COLLEGE OF PHARMACY AND HEALTH SCIENCES HOSTS INTERPROFESSIONAL EDUCATION DAY 1215 Wilbraham Rd. • Springfield, MA 01119 413.796.2300 • healthprofessions@wne.edu
2019–2020
In April, Western New England University hosted approximately 150 students from various health professions to take part in an Interprofessional Education Day in conjunction with the Pioneer Valley Interprofessional Collaborative (PV-IPEC). This event, and similar ones held on the same day across western Massachusetts, was designed to educate health professionals to work together across disciplines to create new models of team-based care. The event featured training sessions on the use of Narcan for opioid overdose and an ambulatory care simulation dealing with the treatment of complications from diabetes. Healthcare teams featured students studying to become physicians, physician assistants, nurses, pharmacists, physical therapists, and occupational therapists. DR. SHUSEN SUN BRINGS EXPERTISE TO SHANDONG UNIVERSITY IN CHINA
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WNE.EDU/PHS
WHAT’S NEW AT THE COLLEGE OF PHARMACY AND HEALTH SCIENCES
Dr. Shusen Sun, clinical associate professor of emergency medicine, was recently named associate editor of the International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy, and is teaching emergency medicine at Shandong University in China. Each summer the University offers over 100 summer courses at its various colleges, and some of these courses are taught by professors from other countries, such as the US, UK, and Australia. For the past three years, Dr. Sun has been teaching the Advances in Pharmacy course to clinical pharmacy students at the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences. The course has been selected as one of the Top 10 courses from those offered in 2018 at Shandong University. Dr. Sun has also taught at Peking University School of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
DR. DEBRA LATOUR PARTNERS WITH WPI FOR PROSTHETIC INNOVATION
INTERIM DEAN APPOINTED IN THE COLLEGE OF PHARMACY AND HEALTH SCIENCES
Dr. Debra Latour, assistant professor of practice in occupational therapy, has teamed up with Worcester Polytechnic Institute professor Dr. Ted Clancy and local prosthetics company Liberating Technologies, Inc. to develop wireless sensors that will improve the performance of prosthetics for people with upper limb amputations. This technology will allow those with limb absences to control and use the wrist and hand on their prosthesis.
Dr. James Knittel, professor of medicinal chemistry, has been named Interim Dean of the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Founding Dean Dr. Evan Robison has accepted a Dean position at Creighton University School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Nebraska.
Having a limb absence herself, Dr. Latour is excited about the impact of this work. “The opportunity to work with WPI innovators on cutting-edge technology for a unique population is exciting, and opens up possibilities,” said Latour. An inventor and entrepreneur, Dr. Latour is also one of the individuals featured in the Design Museum-Boston exhibit of “We Design,” which highlights her career story and the impact of her work in design. The exhibit opened in Boston in October, and will later travel to other locations.
Dr. Knittel has been at Western New England University since 2009 and served as the Founding Chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical and Administrative Sciences before he was appointed Interim Dean. Before coming to Western New England, he was an assistant professor of medicinal chemistry at Rutgers University College of Pharmacy and later moved to the University of Cincinnati James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy where he became a member of the Genome Research Institute. Dr. Knittel has conducted research in the area of peptide hormone structure activity relationships, design of peptidomimetics, and computer assisted drug design. He has received the Rho Chi Faculty Excellence Award three times and the First Professional Year Faculty Excellence Award twice for outstanding teaching.