By: Sairah Sheikh, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024 Increased physical activity is often touted as a lifestyle choice that improves bodily health dramatically. Over recent years, there has been an increase in research showing that exercise can help to prevent chronic diseases. Physical activity exerts its benefit through a wide variety of mechanisms. Exercise can improve…

By: Anureet Kaur, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024  Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an epidemic. Currently, the neurodegenerative disorder holds the title of the seventh leading cause of death in the United States (U.S.), disproportionately affecting older adults.1 The National Institute on Aging reports that the number of people with AD doubles about every five years beyond…

By: Sarah Adly, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024 Applying to advanced professional pharmacy experience (APPE) rotations can be a daunting experience. After all, this is the last opportunity most pharmacy students have to deeply  explore their interests. But not to worry! As someone who was in your shoes a year ago, I will let you in…

By: Holly Nguyen, PharmD Candidate ℅ 2024 Hemophilia is a severe hereditary hemorrhagic disorder derived from gene mutations that make clotting factors VIII and IX for hemophilia types A and B, respectively.1 The sex-linked hemophilia recessive allele on the X chromosome gives sons a 50% chance of inheriting the hemophilia allele from a heterozygous or…

By: Shakhzoda Rakhimova, PharmD Candidate ℅ 2024 Introduction Renal-cell carcinoma (RCC) is a type of kidney cancer in which malignant epithelial cells are found in the lining of the renal tubules or renal cortex.1 Clear-cell renal-cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common type, accounting for about 80% of all RCC cases.2  ccRCC is named aptly…

By: Ashley Dao, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024 Melanoma is the fifth most common cause of cancer in the United States (US). Unprotected exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun is the primary risk factor for developing melanoma.1 In order to reduce damage from UV exposure, the American Cancer Society (ACS) recommends practices such as…

Featuring: Fawad Piracha, PharmD, MBA, IgCP By: Holly Nguyen, PharmD Candidate ℅ 2024 Fawad Piracha is a ‘16 alumnus of the St. John’s University PharmD program and has since had a storied career. Dr. Piracha is the second of four family members who  graduated from St. John’s University’s College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (read…

By: Giavanna Carr, PharmD Candidate c/o 2025 Postpartum depression, also known as PPD, is classified as perinatal depression, which is experienced by those who have recently given birth. PPD is the leading complication following childbirth, affecting 1 in 7 women worldwide.1 Oftentimes, this is the first time the mother suffers from any type of depression,…

By: Urooj K. Malik, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024 On May 3, 2023, the United States (U.S.) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Arexvy (RSVPreF3), the first vaccine to combat respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) for adults aged 60 and older.1 Overview of RSV RSV is a common respiratory virus that typically causes mild, cold-like symptoms that…

Featuring: Urooj K. Malik, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024 By: Isabelle Lim, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024 Urooj is a sixth-year pharmacy student at St. John’s University. Throughout her time at St. John’s Urooj has held positions in organizations like the American Association of Psychiatric Pharmacists, Phi Lambda Sigma, International Society of Pharmacoeconomics & Outcomes, Lambda Kappa…

By: Celestine Van Sertima, PharmD Candidate c/o 2027 Addressing the Issue As the spring season leads the way to respiratory challenges, there have been growing concerns over the shortage of respiratory medications which have raised many problems for people’s health. Specifically, a lack of albuterol metered-dose inhalers (MDIs) has heavily impacted the asthmatic community. Albuterol…

By: Imaan Sekhery, PharmD Candidate c/o 2025 On January 6, 2023, the United States (U.S.) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Eisai’s Leqembi (lecanemab), an alternative treatment for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The creation of the drug depicts a significant advancement within the small field of AD treatments. This disease state is known to begin with…

By: Isabelle Lim, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024 and Hadeel Aldasooky, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024 As the threat of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to loom over the healthcare world, there is still a need to uncover new treatment options for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. The COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines Panel’s current recommendation…

By: Sairah Sheikh, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024 In a world where people are becoming increasingly health-conscious, organic food is of interest to many. It is often seen as the pinnacle of healthy food, although may not be affordable for all. Those who can afford it spend thousands of dollars a year on organic food and…

Featuring: Nicole Cernaro, PharmD, PGY-2 Pediatric Pharmacy Resident By: Urooj K. Malik, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024 Nicole Cernaro is a PGY-2 Pediatric Pharmacy Resident at St. Peter’s University Hospital located in New Brunswick, New Jersey. She recently completed her PGY-1 pharmacy residency from St. Peter’s University Hospital as well. Nicole earned her Doctorate in Pharmacy…

By: Geraldine Ciaccio, PharmD Candidate c/o 2025 The personalized weight-loss program WeightWatchers took a significant step into the newly popularized obesity drug market. As one of the leading weight-loss programs in the United States, WeightWatchers customizes diet plans according to individual health goals. To expand its weight management platform into clinical settings, the company agreed…

By: Nancy Yousry, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024 Delirium is characterized as impaired cognition with a wide range of manifestations that are nonspecific to the state, making it harder to detect in its earlier stages.1 Inadequate management has frequently resulted from a failure to recognize the condition. Elderly patients are most often susceptible to delirium when…

Featuring: Isabella Chow, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024By: Isabelle Lim, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024 Isabella Chow is a sixth-year pharmacy student at St. John’s University. She was involved in various organizations on campus, including PLS, Rho Chi, LKS, Crafts Club, and VSA. She held leadership positions in multiple pharmacy organizations, including IPhO Director of Communications, DIA…

By: Geraldine Ciaccio, PharmD Candidate c/o 2025 ​The role of pharmacists in public health has been expanding in recent years. The list of pharmacists’ responsibilities continues to grow with the treatment of the opioid crisis in the United States. In the past year, pharmacists newly received the authority to dispense naloxone under a standing order.…

By: Samia Rahman Adity, PharmD Candidate c/o 2025               Migraine has been a throbbing topic of discussion and a serious public health concern in the United States (U.S.). As of 2018, headache was seen to be the fourth or fifth most common cause for patients to visit an emergency department.1 The National Institute of Neurological…

By: Ashley Dao, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024 Medical abortion is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to end intrauterine pregnancy through ten weeks gestation (i.e., within 70 days of the start of a patient’s last menstrual period). Mifepristone plays a major role in the termination of early pregnancies within the United States (U.S.).…

Featuring: Krishna Tamakuwala, PharmDBy: Justin Budz, PharmD Krishna Tamakuwala is a recent graduate from the St. John’s University Doctor of Pharmacy program, class of 2023. Krishna always knew she wanted to go into the medical field. Besides her passion for the sciences, Krishna also enjoyed cooking. She found it interesting how certain aspects of pharmacy…

By: Urooj K. Malik, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024 March 1, 2023 marked a substantial milestone in the United States’ (U.S.’) fight for affordable insulin. Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly) has announced that over the next few months, they will be reducing the price of multiple insulin products as well as capping patient out-of-pocket costs at…

Congratulations to the sixth-year pharmacy students for graduating and to the rest of the student body for completing another year of pharmacy school! I am humbled and honored to announce my new position as the Editor-in-Chief of the Rho Chi Post for the upcoming year. It is with the continued dedication of the Editorial Team…

By: Isabelle Lim, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024 and Justin Budz, PharmD Candidate c/o 2023 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an illness caused by severe acute respiratory system coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that primarily affects the respiratory system.1 In order to enter human cells, the virus’ spike protein receptor-binding domain (RBD) must bind to a cell membrane-bound…

Featuring: Justin Budz, PharmD Candidate c/o 2023By: Isabelle Lim, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024 Justin is a sixth-year pharmacy student and the current Editor-in-Chief of the Rho Chi Post. Justin views pharmacy as a healthy medium between science and healthcare. Studying pharmacy provided him with the opportunity to learn more about the biological processes behind medications…

My name is Jeilyn Nunez and I am a pharmacy major in my P2 year. Currently, I am working at New York Presbyterian Weil Cornell and Walgreens as a pharmacy intern. I am still looking forward to expanding on my experiences and academic career as a life-long learner. I am 21 years old, and I…

My name is Debika Kundu and I am currently a P3 student pharmacist. On campus, I serve as the President of the American Pharmacists Association – Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP) and a LEADS mentor for the Rho Chi Honor Society. I also work as an intern pharmacist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical…

By: Debika Kundu, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024 and Jeilyn Nunez, PharmD Candidate c/o 2025 Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a virus that targets one’s immune system and renders it weak against many diseases, such as influenza, Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and cancer. HIV can enter one’s body through various modes of transmission, including anal or…

Featuring: Vassilia Plakas, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024 and Frances Alexis Dela Cruz, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024By: Isabelle Lim, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024 *Meet Vassilia (Lia) Plakas Lia is a fifth-year pharmacy student and the current President of the Rho Chi Honor Society – Beta Delta Chapter. Lia decided to pursue pharmacy as a result of…

My name is John Ortiz and I’m currently a P2 pharmacy student. Over the summer I was an orientation leader and currently serve as a content-focused copy editor for the Rho Chi Post, the service chair for PARE, and a career peer for Career Services. I also work at an independent pharmacy. Currently, I’m interested…

My name is Christian Porcu and I am a fifth-year Pharmacy Major with a Minor in Social Justice Theory. I am part of many organizations both on and off campus, but the most notable are Kappa Psi Pharmaceutical Fraternity and the Scouts of America. I am a proud Eagle Scout with Troop 19 and just…

The LEADS Initiative is a pilot program developed in 2022 as a collaborative project between the Rho Chi Post Newsletter and the Rho Chi Honor Society – Beta Delta Chapter. The goal of the LEADS Initiative is to provide an academic mentorship program for pharmacy students to promote scholastic excellence, ethics, service, leadership, and an…

On behalf of the Rho Chi Post, we are excited to announce our Inaugural LEADS Initiative Edition of the Rho Chi Post Newsletter. The LEADS Initiative is a pilot program, in collaboration with the Rho Chi Honor Society – Beta Delta Chapter, looking to promote the professional development of younger pharmacy students by pairing them…

By: Christian Porcu, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024 and John Ortiz, PharmD Candidate c/o 2025 Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) impairs immune cells, leaving patients with an increased susceptibility to opportunistic infections and other illnesses. HIV is transmitted through an exchange of bodily fluids, most often through unprotected sex or sharing drug injection equipment.1 The first stage…

By: Nancy Yousry, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024               Vitamin D is a multifaceted nutrient needed to maintain homeostasis and proper health. In addition to its role in building and maintaining healthy bones, vitamin D also regulates many important cellular functions in the body, serving as an anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, and neuroprotective agent.1 In general, the two…

Featuring: Justin Budz, PharmD Candidate c/o 2023By: Isabelle Lim, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024 Justin Budz is a sixth-year pharmacy student at St. John’s University. While at St. John’s, Justin participated in multiple organizations, which ultimately led him to discover the career path he wanted to pursue. Most notably, Justin served as the Development and Outreach…

By: Sairah Sheikh, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024 ​              As Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases started to decrease in the United States (US), many Americans breathed a sigh of relief. However, on May 17, 2022, fear of a new infectious disease struck the nation. The first case of the monkeypox outbreak in the US was reported…

By: Jennifer Galvet, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024               Fibroblast growth factor receptors (FGFRs) are a family of receptor tyrosine kinases expressed on the cell surface of both developmental and adult cells. Aberrant expression of FGFRs has been implicated in a wide variety of cancers and is considered an oncogenic signaling pathway.1 FGFRs are activated by…

By: Yu Jeng Lee, PharmD Candidate c/o 2023               Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that affects both the upper motor neurons (UMN) and lower motor neurons (LMN). This disease causes muscle weakness, which progresses to disability, and subsequently death, primarily due to respiratory failure.1,2 …

Featuring: Kamran Khan, PharmD Candidate c/o 2023By: Justin Budz, PharmD Candidate c/o 2023 Kamran Khan is a sixth-year pharmacy student at St. John’s University. Growing up, Kamran had a lot of family members in healthcare, instilling an interest in medicine from an early age. While at St. John’s, Kamran got to experience many different career…

By: Brian Chung, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024, Peter Chung, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024, and Kevin Kim, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024               Multiple myeloma is a blood cancer that affects an individual’s plasma cells. Plasma cells are white blood cells located in the bone marrow that are responsible for producing antibodies, also known as immunoglobulins.1  Immunoglobulins…

Featuring: Christina Swiger, PharmD Candidate c/o 2023By: Justin Budz, PharmD Candidate c/o 2023 Christina Swiger is a sixth-year pharmacy student at St. John’s University. Christina was inspired to pursue a career in healthcare by her mother who is a store manager at a community pharmacy. Growing up, Christina was able to aid in the care…

By: Geraldine Ciaccio, PharmD Candidate c/o 2025 ​              Pregnant women treated with antidepressants may no longer have to endure the worry that their medications will harm their newborn. Previous studies have shown a correlation between the use of antidepressants in pregnant patients and the prevalence of various birth defects, including cardiac defects, anencephaly, and gastroschisis,…

By: Justin Budz, PharmD Candidate c/o 2023               Diabetes mellitus encompasses both chronic and reversible conditions that affect the body’s ability to utilize glucose. In 2019, about 28.7 million (8.7%) people in the United States (US) had diagnosed diabetes. Of this population, about 1.6 million (5.7%) people ages 20 or older and 244,000 (0.9%) people…

By: Helen Li, PharmD Candidate c/o 2023               On June 18, 2022, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director, Rochelle P. Walensky, M.D., M.P.H., endorsed the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ recommendation to expand eligibility of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccinations to children 6 months through 5 years of age.1 On August 31, 2022,…

Featuring: Amanda Murray, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024 and Laura Cranston, B.S.PharmBy: Ashley Dao, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024 Alumni Insider’s View (AIV) is an annual program held in Washington D.C. that provides students from St. John’s University with the opportunity to explore nontraditional career pathways in pharmacy. Students are able to network with pharmacists that hold…

By: Jennifer Galvet, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024               Farxiga (dapagliflozin) is a first-in-class, oral, once daily sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor indicated for improving glycemic control in type 2 diabetes (T2D), reducing the risk of cardiovascular (CV) death and hospitalization in heart failure (HF), and reducing the risk of sustained eGFR decline in chronic kidney…

By: Sairah Sheikh, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024                  Promising new research conducted by doctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center showed 100% remission of rectal cancer in 12 patients after immunotherapy. Traditionally, patients with rectal cancer are treated with chemotherapy and radiation, followed by a surgical resection of the rectum.1 However, this method carries the…

Featuring: Ali Baig, PharmD Candidate c/o 2023By: Helen Li, PharmD Candidate c/o 2023 Ali Baig is a sixth-year pharmacy student at St. John’s University. During his time at St. John’s, Ali cultivated skillsets in business management, starting with his own car detailing business and eventually opening his own franchise of Edible Arrangements. Ali’s interests in…