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Spotlight on USP Graduate Student Shilpa Viswanathan and her UN Internship Experience

Shlipa

Shilpa Viswanathan's UN internship Experience was highlighted in the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) Connections Publication. She participated in the Knowledge Communication for Children in India (KCCI) internship program with UNICEF India this past June. It is a 10-week internship program organized every summer. Shilpa is a MS Pharmacy Administration student at USP and the ISPOR Student Chapter President.

Full Article from ISPOR STUDENT CORNER:
My UN Internship Experience ~ Prepared by Shilpa Viswanathan


SHILPA'S PUBLICATIONS:

  • Viswanathan S. Risk factors for multidrug resistant tuberculosis in Africa: A Meta-analysis Med J Therapeut Africa. 2008; 1:73-9
  • Viswanathan S. My UN Internship Experience. ISPOR Connections. 2007; 13(6): 26
  • Viswanathan S. UNICEF and HIV/AIDS. Med J Therapeut Africa. 2007; 2:134
  • McGhan WF, Tundia N, Quadri H, Viswanathan S, and Peterson AM. Evaluating an online 
      calculator for analyzing incremental net benefit and the expected value of perfect information 
    from patient level data. Value in Health. 2007; 10 (3): A 185
  • Editor/Author. The Nest. 2004. (4th Edition).
      The Nest is an annual publication of the Students Council, MET’s Institute of Pharmacy, 
      University of Mumbai, Mumbai, India
    

SHILPA'S PRESENTATIONS:

  • Viswanathan S, McGhan WF. A cost-effectiveness analysis of TNF-α inhibitors in comparison to other strategies in the treatment of moderate-to-severe psoriasis: A decision analysis model. ISPOR 13th Annual International Meeting. Toronto, Canada                                                                                   
  • Viswanathan S, Neville W, Patel E, Raparla S, McGhan WF. A cost-effectiveness model for smoking cessation using Varenicline. ISPOR 13th Annual International Meeting. Toronto, Canada 
  • McGhan WF, Tundia N, Quadri H, Viswanathan S, and Peterson AM. Evaluating an online calculator for analyzing incremental net benefit and the expected value of perfect information from patient level data. ISPOR 12th Annual International Meeting.  Arlington, VA, USA,  May 2007

SHILPA'S PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS:

  • International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR)
    President/Student member, USP-ISPOR student chapter (Sept 2007- May 2008)
    Vice-president, USP-ISPOR student chapter (Oct 2006- Sept 2007)

  • Medical Journal Therapeutics Africa (MJOTA)
    Member of Editorial Board (Dec 2007- present)

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Vijaya Swaminathan Successfully Defends her Thesis and Earns her PhD in Pharmaceuitcs

Vijaya About Vijaya: Vijaya Swaminathan was born in Mumbai, India.  She graduated with a degree in Pharmacy (B. Pharm) from the Bombay College of Pharmacy, University of Mumbai, India in 2002.  On completion of her undergraduate degree she pursued her interest in the field of Pharmaceutics by enrolling in the Ph.D. program at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia in August 2002.  During her time at USP, Vijaya has presented at 5 posters at national and regional meetings and 1 at an international meeting.  She is the lead author in a publication in the Journal of Biomaterials Science, Polymer edition.  She won the best poster award at the Philadelphia Pharmaceutical Forum’s poster night event in 2007.  She also served as a teaching assistant in the Departments of Chemistry and Pharmaceutics.  She thoroughly enjoyed her experience here at USP, and believes that the faculty and graduate students played an important role in the learning process and also making her experience in Philadelphia worth it.

Research Summary :
Biodegradable polymers have been widely investigated in a broad range of applications from micro capsules for controlled drug delivery to scaffolds in tissue engineering.  The ability to alter polymer properties for an intended application makes these polymers indispensable.  Poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA) due to its high tensile strength, long degradation time was our polymer of choice for reservoir delivery applications. Polyehtylene glycol (PEG) was included as a blend to improve the flexibility of PLLA. This aim of the research was to thoroughly characterize PLLA:PEG membranes and test their potential for dermal regeneration applications. The results showed that the membranes possessed high barrier efficacy, high mechanical strength that was comparable to standard membranes and these properties were retained up to 6 weeks in vitro.  The membranes also supported the attachment and proliferation of human dermal fibroblasts (HDFa), thus indicating the feasibility of PLLA:PEG membranes as potential candidates for skin regeneration applications.

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Two USP graduate students in the Chemistry programs recently won awards


Carrie Waterman, 3rd year graduate student in Pharmacognosy
Carrie won on a travel award from the American Society for Pharmacognosy in support of attending their next meeting in Athens, Greece ($1000). According to the ASP, only three such awards have been given this year.

Whelton Miller, 2nd year graduate student in Chemistry
Whelton won the William Penn award for his poster presentation at the local ACS meeting (8th Annual Graduate Poster Session) in January 2008. This award was also highly competitive - there were over 60 presenters from a number of institutions, including Temple University, University of Delaware, Drexel University and University of Pennsylvania.


Congratulations Carrie Waterman & Whelton Miller!

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Pharmaceutical Business Online MBA Spring 2008 Starting January 14th

USP’s Executive MBA Online curriculum features teaching methods that offer you anywhere/anytime learning and virtual group collaboration.

To view the 22-month online program comprised of a 36-credit curriculum click here

 

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The First Issue in the 2nd Volume of MJoTA focuses on Tuberculosis

MJoTAStriving to create a dialog among pharmaceutical industry professionals in the 54 countries of Africa and the U.S., the Medical Journal of Therapeutics Africa (MJoTA) was published by USP's biomedical writing programs on January 15, 2007. The first issue was written, edited and reviewed by students, faculty, and friends of the biomedical writing programs. The journal is entirely electronic, although it is in a form that can be printed. It will be downloadable from several web-sites, including that of the College of Graduate Studies, and can easily be sent by e-mail.

Each issue focuses on an area of concern for Africa. The first issue, published on Martin Luther King Day, focused on malaria, which kills as many as three million humans each year, most of whom are young African children. The second issue, which will be published in May 2007, focuses on HIV/AIDS, which infects half of the humans in Botswana. The third issue published in September focuses on liver diseases including hepatitis C, which afflicts one quarter of the humans in Egypt.

For more information, contact Susanna J. Dodgson, PhD, Program Director, Biomedical Writing Programs, at s.dodgso@usp.edu.

 

Note: The link above is in PDF PDF format and can only be opened through Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed, please click here and download it for free.

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Studying Health Care In Japan

Japan Trip

As a joint effort of the department of pharmaceutical and healthcare business and the department of health policy and public health, 12 graduate students visited Japan from July 1–11.

The business students participated as part of the international pharmaceutical business course and the health policy students as part of a special topics elective. Bruce Rosenthal (pharmaceutical and healthcare business) and Dr. Robert Field (health policy and public health) accompanied the group. They meet with Japanese professionals from the pharmaceutical and health care fields. Some of the company visits on the agenda included Eizai Headquarters, Dai-Ichi R&D Center, A-Z Japan and Wyeth Japan. The students also meet with students from several top-level universities including Tokyo University as well as attended meetings with prominent academic researchers and government officials.

To see more photographs from the trip Click Here

Contact:   Brian Kirschner   (215-895-1186)


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Dodgson Gets PharmedOut

Susanna Dodgson

Susanna J. Dodgson (biomedical writing) was filmed for an organization called PharmedOut in March. The video has appeared on their website, www.pharmedout.org/ where it can be viewed on YouTube. In it, she talks about the University, medical writing, and the need for the pharmaceutical industry to recognize medical writing professionals.


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Health Care Regulation in America: Complexity, Confrontation and Compromise

Breakthrough publication by The College of Graduate Studies Health Policy Director
Robert I. Field, JD, MPH, PhD, Oxford University Press, 2007

Health Care Regulation in America Regulation shapes all aspects of America's fragmented health care industry, from the flow of dollars to the communication between physicians and patients. It is the engine that translates public policy into action. While the health and lives of patients, as well as almost one-sixth of the national economy depend on its effectiveness, health care regulation in America is bewilderingly complex. Government agencies at the federal, state, and local levels direct portions of the industry, but hundreds of private organizations do so as well. Some of these overseers compete with one another, some conflict, and others collaborate. Their interaction is as important to the provision of health care as are the laws and rules they implement.

Health Care Regulation in America is a guide to this regulatory maze. It succinctly recaps the past and present conflicts that have guided the oversight of each industry segment over the past hundred years and explains the structure of regulation today. To make the system comprehensible, this book also presents the sweep of regulatory policy in the context of the interests, values, goals, and issues that guide it. Chapters cover the process of regulation and each key area of regulatory focus - professionals, institutions, financing arrangements, drugs and devices, public health, business relationships, and research.

Learn more about Health Care Regulation in America on the publisher's website.

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