News @ VCU School of Pharmacy

SOP students and faculty share time, talents here and abroad

Congratulations to the ever-growing number of students and faculty who have embarked or will embark upon medical mission trips! The School of Pharmacy’s outreach initiatives – whether local, national or international and whether daylong or weeks long – continue to expand.

“Our next and newest big deal is VSU [Virginia State University] Cares,”reports associate professor Evan Sisson, who coordinates the school’s medical outreach programs. “VCU School of Pharmacy is assuming the lead for the pharmacy component, and we hope to grow the event in coming years. We are very excited to develop enhanced interprofessional relationships with the Schools of Dentistry and Medicine through the formation of teams at the event. Imagine groups of two to three students from different disciplines working together as a unit to see patients!”

Pharmacy students Eleanor Preston Bituin (seated)
and Van Tran made the trek to Wise County, Va.,
for the 2011 RAM event.

Set-up for the VSU Cares event is scheduled to begin June 8. Fifty to 100 patients will be triaged; specific pharmacy student activities on the day of the event, June 9, will include medication reconciliation, point of care testing (INR, blood glucose and A1C), dispensing pre-op and post-op medications, patient education (smoking cessation and diabetes) and discharge counseling. 

The school’s global health initiatives are coordinated by assistant professor Mary Jayne Kennedy, who also is a member of the HOMBRE board of directors.

Following is a list of university-affiliated medical outreach participants in chronological order, since fall semester 2011:

MISSION OF MERCY IN EMPORIA, VA., NOV. 5, 2011: Brad McDaniel (P3, team leader), Brian Case (P1), Samson Lee (P1), Jonathon Liou (P1) and Amanda Walls (P3), plus SOP associate professor and alumnus Evan Sisson (B.S. ’92, Pharm.D. ’94).

DOMINICAN AID SOCIETY OF VIRGINIA, DEC. 31-JAN. 6: Nellie Jafari (P1), Danielle Navalta (P3) and Palak Patel (P3).

MISSION OF MERCY IN GLOUCESTER, VA., FEB. 25, 2012: Amanda Kroll (P3, team leader), Staci Barnard (P3), Karlo Encarnacion (P1), Malone McGinn (P1) and Allison Smith (P2), plus Brien Thompson, PGY1 Pharmacy Practice Resident at McGuire VA Medical Center.

MISSION OF MERCY IN SPRINGFIELD, VA., MARCH 10, 2012: Raymond Lai (P1)

MISSION OF MERCY  IN ROANOKE, VA., MARCH 30-31: Christine Nguyen (P3, team leader), Alissa Basehoar (P3), Tram-anh Nguyen (P2), Tuan Pham (P1), Timothy Pierce (P1) and Tiffany VanDervort (P3), plus alumna Terri Bryant (B.S. ’85), MOM pharmacist-in-charge.

To read about the 2011 MOM-Roanoke experience, click here.  

HONDURAS OUTREACH MEDICAL BRIGADA RELIEF IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, MAY 31-JUNE 11: Sarah Park (P1) and Vivien Shum (P2).

VSU CARES MISSION OF MERCY  IN PETERSBURG, VA., JUNE 9: Shaema George (P2, team leader), Merid Belayneh (P3), Kelsey Billups (P1), Brian Case (P1), Mary El-Banna (P2), Lindsay Fournier (P2), Nilofar “Nellie” Jafari (P1), Samson Lee (P1), Aisha Masood (P3), Danielle M. Navalta (P3), Tram-anh "Dani" Nguyen (P2), Gina Patel (P2) and Timothy Pierce (P1).

HONDURAS OUTREACH MEDICAL BRIGADA RELIEF IN HONDURAS, JUNE 14-25: Abigail Arches (P2), Lauren Grecheck (P1), Hibah Rehman (P2) and Kathryn Schwienteck (P1).

REMOTE AREA MEDICAL IN WISE COUNTY, VA., JULY 20-22: Andrew Carmichael (P1, team leader), David Allen (P3), Lauren Grecheck (P1), Ashley Higbea (P3), Erika Lambert (P1), Tina Lowe (P1), Brad McDaniel (P3), Katelyn Nguyen (P1), Natalie Nguyen (P2), Rebecca Saunders (P1), Allison Smith (P2) and Keshia Ward (P2), plus Evan Sisson and Rebeccah Collins (Pharm.D. ’00), alumna, affiliate faculty member and residency director at Bon Secours Memorial Regional Hospital, and her resident John Bucheit, SOP class of 2012.

This is the sixth year the School of Pharmacy has participated in RAM! To read blogs written by previous participants, please click here for 2010 and here for 2011.

In addition to university-affiliated trips, other medical missions in which pharmacy students have participated include:

CHRISTIAN MEDICAL & DENTAL ASSOCIATIONS/MY FATHER’S HOUSE INTERNATIONAL IN EL SALVADOR, MARCH 10-17: Kristin Bell (P2), Will Coleman (P3), Jessica Libuit (P2), Mi Jung Lim (P1) and Rebecca Saunders (P1).

To read a blog from the 2012 mission to El Salvador, click here.

Too many students to name – but we salute them all! – also participate closer to home in community outreach programs such as CARITAS, the VCU School of Pharmacy Health Fair and the VCU/MCV Campus Community Health Fair.

If any names or trips made since fall semester 2011 are missing, please e-mail chmcmullen@vcu.edu with updated information.

Submitted By:
Cynthia McMullen
4/25/2012