“Moving Targets” event organizer Ara Moses with top poster winner Megan Yardley.
School of Pharmacy
Conference Attracts Wide Audience
Nearly 150 students, faculty, clinicians and industry representatives attended the 9th annual “Moving Targets” symposium, hosted by the USC School of Pharmacy in October. The event brought leaders in the field of immunotherapy from around the country together to share their insights on the cutting-edge research being implemented to enhance the immune system in defense against many common infectious diseases. “The program provided all attendees with the latest research on the topic from academic, industry and government labs, and an opportunity for students to freely interact and network with faculty and industry leaders,” said Ara Moses, USC-AAPS student chapter chair. Presenters included Dr. Kary Mullis, who received a Nobel Prize in chemistry for his invention of the polymerase chain reaction; Dr. Andrew Chan, senior vice president of research-
immunology at Genentech, Inc.; Dr. Larry Steinman, chair of the Stanford University Program in Immunology; Dr. James Hodge, director of the Recombinant Vaccine Group for the National Cancer Institute; Dr. W. Martin Kast, a professor of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology, Obstetrics & Gynecology and Urology at the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center at USC; and Dr. Jae Jung, chair of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the USC Keck School of Medicine. The lecture portion was followed by a student poster competition, with School of Pharmacy students Megan Yardley, Kavya Ramkumar and Divya Pathania, all PhD candidates, taking home the top prizes. Support for the event was provided by the USC School of Pharmacy and the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists.
winter–spring 2011 | USC PHARMACY MAGAZINE
29