WesternU’s One Health Symposium highlights connections between animal, human and environmental health | |
Western University of Health Sciences' recent 2025 One Health Day Symposium sought connections among the worlds of animal, human, and environmental health, this year with a special focus on food.
Margrethe “Gretchen” Andreasen, MSc, DVM Class of 2028, one of the student organizers from the Student American Veterinary Medical Association, said that the overarching nutritional issues affecting the planet and its inhabitants cannot be solved in silos.
The symposium showed “the interconnectedness between human health, environmental health, and animal health—which is deeply important in veterinary medicine—but also in human medicine, environmental research, and so much more,” she said.
The event, held Nov. 14, 2025 in the Health Education Center, drew nearly 80 attendees. Although organized by the College of Veterinary Medicine since its WesternU inception nearly a decade ago, the symposium drew speakers and attendees from beyond the College’s and WesternU’s doors. Speakers from CVM, UC Riverside, Cal Poly Pomona and Pitzer College came together to present their research and projects surrounding food and discuss how their work intersects and overlaps. Similarly diverse were those in attendance, representing faculty, staff and students from CVM, WesternU College of Optometry, and College of Graduate Nursing, as well as from five other regional colleges and universities.
Read the full story: WesternU’s One Health Symposium highlights connections between animal, human, and environmental health | WesternU News
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Building a Legacy: Honoring the First Black OD Graduates | Women In Optometry | |
In honor of Black History Month, Women In Optometry created a list of the first Black graduates from various optometry schools in the U.S.
Women In Optometry cited this as one of its Top Stories of 2025 in its most recent edition.
WesternU College of Optometry Class of 2015 graduates Dr. Shirley De La Rosa Bright, Dr. Elizabeth Samson-Parr and Dr. Maryann Youssef are featured in this story.
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College of Podiatric Medicine students from WesternU's Podopediatrics Club hosted Step Into Learning, a podiatry workshop for children, giving young learners a hands-on experience with suturing, foot casting, knot-tying and sock decorating. The event, held Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, was supported by WesternU’s Office of Academic Community Engagement.
Great job to the Podopediatrics Club and all the student volunteers for inspiring curiosity early and making learning memorable one step at a time.
View more photos on Instagram and Facebook.
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Future health care heroes in the making!
WesternU College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific students from the Pediatric Interest Group welcomed kindergarten-aged children to the Pomona campus for Mini-Medical School on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025.
With support from WesternU’s Office of Academic Community Engagement, these adorable youngsters were inspired early while learning through hands-on activities, including scrubbing in, suturing, ultrasound, casting, and EKG.
Big curiosity, tiny coats, and so many smiles!
View more photos on Instagram and Facebook.
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COMP Associate Professor Jessie Atterholt, PhD, and colleagues from the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, published a new paper in the Journal of Anatomy. This research describes unique morphology of tail muscles in the endangered Gunnison sage-grouse, as related to the spectacular courtship and lekking displays seen in males of this species.
Clark, A. D., Atterholt, J., Clark, S. J., Seward, N. W. 2025. Courtship display behavior influences tail myology in Centrocercus minimus (Gunnison sage-grouse). Journal of Anatomy, 00:1–9."
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/joa.70089
Dr. Atterholt and COMP and CPM Professor Mathew Wedel, PhD, published a new paper on the anatomy of extinct crocodiles: Hart, W.J., Atterholt, J., and Wedel, M.J. 2025. First occurrences of neural canal ridges in Crocodylia. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 70(4): 749–753. Https://www.app.pan.pl/archive/published/app70/app012692025.pdf
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Dr. Joelle Ayoub published an article, "Longitudinal cocurriculum incorporating professional identity formation and well-being," about our COP Wellness, Exploring Leadership and Self-Awareness (WELSA) curriculum in AJPE, the Academy's premier academic journal.
Dr. Ayoub was first and corresponding author, with other PPAD faculty co-authors include other WELSA faculty Drs. Shawn Smith, Jason Wong, Micah Hata, Donald Hsu, Eunice Chung, and Dr. Anandi Law as senior author (PPAD faculty while this work was done), and BPS faculty co-authors Dr. Simon Bulley and Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, Mark Iannuzzo. Wonderful collaboration!
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002945925005327
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Dr. Sheryl Chow was very busy with not only recent activities at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions but multiple publications, including an AHA Scientific Statement, an editorial, and a section in the updated International Resuscitation Guidelines, along with a media commentary!
AHA Annual Meeting, Nov. 7-10, New Orleans, LA
Moderator, Pecha Kucha: Cardio Kidney Metabolic Health
Nov. 7 Clinical Cardiology Council (CLCD) Leadership Meeting (Member at large)
AHA Resuscitation Guidelines, JACC Asia Editorial, and AHA Scientific Statement:
Cao D, Arens AM, Chow SL, Easter SR, Hoffman RS, Lagina AT, Lavonas EJ, Patil K, Sutherland LD, Tijssen JA, Wang GS, Zelop CM, Rodriguez AJ, Drennan IR, McBride ME. Part 10:Adult and Pediatric Special Circumstances of Resuscitation: 2025 American Heart Association Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care. Circulation. 2025 November;152(16) suppl 2.
Chow SL. Paychecks and Pillow Talk: Intersecting Determinants in Cardiovascular Health Across Diverse Populations. JACC Asia. 2025 Oct; 5(10):1386-1388.
Khan SS, Breathett K, Braun L, Chow SL, Gupta DK, Lekavich C, Lloyd-Jones DM, Ndumele C, Rodriguez CJ, Allen L, Vice-Chair, on behalf of the American Heart Association Prevention Science Committee of the Council on Epidemiology and Prevention and Council on Cardiovascular and Stroke Nursing; Council on Basic Cardiovascular Sciences; Council on Clinical Cardiology; Council on Hypertension; and Council on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research. Risk-Based Primary Prevention of Heart Failure: A Scientific Statement from the American Heart Association. Circulation 2025;151(20):e1006-e1026.
AHA Expert Commentary in Health: Can Supplements Actually Improve Heart Health?
https://www.health.com/can-supplements-actually-improve-heart-health-11683726
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Dr. Hyma Gogineni recently received a Certificate of Appreciation from VA Loma Linda. According to the Loma Linda VA leadership, she was the first pharmacist to receive this recognition in the past 7–10 years. This is quite the acknowledgement of Dr. Gogineni's contributions to patient care and other activities at her VA practice site!
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Dr. Andrew Hean has multiple accomplishments, including a grant, publication, and workshop scholarship.
Under Dr. Hean's guidance as faculty and co-investigator, COP student Saira Pacheco was selected as a recipient of the American Association of Psychiatric Pharmacists Foundation's Defining the Future Grant for her project "Effects of a Curricular Long Acting Injectable (LAI) Antipsychotic Workshop on Student Pharmacists’ Readiness and Confidence to Administer LAIs." This funding will supply the necessary materials for them to implement a brand new LAI skills workshop in the psychiatry block PHRM 6208, and for the them to conduct a research project with co-investigator Dr. Eunice Chung on the impact of this workshop on our students.
Dr. Hean also published his PGY2 residency project with his colleagues from UCSD in MDPI's Pharmacy journal. It is a prospective study evaluating the relationship between weekend staffing among California pharmacy residents and burnout. Hean AC, Kneebusch J, Tiefenthaler C, Lee KC. Evaluation of Pharmacy Resident Burnout Based on Weekend Residency Staffing Requirements: A Pilot Study. Pharmacy. 2025; 13(6):153. https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy13060153
Dr. Hean was also the recipient of a prestigious scholarship from the Evidence Foundation scholarship program to attend the winter 2026 virtual Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis Workshop which is part of the US GRADE Network, the noteworthy organization that supports initiatives in evidence-based health care, disseminating GRADE guideline methodology through training, mentorship, education, and collaboration.
Dr. Hean will be presenting his proposal for a systematic review project to all participants during a virtual "poster session" during breaks of the workshop. Participation in the Evidence Foundation scholarship program
also includes regular future communication regarding the proposed project after the workshop.
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Dr. Ligang Liu recently published two articles of observational studies, one for which he was corresponding author:
Awareness, attitudes, and clinical utilization of vonoprazan for Helicobacter pylori infection and gastroesophageal reflux disease among Chinese physicians: a nationwide cross-sectional study | BMC Gastroenterology
Xu H, Zhao H, Tao H, Liu L.
And another that he co-authored: Association between the psychological frailty index and stroke: a cohort study from CHARLS | Scientific Reports
Guo M, Zhang Z, Dong H, Liu L, Zhao Z, Li X, Jia J.
Dr. Liu also presented a poster presentation at the ASHP Midyear meeting: The global burden of mental disorders and substance use disorders among adolescents and young adults
In addition, Dr. Liu was recently selected to serve as Secretary/Treasurer of the ACCP Health Outcomes PRN, and he also joined the Editorial Board of Scientific Reports.
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Dr. Wonhee So was active with ID Week 2025 where she presented three abstracts and poster presentations.
Two posters involved her COP AE students Thu (Ann) Phu and Maryam Jabri and were done in collaboration with City of Hope Physicians, Infection control, and Pharmacists.
So W, Phu T, Dickter JK, Srisatidnarakul S, Dadwal SS, She RC. Utility of Catheter Tip Culture and Impact on Antimicrobial Therapy in Patients with Cancer. Poster P-1709. IDWeek. Atlanta, GA, Oct 2025
So W, Jabri M, Phu T, Ross JA, Dickter JK, She RC, Dadwal SS. Incidence and Risk Factors for Clostridioides difficile disease (CDI) Progression from Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)+/Toxin- to PCR+/Toxin+ in Patients with Cancer: a Single Center Study. Oral Presentation. IDWeek. Atlanta, GA, Oct 2025
So W, Jabri M, Phu T, Ross JA, Dickter JK, She RC, Dadwal SS. Evaluation of Clostridioides difficile Infection Management among Patients with Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) Positive/Toxin Enzyme Immunoassay (EIA) Negative Tests at a Comprehensive Cancer Center. Poster #P-1024. Atlanta, GA. Oct 2025.
Dr. So also gave an invited presentation in South Korea at the KCCP conference focused on critical care and infectious diseases:
So W. A day with an ID pharmacy/faculty preceptor—a seminar to pharmacy faculty, pharmacy students, hospital pharmacists in S Korea introducing ASP practice in the US and incorporating APPE rotation in ASP/ID service.
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Dr. Jason Wong served as the lead facilitator for a one-hour round-table discussion at the ASHP Midyear meeting entitled "Substance Use Disorder Management in Community Pharmacy," hosted by the Section of Community Pharmacy Practitioners. Dr. Wong developed all the discussion topics for the session, including collaborative care, patient education and treatment of opioid use disorder.
| | City of Hope Blood Drive, Jan. 13, 2026 | | |
The College of Optometry is organizing a blood drive with the City of Hope from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026 on the Health Education Center Esplanade on the WesternU California campus.
Here is the signup link: COH Blood Drive 01-13-26
Click on the attached flier to view larger.
Even if you are unable to donate, please help by spreading the word and sharing this information with others in our community.
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Please welcome the following recent hires to WesternU:
WesternU Pet Health Center: Karen Martinez, Clinic Front Desk Receptionist and Cashier
CGN: Daniel Lucero, Assistant Professor
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