Upcoming Events

Maira Soto (CXPT program; Dr

Kathy Rodgers, advisor) success-

fully defended her dissertation

defense on February 28th.

Rita Algorri (CXPT program; Dr

Annie Wong-Beringer, advisor) will

be presenting a poster at the Euro-

pean Cystic Fibrosis Conference in

Seville, Spain in June.

Alick Tan (CXPT program; Dr

Kathy Rodgers, advisor) has been

accepted for an FDA Center for

Drug Evaluation and Research

(CDER) summer internship in Clini-

cal Pharmacology.

Lindsay (Siyu) Liu (CXPT pro-

gram; Dr Stan Louie, advisor) has

been accepted for a summer in-

ternship with Boehringer Ingelheim.

Xue Han (PMEP program; Dr Jeff

McCombs, advisor) will be present-

ing a paper at the upcoming 2017

EASL International Liver Congress

in Amsterdam in April.

CONGRATULATIONS

NEWS

Second Recruitment/Open House for PHTS Umbrella Program Held on Tuesday March 7th The Pharmaceutical & Translational Sciences (PHTS) Program held a second Open House/Recruitment Day on

Tuesday March 7th. Eleven prospective students from top universities across the US and students currently completing

their Master’s program in PSCI and MPTX spent the day meeting with faculty and hearing about their research programs.

The PGA took the visiting students on a campus tour. This program brings together under one umbrella the School’s three

laboratory-based PhD programs, allowing a more cohesive inter-disciplinary experience advancing education and

innovative research. After the first year, students will select the MPTX, PSCI or CXPT track to complete their training.

Candidates admitted into the umbrella program will begin in Fall, 2017. Following the Jan 27th Open House, 20 offer

letters were sent out. To date, 5 applicants have accepted our offer to join the program in Fall, 2017.

Graduate Students Awarded University Staff Club Scholarships

Jordan Despanie (PSCI program, Dr Andrew MacKay, advisor) and Austin Cooper (Regulatory Science Masters

program, Dr Frances Richmond, advisor) were selected out of 150 applicants to receive $1000 graduate scholarships from

the University Staff club for 2016-2017. Students who preferably have an undergraduate degree from USC and are

currently enrolled in a USC graduate program are eligible. According to Wade Thompson-Harper, President of the

University Staff Club, twenty-five scholarships were awarded this year. Criteria for selection include academic record,

financial need, activities, service and future goals. Congratulations to Jordan and Austin!

Annual USC School of Pharmacy Alumni Awards Gala Slated for Sunday, May 7th

All graduating students are invited to attend the 2017 Alumni Awards Gala, which will be held on Sunday, May 7 at the Town

& Gown (UPC). Graduate student awards include: (1) Ron Alkana Outstanding Doctoral Scholar Award ($500) for an

interdisciplinary doctoral student who exhibits a commitment and demonstration of significant student leadership, (2)

Doctoral Discovery Scholar Award ($400) for outstanding achievement in doctoral work focused on fundamental drug

development and/or disease mechanism, (3) Doctoral Outcome Scholar Award ($400) for outstanding achievement in

doctoral work focused on economic analysis of diverse aspects of health system data to promote better outcomes, and (4)

Doctoral Translational Scholar Award ($400) for outstanding achievement in doctoral work focused on clinical and

translational research with potential impact on human health.

AAPS-USC Student Chapter to Host Moving Targets 2017 “Precision Medicine” on August 17th

Each year, AAPS-USC student chapter hosts an annual research symposium on a rapidly developing field that

has far-reaching applications across many disciplines. This year’s theme is “Precision Medicine”, with a focus on

pharmacogenomic advances, utilizing precision medicine to improve the quality of drug development, and the

pharmaceutical industry’s approaches to precision medicine. It will be hosted at the Radisson Hotel/UPC on August

17th from 8:30am to 5pm. To learn more about AAPS-USC, contact Larry Rodriguez at larryrod@usc.edu or follow

them on social media: Facebook or Twitter @MovingTargetsLA .

This year’s committee (pictured at left): Maunil K Desai (Vice-President) Albert Lam (Marketing Chair), Larry

Rodriguez (President), Vijaya Pooja Vaikari (Social Chair), Santosh Peddi (Secretary) and Charles Caldwell (Finance Chair).

ANNOUNCEMENTS

134th USC Commencement Ceremony: The 134th USC Commencement will be held on Friday, May 12. The University Park Campus Ceremony

will be held at 8.30am and the School of Pharmacy Satellite Commencement Ceremony will be held at 3pm in the Health Sciences Campus Pappas Quad. A

total of 18 PhD students are expected to graduate in this calendar year (PSCI: 4 students; MPTX: 5, CXPT: 4; HLEC/PMEP: 5); a total of 7 Masters students

(PSCI: 6 students, MPTX: 1). For Regulatory Science programs, 6 are expected to graduate with a DRSc, 37 with a Masters in Regulatory Science, and 10

students with a Masters in Management of Drug Development, 2 with a Master of Science, Medical Product Quality and 2 with a dual degree in PharmD/

Master of Regulatory Science. For further info, click here.

New Awards and Fellowships Database: The Provost’s Office has set up a new Awards and Fellowships database on the USC website. The

database is searchable by degree, demographic, discipline and keyword. You can access it here.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Excellence in Teaching Seminar on Working with Distressed Students, Thursday March 16, 12-1pm: CET invites all

graduate students to a seminar on “Working with Distressed and Distressing Students” by Dr Brad Meier, Eric Cohen Student Health Center, on Thurs

March 16 from 12-1pm in PSC-101. Lunch is provided. Please send an RSVP to lilyfu@usc.edu.

Regulatory Science Bio-Brew Networking Event, Friday March 17th, 6-9pm: The Regulatory Science program is pleased to

announce its latest bio-brew networking event on Friday March 17th from 6-9pm at the Far Bar in Downtown LA. All faculty, staff and students (and guests) are welcome to attend. For more information and to register, click here.

Beyond the PhD Career Conference, Tuesday March 28th, 9am-3.30pm: The 6th Annual PhD and Postdoctoral Career Conference

will be held on Tuesday March 28th at the USC Radisson Ballroom from 9am - 3.30pm. The event will feature keynote speakers, career workshops, industry and academic career panels and a networking reception. Graduate students from all fields of research are invited to attend. Breakfast and lunch will be served.

Student Seminars (Wednesdays at noon in PSC-104; Click here for seminar schedule)

March 22: Rebecca Lim (PSCI, Xie lab)

March 29: Albert Lam (PSCI, Zhang lab) April 5: Jordanna Jayne (CXPT, Beringer lab)

April 12: Julianna Chen (PSCI, Zhang lab)

USC School of Pharmacy Office of Research and Graduate Programs Associate Dean: Annie Wong-Beringer, PharmD

Newsletter Editor: Kathryn Rich; Contributors: Rosie Soltero, Wade Thompson-Harper

Photo credit: Chris Jones and Isaac Mora (Media Dept), Michele Keller, Director of Communications and Marketing

Email: PHARgrad@usc.edu

Website: https://pharmgradprograms.usc.edu/ 1985 Zonal Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90089

(323) 442– 1474