From the Office of

The Dean

_______________

Inside this Issue:

Student News 1

Campus News 2

COM News 2

Alumni News 3

Department Updates 3

Global Health 4

Research Updates 4

Student News The Class of 2013 Commencement was held at the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco on June 2nd with 128 newly minted DO’s proudly received their diplomas. With this class we now have increased our alumni number to 1261. Amongst the graduates, the following were recipients of Student Awards: Sarah Zitsman, DO – Bernard I Zeliger

Leadership/Service Award Reginald Macapagal, DO – Outstanding DO

Graduate Savitha Bonthala, DO – Outstanding student

in OMM Robert Gaeta, DO – Outstanding student in

Basic Science

Our students once again exhibited their strong commitment to the community as evidenced by 29 receiving the Gold and another 22 Silver Translating Osteopathic Understanding into Community Health (TOUCH) recognition. Student Doctor Donovan Jeffcoat was a Platinum recipient recording the most community service hours.

At the American Osteopathic Foundation Awards Ceremonies the following students received

recognition:

Stephen Albano OMS III Welch Scholars Grant Cody Andrews OMS IV, Hima Venigandla OMS II, Mohammad Obaidullah OMS II,

Jonathan Pham OMS II all recipients of Human Touch Student Leadership Project Gregory Briden, spouse of Danielle Briden OMS IV received the Donna Jones

Moritsugu Memorial Award

Caroline Schepker OMS IV is spending the year between years 3 & 4 as Pre-Doctoral Research Fellow at Harvard University and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. The 2013 Residency Match for the graduating class also concluded with possibly our strongest match ever. Match highlights include: Overall, 57% of the 128 matches were in primary care. 45% of the matches were in California, which is the highest match total to date. 67% elected to match in ACGME programs which ranks second in the profession. As in previous years Family Medicine had the highest number of matches (29),

followed by Internal Medicine (19), Pediatrics (9) and Psychiatry (6). Other specialties where 2013 graduates matched included Neurology, obstetrics &

Gynecology, Emergency Medicine, Physical Medicine and Rehab, Pathology,

Ophthalmology, General Surgery, Anesthesiology, Orthopedic Surgery and Radiology.

1310 Club Drive, Vallejo CA. 94592

NOVEMBER 2013

Touro University California

College of Osteopathic Medicine

Newsletter

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Student News continued As one class leaves another starts such that 73% of the new 135 students that comprise the Class of 2017 are from California and have set a new standard for academic rigor by collectively having the highest MCAT and GPA in the history of our institution.

Campus News The 2nd and 3rd inter-professional (IPE) campus wide events occurred on April 3rd and August 28th with the former focusing on “getting beyond projects” to discover ways to integrate IPE into the educational process, linking IPE to the curriculum for all the TUC schools on both the California and Nevada campuses. While the latter IPE event dealt with an interprofessional approach to disaster preparedness. In between was a June 6th IPE Faculty Development Workshop which featured Tim Wood, MS, PA-C who serves as the Director for the Center for Academic and Professional Enhancement at Western University. On June 17th the stairway connecting the upper and lower campuses was named “Harter Way” to honor Dr. Harter who will retire in 2014 after serving almost a decade as Senior Provost for our campus as well as Nevada. Plans are underway to convert building H-89 on our campus into a multi-functional clinical facility that will house student health services, student counseling services as well as function as an on-campus site for translational clinical trials, inter-professional clinical training labs and services. The latest Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine campus in Middletown New York had its groundbreaking ceremonies and is expected to open with its first class in August of 2014.

COM News At its meeting on July 25th the Council on Osteopathic Postdoctoral Training Institutions (COPTI) approved the merger of the Touro University Medical Education Consortium (TUMEC) into OPTI–West Consortium. This consortium includes our campus and Touro Nevada plus the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific (Western University) in Pomona plus their campus in Oregon, and the Pacific Northwest College of Osteopathic Medicine in Yakima Washington. This major affiliation now expands our post-graduate options to 67 OGME training opportunities (9 traditional internships, 50 residencies and 8 fellowship programs) providing a total 832 approved osteopathic graduate training slots. Congratulations to Dr. Nathalie Garcia-Russell who has been selected the new Assistant Dean for Clinical Education. Dr. Garcia-Russell assumes the position vacated by Dr. Hartwig when he assumed the position of Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Dr. Garcia-Russell has distinguished herself as an educator, administrator, mentor and COM leader during her tenure at our institution. This new position will allow Dr. Garcia-Russell to expand her already impressive abilities to help lead our college forward as an advocate for both our students and faculty.

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Alumni News The COM Class of 2003 returned to campus on July 19 to celebrate their 10 year reunion. http://tuca.zenfolio.com/2003alumnireunion

The new alumni section on the TUC website was developed by Jennifer Whitty, the University Director of Alumni Relations and offers alumni profiles such as Ben Abo, DO Class of 2011 who helped rescue a stranger who fell onto the tracks of subway in New York City.

A sad note, on July 10th while transferring a patient from one hospital to another, Stanley Phillips III, DO (Class of 2010) was fatally injured when his ambulance crashed. Dr. Phillips had just started a Neonatology Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison at the time of his untimely death. The COM and the entire Touro community extend our sincere condolences to Dr. Phillips family, friends and classmates for this devastating loss. A fund to create an endowed lectureship at the University of Wisconsin in neonatal medicine has been established. Should you be interested in contributing to this fund the link is: https://secure2.meriter.com/mf form.cfm.

Department Updates

Primary Care and Solano County Clinic Welcome to new faculty Alesia Wagner DO, Matthew Fagan DO, Christina Gorey DO, Joy Dugan MSPAS, MPH, PA-C

and Shannon Malouf PA-C Congratulations to Tami Hendriksz DO who has been appointed Vice Chair of the Department Congratulations to Patricia Rehfield DO MPH on her promotion to Associate Professor Audra Lehman, MD has been selected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians Alesia Wagner DO, Assistant Professor in the Primary Care Department and current President of the Osteopathic

Physicians and Surgeons of California, has been selected to serve as OPSC’s representative on the Advisory Panel for the Covered California grant coalition. The purpose of the grant is to educate physicians and PAs on Covered California, the state’s health insurance exchange

On August 30, 2013, TUCOM collaborated with Solano County Planned Parenthood to host a one day conference in Farragut Inn, "Heart 2 Heart -- Taste, Talk and Teach", designed to educate patients with HIV infection to live healthy lives

OMM In October Drs. Glover, Pearce, and Nun o, presented workshops and participated in a panel discussion at the UC

Davis Pre-Medical and Pre-Health Professions National Conference Dr. Mitch Hiserote presented at a recent Expanding Osteopathic Concepts course in San Diego. Drs. Hiserote and

Burns also served as table trainers for the course Dr. Melissa Pearce, was chosen to participate in the Costin leadership development program Dr. Glover was one the collaborators representing five osteopathic schools who published in the JAOA , an article

titled Frequency of Counterstrain Tender Points in Osteopathic Medical Students

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Department Updates continued

Basic Sciences In July Greg Gayer, PhD assumed the position of Chair of the Department of Basic Sciences and replacing Dr. Ted

Wong who returned to the faculty Congratulations to Alan Miller, PhD for his promotion to Professor Dr. Shin Murakami has accepted an invitation from the American Alzheimer’s Association to be a Review Editor

on Frontiers in Aging Dr. Murakami was recognized for his efforts in organizing a Biotech Academy Touro Summer internship for

high schools students that was highlighted in the Daily Republic and Vallejo Times-Herald Dr. Evan Hermel presented two posters and gave an invited talk on his research at Immunology 2013 in

Honolulu, HI in May 2013 Drs. Athena Lin and Tamira Elul were invited to be judges for the poster competition at the AOA-OMED 2013

meeting in, Las Vegas, NV The anatomy faculty in collaboration with Dr. Pera implemented a newly designed integrated-computer-based

x-ray, CT and MRI radiology component to the curriculum that synchronizes with real-time ultrasound enhancing the OMS1 and OMS2 clinical-learning-experience for each anatomical region

Drs. Tamira Elul and Gloria Klapstein, as president and secretary, respectively, of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience, organized the annual Bay Area Neuroscience Gathering ('BANG') at Stanford University on Friday April 5

Global Health Since the program started in 2004, 446 COM students have participated in this wonderful experience, with 40

students participating this year through externships and international clinical rotations This past year two new sites were added –Gondor University in Ethiopia and the National Institute of Public

Health (INSP) in Mexico This year we are initiating a Global Health Pathway Certificate Program for students interested in expanding

their education in Global Health A new course “Fundamentals of Global Health” is now offered in the Fall semester. The course is open to first

and second year students interested in applying for the Certificate of Global Health Congratulations to Cuong Huy Quach Jr OMS III and OMM Predoctoral Teaching Fellow for receiving 2nd place

abstract in the research category of 15th BIOMEA/SOMA competition at the 2013 AOA/OMED for Relationship between Chapman’s reflexes and Acupuncture Meridians by Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners in Taiwan

Research Dr. Jean-Marc Schwarz and co-principle-Investigator Dr. Kathy Mulligan from UCSF along with our own

co-investigator Dr. Alejandro Gugliucci and from UCSF, Dr. Maurice Schambelan and Dr. Susan Noworolsky have received a 5 year $3 million, NIH grant to evaluate “Lipogenesis, Lipoprotein flux and cardiovascular risk: the role of the meal composition and frequency.” Such that differences in diets either high in fat or carbohydrates by looking at added effects from frequent small meals compared to less frequent larger meals.

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Research continued Dr. Miriam Gochin and Dr. Guangyan Zhou were granted a US patent for a

new class of compounds that show activity against fusion of the HIZV-1 virus with cells. Blocking fusion prevents HIV virus from entering the cells avoiding subsequent integration of viral DNA into the host genome.

Dr. Gugliucci’s article Enzymatic assessment of paraoxonase 1 activity on

HDL subclasses: a practical zymogram method to assess HDL function in Clinica Chimica Acta. was noted to be one of the top 10 articles written globally on HDL-C. This groundbreaking research was presented at both the European Atherosclerosis Society and the Israeli Atherosclerosis Society.

Dr. Baginsky presented at the annual American Diabetes Association conference in Chicago, his poster on pre-diabetes – Capillary Glucose Testing after Oral Glucose Load: A Convenient Screening Test for Type 2 Diabetes and Prediabetes in Latino Adults.

In June and July the 2nd Annual Biotech academy Touro Summer Internship, Vallejo introduced 14 teens under the direction of Dr. Shin Murakami to participate in various educational programs that included an insight into research on Alzheimer’s disease. This was an inter-professional effort with representation from the College of Education, Public Health, Physician Assistant and Pharmacy programs.

In September a team of Australian filmmakers visited our campus filming a full feature documentary entitled “That sugar film”, on sugar and health. The Australian team met with international opinion leaders which included 6 major labs in the USA, one of which was Dr. Jean-Marc Schwarz’ lab. Congratulations to his research team on once again being acknowledged on an international level.

In October Dr. Michael Clearfield was selected as the 2013 Researcher of the Year by the American College of Osteopathic Internists.

Recent manuscripts published: Menini T, Ikeda H, Kimura S, Gugliucci A. Circulating soluble RAGE increase after a cerebrovascular event.

Clinical chemistry and Laboratory Medicine : CCLM / FESCC. 2013 Mar 13:1-8.

Gugliucci A, Caccavello R, Kotani K, Sakane N, Kimura S. Enzymatic assessment of paraoxonase 1 activity on HDL

subclasses: a practical zymogram method to assess HDL function. Clinica chimica acta; International Journal of

Clinical Chemistry. 2013 Jan 16;415:162-8.

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Research Updates continued

Recent manuscripts published: Gochin, M., Whitby, L.R., Phillips, A.H. and Boger, D.L. “NMR-assisted computational studies of peptidomimetic

inhibitors bound in the hydrophobic pocket of HIV-1 glycoprotein 41”, J. Comput-Aided Molec. Design, 2013, 27(7):

569-82 doi:10.1007/s10822-013-9662-6.

Chu, S. and Gochin, M. “Identification of Fragments Targeting an Alternative Pocket on HIV-1 gp41 by NMR

Screening and Similarity Searching”, Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett., 2013, 23(18): 5114-8 doi: 10.1016/j.bmcl.2013.07.026.

Stanhope KL, Schwarz JM, Havel PJ. Adverse metabolic effects of dietary fructose: results from the recent epidemio-

logical, clinical, and mechanistic studies. Curr Opin Lipidol. 2013 Jun;24(3):198-206. doi: 10.1097/

MOL.0b013e3283613bca.

Rehfield P, Kopes-Kerr C, Clearfield M. The Evolution or Revolution of Statin Therapy in Primary Prevention:

Where Do We Go From Here? Curr Atheroscler Rep (2013) 15:298 DOI 10.1007/s11883-012-0298-0.

Baginsky P. Capillary Glucose Testing after Oral Glucose Load: A Convenient Screening Test for Type 2 Diabetes and

Prediabetes in Latino Adults. Diabetes 2013;62 suppl 1:A376.

Hartwig, WC and Barnett, A. Fossil History, Zoogeography and Taxonomy of the Pitheciids: Introduction. In

Evolutionary Biology and Conservation of Titis, Sakis and Uacaris (Veiga, Barnett, Ferrari, Norconk, eds.)

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hendriksz T. Timely and Effective Teaching in a Busy Clinical Practice. ACOP Pulse – The Quarterly Publication of

the American College of Osteopathic Pediatricians. 2013 Fall: 10.

Murakami, S. (2013) Age-dependent modulation of learning and memory in C. elegans. In Menzel R and Benjamin P.R.

(Eds.) Invertebrate Learning and Memory; Handbook of Behavioral Neuroscience. Elsevier/Academic Press. Ch.12,

Pages 140-150.

Pareja K, Chu E, Dodyk K, Richter K, Miller A. Role of the activation gate in determining the extracellular potassium

dependency of block of HERG by trapped drugs. Channels, 2013;7(1):23-33.

Everett BM, Pradham AD, Solomon DH, Paynter N, MacFadyen J, Zaharris E, Gupta M, Clearfield M, Libby P, Hasan

AK, Glynn R, Ridker PM. Rationale and design of the Cardiovascular Inflammation Reduction Trial: A test of the

inflammatory hypothesis of atherothrombosis. Am Heart J 2013;166:199-207.

Kazuhiko K, Toshiyuki Y, Gugliucci A (2013). Paired Measurements of Paraoxonase 1 and Serum Amyloid A as Useful

Disease Markers. BioMed Research International. Epub http://dx/doi.org/10.1155/2013/481437.

Hendriksz T. Exploring the History Behind the Fear of Vaccines. ACOP Pulse – The Quarterly Publication of the

American College of Osteopathic Pediatricians. 2013 Summer.

Foy J, Hendricksz T, Malouf P, Tobin A. Acceptability of Fluzone Intradermal Vaccine to patients and vaccine

administrators. JAOA 2013;2:134.

Snider K, Glover J, Rennie P, Ferrill H, Morris W, Johnson. Frequency of Counterstrain Tender Ponts in Osteopathic

Medical Student JAOA 2013;9:69.

Boekholdt S, Arsenault B, Hovingh G, Mora S, Pedersen T, LaRosa J, Welch M, Amarenco P, DeMicco D, Tonkin A,

Sullivan D, Kirby A, Colhoun H, Hitman G, Betteridge J, Durrington P, Clearfield MB, Downs JR, Gotto AM, Ridker

PM, Kastelein JJ. Levels and changes of HDL cholesterol and apolipoprotein A-1 in relation to risk of cardiovascular

events among statin treated patients; A Meta-Analysis. Circulation 2013;128(14):1504-1512. Menini T, Gugliucci A. Paraoxonase 1 in neurological disorders. 2013 Redox Report (in press).

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Research Updates continued

Congratulations to Wu Liu OMS IV, Steve Tseng OMS IV, Robert Adams DO, Ingrid Lopes DO, Benjamin Heller DO,

James Lally DO and Athena Lin PhD for winning 1st Place in the SOMA Student Competition at the 2013 AOA/OMED for “High yield Doppler ultrasound arteriogram of lower extremity in diabetics suggests new screening modality and criteria for PAD surveillance.”

The following abstracts were published in JAOA by COM and MSMHS students for OMED Research Conference: Acute Coronary Syndromes in Patients Without Elevated Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL) Cholesterol

Not Predicted by Serum Phytosterols Tiffany T. Truong, OMS III; Michael Clearfield, DO Touro University

College of Osteopathic Medicine California, Vallejo.

PON1 Lactonase Activity and Differential Distribution in High-Density Lipoprotein Subclasses in the

Postprandial Phase: A Pilot Study Michelle Burk, OMS I, MSMHS, BS; Alejandro Gugliucci, MD, PhD;

Russell Caccavello, BS Department of Research, Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine California.

Quantitative Analysis of Structural Changes of Growth Cone in Xenopus laevis Retinotectal Axonal

Navigation James Ha, BS and Tamira Elul, PhD. Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine California,

Vallejo.

Stress-Induced Expression of Virulent Genes in Salmonella Typhimurium Prophages Fels1 and Gifsy2

David Espinoza, DO; Nathalie Garcia-Russell, PhD Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine

California, Mare Island; Department of Basic Sciences, Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine

California, Vallejo.

Portfolios in Osteopathic Medical Education: A Qualitative Pilot Study Alex Miner, Laura J. Pierce, Kevin

Sidhu, Teresita Menini, MD, MS Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine California, Vallejo.

Hyperglycemia Induces High-Density Lipoprotein Oxidation: Preliminary Evidence From an Ex-vivo

Study Alejandro Gugliucci, MD, PhD; Kazuhiko Kotani, MD, PhD Department of Research, Touro University

College of Osteopathic Medicine California, Vallejo, Department of Clinical Laboratory Medicine, Jichi Medical

University, Tochigi, Japan.

New Method to Assess Apo-lipoprotein Profiles in Native Low-Density and High-Density Lipoprotein

Subclasses Alejandro Gugliucci, MD, PhD; Jordi Camps, PhD Department of Research, Touro University

College of Osteopathic Medicine California, Centre de Recerca Biomèdica, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Reus,

Catalonia.