborhood Health Services (UNHS) Downtown and Mission Clinics completing their Ambulatory Care Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) with faculty member Dr. Ashton Beggs. The population at these two UNHS clinics primarily consists of homeless patients and this has proven to be a positive learning experience for the students.

“My rotation at UNHS has been such a humbling experience and being able to serve the homeless population is very rewarding,” said Holloway.  “These patients are generally so appreciative of the free medical care they receive and there is a great opportunity to educate them on their disease states and medications.”  Burks added, “This month has opened my eyes to the true depths of homelessness in Nashville. Spending time at the UNHS Downtown and Missions Clinics has challenged me to think creatively about how to care for those who cannot care for themselves, and who have unique barriers that hinder their ability to get well.”

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Dr. Anthony Blash, medication management clinical informaticist at Healthcare Corporation of America’s (HCA) corporate headquarters and assistant professor of Pharmacy presented at the Health Information Management Systems Society’s (HIMSS) 2013 Summit of the Southeast, which includes HIMSS chapters from Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky.

This annual two-day conference draws more than 900 healthcare information technology professionals from across the Southeast to discuss top issues surrounding the evolution of care delivery, gain greater insight into the ever-evolving field of healthcare and learn from leading experts in healthcare IT. This year’s theme was “Driving Patient outcomes through Care Collaboration.”

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Dr. Genevieve Ness, assistant professor of Pharmacy, is the lead author of an article published in the current edition (Volume 77, Issue 7) of the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education.  The study entitled “Graduating Pharmacy Students’ Perspectives on E-Professionalism and Social Media.” provides insight into graduating student pharmacist views of professionalism while engaging in social media activities.  The study was completed while Dr. Ness was a fellow with Purdue University, Eli Lilly and Company, and the US Food and Drug Administration.   She joined the Belmont faculty this summer in the College of Pharmacy’s Department of Pharmaceutical, Social and Administrative Sciences.

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Dr. Eric Hobson, Professor of Pharmacy, presented an abstract at the 2013 Tennessee Public Health Association Annual Educational Conference last week.   His poster was titled  ”Teaching Patient Health Literacy Assessment and Accommodation Skills to Future Front-line Health Care Providers.” Hobson’s work is an overview of the coursework Belmont University College of Pharmacy student pharmacists complete in patient communication and assessing health literacy levels to effectively tailor patient health information.

Dr. Cathy Ficzere, Assistant Professor of Pharmacy, was elected to serve as chairwoman of the Drug Information Practice Related Network of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP). In this role, Ficzere will coordinate national drug information education and resource development opportunities. The network provide a means for clinical pharmacists with common practice and research interests to gather for professional interaction, networking, and continuing education.

Dr. Edgar Diaz-Cruz, Assistant Professor of Pharmacy, recently had an abstract accepted for presentation at the 2013 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. The work is titled “Effect of letrozole is superior to tamoxifen in limiting preneoplasia in both ERα and aromatase over-expressing mice.” As co-principal investigator, Diaz-Cruz and his collaborators determined that the impact of letrozole was greater than tamoxifen in reducing prevalence of mammary gland preneoplasia in both ERα and aromatase over-expressing mice. These results suggest that letrozole should be considered as a chemo-preventive agent based on individual estrogen signaling prognostic factors.

Here is a sample of scholarly work and presentations over the past year by faculty in the College of Pharmacy.

Dr. Ashton Beggs

Peer Reviewed Manuscripts

• Beggs AE, Reeves DJ, Noel NS. Leukopenia Caused by Chronic Colchicine Administration. Am J Health – Syst Pharm. 15 Dec 2012;69:2147-2148.
• Beggs AE, Morrical–Kline KA. Wilhoite JE, Fick LB. Effect of an Educational Continue reading →

Dr. Amy Ham, Assistant Professor of Pharmacy, recently had a paper published online, ahead of print of her manuscript in the American Chemistry Society’s Journal of Proteome Research. The paper is titled “IDPQuantify: Combining Precursor Intensity with Spectral Counts for Protein and Peptide Quantification. Ham is part of a team that developed new software, IDPQuantify, to align multiple replicates using principal component analysis, extract accurate precursor intensities from MS data and combine intensities with spectral counts for significant gains in differentiation and quantification. The software is able to associate peptides with peaks that are otherwise left unidentified to increase the efficiency of protein quantification, especially for low-abundance proteins.

Two Belmont Pharmacy students recently published a review of the movie, Nerve, in Mental Health Clinician, a monthly publication of the College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacists (CPNP).   CPNP is a professional society of pharmacists practicing in the psychiatry and neurology specialties.

The two PharmD students, Meg Aldstadt and Kelly Maguigan, under the guidance of Dr. Michael McGuire, Assistant Professor in the College of Pharmacy, provided a review of how social anxiety disorder and medications used to treat it were depicted in the movie, an indie favorite where a young man battles the disorder with the help of a psychology student.

In the review, Aldstadt and Maguigan conclude that while Nerve provides an excellent portrayal of social anxiety disorder, it falls short in depicting relevant treatment options   They write: “Anxiety disorders respond to cognitive strategies and pharmacotherapy, but Nerve does not present any current, accepted treatment options. Instead, Aurora (the psychology student character) hurries Josh (the main character) through some experiments with her thesis deadline as the goal. It is not reasonable to expect an individual to improve in such a short period of time. We believe that she actually harms Josh more than she helps him. While the movie’s representation of treatment options fails, it does demonstrate the complexity of Josh’s disorder. It realistically shows the impact of inappropriate treatment, as opposed to giving the viewer a cinematic ending where he improves regardless of the quality of therapy.”

Dr. John Barnwell, a 2013 graduate from Belmont University College of Pharmacy, was recently awarded the Mylan Excellence in Pharmacy Award and was recognized in the official publication of the American Pharmacist’s Association, Student Pharmacist.  While a student in the College of Pharmacy, Barnwell was an active leader in various pharmacy organizations including American Pharmacist’s Association, American Society of Health Systems Pharmacists, Phi Delta Chi, Phi Lambda Sigma and Rho Chi. He resides in Nashville, Tenn. and is employed by Kroger.