Pharmacy School Develops Online Course
Photo/Philip Channing
The course was launched in an effort to provide a basic overview and a dozen in-depth modules targeting current medical and pharmacy students as well as postdoctoral fellows.
The USC School of Pharmacy played a pivotal role in developing the course. Professor Gilbert J. Burckart, holder of the Hygeia Centennial Chair in Clinical Pharmacy, organized the course along with FDA staff members; Felix Frueh, associate director of genomics; and Federico Goodsaid, senior staff scientist in the Office of Translational Science.
According to Burckart, “Pharmacogenomics is therapeutic drug monitoring. It’s the way we’ll determine what drugs to use and how to better monitor them. This course provides a way for current practitioners and the next generation of clinicians and researchers to become familiar with the topic and its applications.”
Burckart, who worked on this project during a recent sabbatical at the FDA, involved many colleagues at the School of Pharmacy in the project modules. While the entire course provides a thorough handling of the topic, each module also works as a stand-alone chapter.
Although the course just launched earlier this month, Burckart reported that “initial reaction has been very positive, with colleagues around the globe already accessing the information.”
The field of pharmacogenomics offers a new way of diagnosing and treating patients by looking at each patient’s genetic make up to determine the best course of treatment.
The USC course is structured in a way that allows experts to look at pharmacogenetics as it relates to specific categories of drugs. School of Pharmacy faculty include assistant professor Susie Park discussing the central nervous system drugs; assistant professor Tien Ng on cardiovascular agents; associate professor Stan Louie looking into anti-infective drugs; and associate professor Paul Beringer reviewing the impact of pharmacogenomics on pulmonary drugs.
Ian Hutchinson, professor at both the School of Pharmacy and the Keck School of Medicine of USC, presents an overview of drug targets, with a focus on the immune and inflammatory system. Also in the program is Keck School associate professor Richard Watanabe, who discusses biostatistical approaches and Web resources for analysis of pharmacogenomic information.
Burckart, along with FDA colleague Lawrence Lesko, presents the introductory module to the course. In addition, he presents a module on pharmacogenomics and organ transplantation.
The course is free and accessible at http://www.accp1.org/~user/index.html
Support for the course was provided by GlaxoSmithKline and Third Wave Technologies.
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The Chronicle of Higher Education mentioned USC’s $6 billion fundraising campaign. The story noted that USC had already raised $1 billion in a “quiet phase,” including the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College.
The Guardian (U.K.) highlighted two major gifts to USC in a list of the 10 biggest philanthropic benefactors in America. The list included the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College, and the $110 million gift from USC Trustee and USC Viterbi School alumnus John Mork and wife Julie to create the USC Mork Family Scholars Program.
The New York Times featured the USC U.S.-China Institute documentary “Assignment: China — The Week that Changed the World.” The documentary, part of a series, examines media coverage of the 1972 Nixon trip that reshaped U.S.-China relations after a quarter century of isolation and hostility. “People look back now and take it for granted that the outcome was preordained,” said the institute’s Mike Chinoy, who produced the documentary. Voice of America also featured the story.
Los Angeles Times featured the Oscar Senti-meter, a tool developed by the USC Annenberg School, Los Angeles Times and IBM that analyzes thousands of tweets about the Academy Awards nominees. The story noted that Mexican actor Demian Bechir received an enormous boost on Twitter the day of the nominations, with a total of 6,893 tweets mentioning him, a 47-fold increase from the day before. The story noted the tool uses language-recognition technology developed in collaboration with USC Viterbi School’s Signal Analysis and Interpretation Lab.
The Times of India (India) featured a three-day medical emergency training workshop organized in association with USC. At the workshop, held at GCS Medical College in India, 50 doctors and more than 100 paramedics learned how to improve emergency support systems. William Mallon of the Keck School of USC said that discussion topics included the use of portable ultrasonic devices to scan patients. “The ultrasound applications help physicians make accurate and timely decisions,” he noted. Daily News & Analysis (India) also featured the workshop.
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