A lucha libre fighter, a character from the “Oscar and the Giant” fotonovela on pediatric asthma, poses with a young attendee at the Festival of Books.
The annual event included a booth featuring the School’s International Travel Health Clinic and a theatrical reading of “Sweet Temptations” on the outdoor Festival stage.
School of Pharmacy in
La Times Festival Of Books
The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books serves as one more way the USC School of Pharmacy can interact with the surrounding community, and this year’s event included a School-hosted booth and a presentation from Associate Professor Mel Baron. The Festival was held on the USC University Park Campus April 30- May 1, and featured author events, storytelling, cooking demonstrations, poetry readings and nearly 300 exhibitor booths. Mel Baron, PharmD, presented a staged reading of his fotonovela “Sweet Temptations” followed by a discussion about diabetes. The comic book-like health literacy tool, written in both English and Spanish, educates Latino populations about diabetes symptoms and the importance of keeping up with diabetes treatment regimens. Its effectiveness in increasing diabetes awareness in minority populations is supported by two separate studies, one conducted by the USC Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research and another conducted by Healthcare Management Corp., a subsidiary of WellPoint, Inc. “Sweet Temptations” is one of the six fotonovelas produced by Baron and his team at the School of Pharmacy, the latest of which is entitled “Forgotten Memories” and discusses dementia. Baron is currently in production on a fotonovela focusing on childhood obesity. The Festival of Books also housed a booth hosted by the USC International Travel Health Clinic, a School of Pharmacyrun service that helps prepare people for all of their international travels by educating them about health risks, administering
immunizations and providing travelers with customized pre-travel health plans. The Clinic is directed by Associate Professor Jeffery Goad and run with assistant professors Edith Mirzaian and Melissa Durham, all of whom hold the Certificate of Knowledge in Travel Health from the International Society of Travel Medicine.
Resident Rachel Sperling, Assistant Professor Edith Mirzaian and Hasmig Ekmekdjian, PharmD (’11), at the School of Pharmacy International Travel Health Clinic booth at the Festival of Books.
summer–fall 2011 | USC PHARMACY MAGAZINE
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