LECOM Bradenton students, faculty and staff joined together to plan, organize and successfully execute Interprofessional Research Day 2017 in the College of Medicine and School of Dental Medicine buildings on April 20.

“Teamwork” not only was the organizing principle of the event, but was also its focus: “Interprofessionalism as a Strategy to Promote Community Wellness.”

“It’s a pretty simple concept, really,” said event coordinator Tim Novak, who directs LECOM Bradenton’s Master of Health Services Administration program. “We work best when we work together.”

LECOM School of Pharmacy students, from left, Brandi Conely, Kelly Fero, Stephanie Wills and , far right, Johnny Le Nguyen, stand with faculty mentor Victoria Reinhartz, Pharm.D., in front of the group’s winning poster presentation.

Students presented more than 70 research posters at the campus-wide event and students, faculty, vendors and members of the media milled through the hallways of the buildings, evaluating the work and absorbing its impact.

“Students, faculty and staff have a common mission: to expand our knowledge through research and gain a clear understanding of how interprofessionalism is required to maximize wellness for those entrusted to our care, mind, body and spirit,” Novak said.

Highlights of the event were the lectures and discussions by members of the Addictions Crisis Taskforce (ACT) of Drug Free Manatee, which is at the forefront in the battle against the opioid epidemic plaguing Manatee County.

Lead presenter Joshua T. Barnett, Manatee County’s Health Care Services Manager, called on James Crutchfield, the county’s Chief of Community Para-medicine; Nathan Scott III, Florida’s 12th Judicial Circuit Child Welfare Systems advocate; Todd Shear, Manatee County Sheriff’s Office Captain of Special Investigations; and Laura Ter Doest, the Health Educator Consultant at the Department of Health-Manatee, as subject matter experts to detail their part in combating the crisis.

Interactive poster presentations included:

• Make It Count – Data and research from Manatee County’s recently launched drug epidemiology network.
• Save A Life – Focusing on harm reduction and overdose prevention through the use of the life-saving drug naloxone (Narcan).
• Our Best Hope – Highlighting the importance of universal prevention education in schools.
• The Long Journey – An overview of medication-assisted treatment and the hurdles one faces to overcome addiction.

LECOM was promoting Drug Free Manatee’s ACT as an example to its medical, dental and pharmacy students of the importance of participating in professional community partnerships in order to leverage and support a culture of health and wellness.

Members of the national evaluation team from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and Office of National Drug Control Policy’s Drug Communities Program – in town to assess and identify ACT’s structure and strategies as a best-practice model for coalitions across the country – also attended the event.

“We have accomplished so much through ACT,” said Sharon Kramer, executive director of Drug Free Manatee. “We have created awareness, changed policy, educated the community and secured funding to address the epidemic.”

“It’s important that the next generation of healthcare professionals recognizes the value of collaboration to promote health and wellness.”

Winners of the 2017 student poster competitions are:

COLLEGE OF MEDICINE

1st Place: Calcific Biceps Tendon and Rotator Cuff Tendinopathy in a Male Cadaver: A Case Report

Student Researcher: Martin Walsh

Faculty Mentors: Oren Rosenthal, Ph.D., and Frank Liuzzi, Ph.D.

2nd Place: Metastatic Characteristics of Lung Adenocarcinoma: Does the Gross Symptomology Influence Metastatic Distribution?

Student Researchers: Travis Denny, Michael Valleriano and Cameron Heyd

Faculty Mentor: Aleksandr Sinelnikov, M.D.

3rd Place: Self-Reported Well-Being and Incomplete Pregnancies in Von Hippel Landau Disease

Student Researchers: Bo Park and Wesley Budd

Faculty Mentor: James Gnarra, Ph.D., Dr. Donald Simpson, and Dr. Julie Brown

SCHOOL OF PHARMACY

1st Place: The Therapeutic Evidence Behind the Use of Biosimilars

Student Researchers: Stephanie Wills, Johnny Le Nguyen, Josephat Macharia, Kelly Fero, Luc Le and Brandi Conely

Faculty Mentor: Victoria Reinhartz, Pharm.D.

2nd Place: The Reduction of Cardiovascular Disease-Related Events from the Addition of a PCSK9 Inhibitor to Standard Oral High-Intensity Statin Therapy

Student Researchers: Melissa Holehouse, Alison Sanders, Hassan Fawaz, Anastasia Rigopoulos, Kanh Nguyen and Shrijana Joshee

Faculty Mentor: Lana Hochmuth, Pharm.D.

3rd Place: Does Sativex as an Add-On Treatment Alleviate Symptoms in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis?

Student Researchers: Brittney Gomez, Jessica Brummitt, John Roeder, Yanet  Averhoff, Bryan Pinero-Acosta and Jonathan O’Donnell

Faculty Mentor: Tatiana Yero, Pharm.D.

SCHOOL OF DENTAL MEDICINE

1st Place: Isolation of Drug-Resistant Enterococci from Avian Excreta

Student Researchers: Robert Reid, Eric Ho and Amber Dubiel

Faculty Mentors: Dr. Jonathan Coffman, Dr. Thomas Yoon

2nd Place: Parental Knowledge of Dietary Habits and Oral-Health Practices Among Children in Bradenton, FL.

Student Researchers: Samantha Kozakowski, Nancy Singh, Stephanie Flaksman

Faculty Mentor: Stacey Lubetsky, D.M.D.

3rd Place: Evaluating the Antibacterial Efficacy of Cleaning Tablets in Dental Cavitron Unit Waterlines

Student Researchers: Curtis Dugas, Yoo Jin Chung

Faculty Mentor: Thomas Yoon, D.D.S.