American Pharmacists Association - Academy of Students of Pharmacy at UCSF: Cabinet

2009-2010 APhA-ASP Cabinet

President
Natalie Noto
President-Elect
Vickie Pon
SPAN Liaison
Nicole Nguyen
VP of Community Affairs
Marlene Morcos
Quynh-Anh Vo
VP of Membership and Professional Development
Sherry Kwon
Secretary
Justine Lin
Treasurer
Kathleen Sakata
CPhA Board of Trustees Representative
Hilary Campbell
CPhA Board of Trustees Representative-Elect
Caroline Lindsay
Pharmacists Society of San Francisco (PSSF) Representative
Brian Achille
International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation (IPSF) Representative
SunJoo (Michelle) Lee
Undergrad Outreach Coordinator
Michele Siu
Special Events Coordinators
Chin Wong
Jesse Wisniewski
Communications Coordinators
Madalene Mandap
Anna Jan
Historian
Vicky Law
Webmaster
Sam Pitak

Chapter Advisor
Dr. Donald Kishi, PharmD

APhA-ASP Projects 2009-2010

Geriatrics Awareness Project
With the increasing ages of the baby boomers as well as the rising complexity of drug regimens used to treat chronic diseases in the elderly, GAP/VOL fits a special niche in the ever-expanding role of the pharmacist. Our purpose is to better the quality of lives of our senior population through education and community service. One way we do that is through educating the public on issues affecting senior citizen health, such as osteoporosis. In addition, we directly affect the outcomes of emergency treatment for our seniors through our “Vial of Life” project, which provides emergency response personnel with critical health information. Last but not least, “GAPsters” are often seen at the local Lawton Senior Center playing a lively round of Bingo or carving pumpkins at Halloween with appreciative old-timers.

Coordinators: Akina Fujioka, Kara Lau, Simo Yao, Soo Wong

Heartburn Awareness Project
The objective of our project is to offer support for heartburn sufferers by providing education about the causes and effects of heartburn, as well as solutions for relief and improved quality of life. Through different events we hope that the project can enhance patients’ ability to distinguish heartburn from more serious GI problems and raise the level of awareness and understanding of heartburn issues with the general public.

Coordinators: Jalpa Amin, Yijia Chen, Jess Ge, Shirley Yan

OTC/Herbal Supplements Project
OTC/Herbal Project is an informational and educational service project. We attend health fairs where we inform the public by answering questions and handing out pamphlets of common OTC and herbal products. We also plan to extend our services to community with projects such as a skin health awareness week, nutrition and food info month, info tables in Golden Gate Park to educate runners in the park. Our project looks to inform students and the public about issues that are generally treated with non-prescription methods.

Coordinators: Matthew Lee, Michelle Lee, Michelle Sui, Razieh Zarghami

Women’s Health Organization
Women’s Health Organization is a community project that strives to raise awareness for women’s issues such as osteoporosis, breast cancer, cardiovascular health, and many others. We work to achieve our goals through outreach in a variety of community settings, such as high schools and health fairs in the Bay area. Moreover, we aim to educate students and non-students on matters regarding women’s health through a class elective and Brown Bag lunches on the UCSF campus. We are especially proud to end the year by hosting a Resource Fair that offers health services and information for women in the community. The four coordinators this year are very excited to start the year off and look forward to working with all students interested in helping the community.

Coordinators: Brian Achille, Anabelle Coelho, Paul Huynh, Stephanie Roberts

Operation Diabetes
Operation Diabetes is an APhA and American Diabetes Association nationwide project that is run by pharmacists and students. It is dedicated to early screening and detection of potential diabetics in underserved populations. Diabetes is a chronic health condition that affects 18.2 million people in the U.S. This statistic alone is staggering, but becomes alarming when 5.2 million of these individuals are currently undiagnosed. As a student pharmacist, you will be on the frontline, screening patients and taking their blood glucose levels at many Bay Area health fairs. In addition, you are afforded the chance to put into practice what you learn in class. Operation Diabetes urges you to help change the course of diabetes.

Coordinators: Joshua Chua, Phyllis Gayda, Lucia Rubio, Jennifer Yang

HIV Outreach Project
Currently there are more than one million Americans, and 40 million others around the world, who are now living with HIV. Approximately 1 in every 50 people residing in San Francisco is living with HIV/AIDS. AIDS is also the leading cause of death for people ages 15 to 59. HIV/AIDS used to be on the frontline of everyone’s medical concerns. Now, with the increase of HIV medications, it is becoming more of a chronic disease, not the death sentence that it used to be. Due to this, the idea of HIV is not as frightening, leading to a decrease in education and awareness. This is where we hope to fill in the gaps. As a group we plan to visit local high schools to educate the young adult population on HIV and ways of prevention, to provide a resource guide for local pharmacist with information on how to aid their positive patients, to visit the local communities during the day via street tabling or at night via tabling at various clubs, again to provide information to those who are positive and/or are at risk of infection.

Coordinators: Nicole Nguyen, Lily Vu, Stacey Cho, Anthony Dao

Project Asthma
How common is asthma?
· Asthma affects more than 20 million adults in the United States alone
· The prevalence of asthma increased 75% from 1980-1994
How does asthma affect society?
· Asthma is the most common cause of hospitalization for children under the age of 15.
· Asthma causes nearly 2 million emergency room visits, over 500,000 hospitalizations, and about 5,500 deaths each year
· Nearly 15 million school days are missed annually due to asthma
· Asthma costs Americans over $16 billion a year
What can we do to help?
· It is estimated that 80% of asthma deaths could be prevented with proper asthma education…
The goals of Project Asthma
· To help improve the quality of life for patients with asthma
· To promote awareness and understanding of asthma
· To raise funds for asthma research

Coordinators: Samuel Chung, Chris Lee, Sam Pitak, Christine Teng

Operation Immunization
Have you heard the saying, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”?. Pharmacists and student pharmacists are now allowed to vaccinate patients, playing an important role in the prevention of disease. All of you will be certified to administer immunizations in CP 111, so come join the Operation Immunization coordinators this fall and use your skills to reach out both on campus and in the community! We have THREE flu shot campaigns this fall, at Walgreens, UCSF, and Kaiser, and we’ll need your help to give a record number of vaccinations! In addition to administering vaccinations, we also educate people about the importance of vaccination in the community at health fairs. This year, with H1N1 on everyone’s minds, come help us meet the demand for immunizing student pharmacists!

Coordinators: Beth Davis, Caroline Lindsay, Grace Mao, Madalene Mandap

Tobacco Awareness Project
The Tobacco Awareness Project has been an ongoing effort within the School of Pharmacy for the past 11 years. We strive to convey the correlation between tobacco use and the development of associated disease states to students of all ages. Sponsored by organizations such as UCSF School of Medicine and The American Cancer Society, this project is an active participant in various health fairs held throughout the greater Bay Area. Our goal is to provide educational materials regarding tobacco use and to provide counseling on smoking cessation. The rewards of this project are numerous. This organization stands out because we not only supply valuable information but also provide people with useful tools with which they can improve the quality of their lives.

Coordinators: Cindy Huang, Goldie Leh, Cynthia Nguyen, Jesse Wisniewski

Poison Control
What will you do if your little brother or sister accidentally swallows a bottle of laundry detergent? Or a bottle of pills that look like candies? The goal of the Poison Control Project is to increase public awareness of some of the hazards found in our environment, such as in the home. We want to educate the children as well as adults on how to prevent harm from happening to them, what to do if an accident does happen, and where to seek help.

Coordinators: Dora Ng, Renee Riley, Justine Lin, Angie Koo

HTN/Cholesterol Project
The Project HTN & Cholesterol has been known to offer a hands-on approach to pharmacy community service. Our customary involvement in health fairs allows us to perform blood pressure screenings and cholesterol tests on participants. The most important contribution we make is providing our patients with education to help interpret their results in addition to counseling on lifestyle changes that may improve their numbers and overall health.

The obesity epidemic currently afflicts approximately 16% of youth ages 6-19 in the US, which is triple the percentage of 1980. Our hope is to inform adolescents of the health risks associated with obesity and educate them on ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle through classroom presentations. As student pharmacists we have the ability to make a difference, and the HTN/Cholesterol project urges you to help us achieve these goals.

Coordinators: Pamela Mendoza, Jennifer Nguyen, Tri Tran, Tara Tsukamoto, Melissa Wheeler

American Pharmacists Association - Academy of Students of Pharmacy at UCSF

Executive Committee

2009-2010 APhA-ASP Cabinet

American Pharmacists Association -  Academy of Students of Pharmacy at UCSF