USC Pharmacy Hailed for Community Work
Photo/Kukla Vera
The award specifically noted the school’s institutional commitment to addressing unmet community needs through education, practice and research. Highlighting community service as an important element of the academic mission, this award singles out institutions that serve as examples of social responsiveness on the part of the academic medical community.
“The key word in selecting the recipient of this new award is ‘transformative’,” said Lucinda L. Maine, executive vice president and CEO of the association. “The lives of a broad and diverse population of people have been changed positively because of USC’s mission-driven commitment to invest faculty and student resources on such projects.”
The School of Pharmacy works with community partners to integrate clinical pharmacy services into their medical services, including hiring pharmacists on staff at safety-net clinics, where pharmacist intervention improves health outcomes and quality of life.
An example of a successful collaboration is with QueensCare Family Clinics, where a critical aspect of the program is the medication therapy management component, a disease management approach that provides one-on-one pharmacist counseling to patients, resulting in more successful medication compliance and overall improved disease management. In a health center where more than 60 percent of the patient population suffers from chronic diseases, the disease management component of the pharmacist’s role can become a matter of life and death.
Supporters of the school’s safety-net work include the QueensCare Family Clinics, UniHealth Foundation, the Merck Company Foundation, JWCH Institute and the South Central Family Health Center. The initial grant that started the project in 2002 was from the Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration.
“At USC, we’re committed to giving back to our community. The School of Pharmacy’s work in these clinics, as well as our health literacy projects, make it possible for us to directly impact the health of some of L.A.’s most at-risk residents,” said School of Pharmacy Dean R. Pete Vanderveen. “We’ve seen firsthand how our pharmacists have improved patient outcomes while saving precious health care dollars. To be honored for this commitment makes it even more rewarding.”
Leading the effort and on hand to receive the award were Kathleen Johnson, holder of the William A. and Josephine A. Heeres Chair in Community Pharmacy and the chair of the school’s Titus Family Department, as well as associate professors Mel Baron and Steven Chen. At the ceremony, Vanderveen spoke about the tremendous dedication of the community pharmacy group.
Unable to attend but mentioned as award recipients were Elizabeth Cervantes, Stephanie Iniguez and Cecilia Wu, clinical staff pharmacists at QueensCare Family Clinics. Also part of the award team are faculty members Jeff Goad, Edith Mirzaian and Mike Rudolph.
Previously, the school’s work in safety-net clinics garnered the 2007 Pinnacle Award of the American Pharmacists Association Foundation and the 2008 Best Practices Award of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. On Feb. 12 and 13, the School of Pharmacy hosted “Developing Partnerships Between Schools of Pharmacy and Safety-Net Clinics,” a national conference attended by more than 30 schools of pharmacy and various clinical, government and association groups.
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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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