BRO A D SPEC T RUM
PLAUDITS FOR POSTERS Third-year PharmD students presented 70 original studies at the USC School of Pharmacy’s inaugural Scholarly Project Symposium. Research by the 183 candidates spanned specialty pharmacy, transitions of care, pain management, ambulatory care pharmacy, infectious diseases and public health. Panels of faculty, staff, alumni and preceptors judged the results. Rory Kim, assistant professor of clinical pharmacy and the symposium’s faculty organizer, wanted to create an interactive atmosphere similar to professional research conferences. “We decided to use the poster format to keep presentations short and to encourage students to submit their work to local and national pharmacy conferences,” he says. Student Jonathan Hwang — who co-presented research evaluating the drug alvimopan in speeding recovery after bowel surgery — appreciated the opportunity to combine scholarship with his professional experience at a pharmacy. “My team developed the idea in conjunction with our pharmacy manager and used data we had on file to fuel our research,” he says. Tanya Markary — whose team won one of the two Dean’s Recognition Awards for developing a website enabling students to learn pharmaceutics at their own pace — says she and her fellow team members
At the USC School of Pharmacy, we are continuously looking for innovative approaches to education.” Ian Haworth, associate professor of pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences
scholarly project. “Critical-thinking skills are particularly important in the contemporary pharmacy environment, and these skills can be developed through research and scholarship.” The symposium is expected to expand in the future. “We plan on seeking partnership opportunities across the USC Health Sciences Campus to increase the impact our students can make,” Haworth says.
The 2018 awards and winners were: Alumni Board Award for Excellence in Scholarship:
look forward to expanding their project. “Our next step is to test the website with the incoming pharmacy students as part of their pharmaceutics class,” Markary adds. “At the USC School of Pharmacy, we are continuously looking for innovative approaches to education,” says Ian Haworth, associate professor of pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences, and the team’s project mentor. In 2016, the school updated its curriculum to require that all PharmD students engage in the process of scientific inquiry through a
» I sabel Chu, Michael Formica, Helen Tran and Miranda Wong for “Impact of the Bedside Pharmacy Program on 30-Day Readmissions” Dean’s Recognition Awards: » S tephanie Mac and Nicole Pepe for “Effects of Obesity/Diabetes on the Cytokine Response and Outcome of Patients with Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia” » K enna Patel, Navneet Multani, Tanya Markary and Dab Brill for “Use of TYPS Website with USC School of Pharmacy Pharmaceutics Students” People’s Choice Award: » K im Tran, Liana So, Jennifer Quach and Michele Nguyen for “The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Academic Performance for Pharmacy Students at the University of Southern California”
Students Tanya Markary, Dab Brill, Kenna Patel and Navneet Multani present their research project at the first USC School of Pharmacy Scholarly Project Symposium. Their project won one of the two Dean’s Recognition Awards.
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