By: Sariah Grant PharmD Candidate c/o 2027 Color additives have long played a crucial role in the appearance and appeal of many foods and pharmaceutical products.1 From vibrant candies to easily identifiable medications, synthetic dyes such as Food, Drug and Cosmetics (FD&C) Red Dye No.3, have been used for decades. However, growing concerns over its safety…

By: Nivaj Haque PharmD Candidate c/o 2027 The pharmaceutical industry is undergoing significant changes in the background as new government policies are affecting the development, approval, and sale of drugs. These changes are affecting the staffing at the regulatory agencies, drug pricing, and international trade. They are also affecting pharmaceutical companies, healthcare providers and patients…

By: Rosa Kang PharmD Candidate c/o 2027 Dr. Aaron Muth, Ph.D., is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. He has been teaching medicinal chemistry at St. John’s University as Assistant Professor since 2016 and Associate Professor since 2022. In 2024, he was  appointed the Director of the Master of Science in…

By: Jennalynn Fung, PharmD candidate c/o 2025 Dr. Hyunah Cho, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, was awarded a $745,000 R16 Sure-First grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS). Her research is focused on developing nano-based optical imaging agents as prospective tools for brain imaging. If applied clinically,…

By: Rosa Kang PharmD Candidate c/o 2027 Summer is a time of endless possibilities. During this time, St. John’s University offers a program for its students who are interested in pursuing research: The Summer Research Program! Here are just a few of the many experiences from the professors and students who are participating in this…

By: John Ortiz, PharmD Candidate c/o 2025 What is a Blood Transfusion? A blood transfusion is a procedure where donated blood is intravenously administered to a patient. Generally, it is used to treat patients who are experiencing blood loss or a deficiency of integral blood components. In the United States, there are 21 million blood transfusions…

Featuring: Nadim Ahmed, President and CEO, Cullinan Oncology By: Sairah Skeikh, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024 Nadim Ahmed is the President and Chief Executive Officer at Cullinan Oncology. He has always had an interest in oncology and the opportunity to help cancer patients and their families, which is demonstrated in his extensive prior experience working in…

By: Carolina Vargas, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024, Zoha Khalid, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024, and Nashfa Zaman, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024 Graduating from pharmacy school is a monumental achievement, marking the culmination of years of hard work and dedication. However, this milestone comes with financial burdens that aspiring pharmacists must be prepared for. This article will…

Featuring: Frances Alexis Dela Cruz, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024 By: Celestine Van Sertima, PharmD Candidate c/o 2027 Frances Alexis Dela Cruz is a driven and dedicated PharmD candidate at St. John’s University who is anticipated to graduate in 2024. With a focus on pharmacy studies, Frances exhibits a passion for the pharmaceutical field and is…

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: 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: 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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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: 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…

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…

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: 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…

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…

Featuring: Colleen Bond, PharmD, BCPSBy: Justin Budz, PharmD Candidate c/o 2023 At a young age, Dr. Colleen Bond was involved in the care of a close relative, gaining early exposure to the healthcare team dynamic. The one question that no one was able to clearly answer was how medications were able to work in the…

By: Justin Budz, PharmD Candidate c/o 2023                  In the United States (US), heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women of most racial and ethnic groups, followed by cancer and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).1 About 659,000 people in the US die from heart disease each year, which encompasses about 1 in…

Featuring: Nicole Maisch, BS, PharmDBy: Justin Budz, PharmD Candidate c/o 2023 Growing up with close relatives in healthcare, Dr. Nicole Maisch was inspired to pursue a career in pharmacy practice. Dr. Maisch graduated from Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences with her PharmD and then completed a PGY1 residency at the University of Massachusetts…

By: Kirby An, PharmD Candidate c/o 2023               Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19) is a virus that took the world by storm with its initial discovery in Wuhan, China in December of 2019. On January 20, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) confirmed the first case of Covid-19 in the United States (US) after a 35…

By: Aamir S. Dave, PharmD Candidate c/o 2023 Judith L. Beizer, PharmD, BCGP, FASCP, AGSF Alzheimer’s and Dementia              Dementia is characterized by the loss of memory and other cognitive abilities that interfere with daily life. Alzheimer’s is a progressive neurological disease and is the most common type of dementia, accounting for greater than 60-80%…

By: Justin Budz, PharmD Candidate c/o 2023              On January 19th, 2020, a 35-year-old man in an urgent care clinic in Snohomish County, Washington was the first to be confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to be infected with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2…

By: Fatima Amjad, PharmD candidate c/o 2022              Pharmacists have truly taken on the role of superhero during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. As of April 6, 2022 more than 239.1 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered by community pharmacies across the United States.1 Community pharmacists have gone above and beyond immunizing eligible…

By: Natalia Jucha, PharmD Candidate c/o 2022 and Helen Li, PharmD Candidate c/o 2023              Celiac disease is classified as an autoimmune disorder and occurs in individuals who cannot tolerate gluten. Dietary gluten induces an immune response and causes damage to the small intestine, particularly the duodenum and proximal jejunum. A small peptide called gliadin,…

By: Ashely Dao, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024               In early 2021, about 6 in 10 American adults had a chronic disease. Chronic diseases are the leading cause of death and disability in the United States with 1 in 3 deaths caused by cardiovascular diseases (CVD).¹ The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has emphasized the impact…

By: Daniel Levin, PharmD candidate c/o 2022               Depression is a terrible beast of an illness to battle with, and there are nearly 14 million individuals at any given moment fighting it. Only around 50% of patients struggling with depression will get some form of treatment. Sixty to seventy percent of patients who do get…

By: Jun Suh Hong, PharmD candidate c/o 2022               Aspirin belongs to a class of medications called nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS). Known by many for its analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties, as well as its association with gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding, aspirin plays an essential role in stroke prevention. As such, it has a crucial role in…

By: Pallak Sharma, PharmD Candidate c/o 2022 and Mia Cord-Cruz, PharmD Candidate c/o 2022               Ketamine (Ketalar®) is currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use as a general anesthetic, with additional indications listed within its package insert.1 Ketamine is a highly abused “street drug”, especially in China. To demonstrate, in Hong…

By: Sharon Joseph PharmD Candidate c/o 2022 and Salma Hewady, PharmD               Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a single-stranded retrovirus that attacks the immune system, predisposing the host to opportunistic infections and malignancies. If not properly treated, HIV can progress to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Goals of therapy include restoration of immune function, suppression of…

By: Mandy Zheng, PharmD Candidate c/o 2024               “Where can I find Zantac?”. From April 2020 to May 2021, the answer was, you cannot. On April 1, 2020, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ordered for all ranitidine (Zantac®)- containing products to be removed from the U.S. market.¹ Ranitidine was a popular over-the-counter (OTC) and…

By: Anjali Rana, PharmD Candidate c/o 2025 and Katharine Russo, PharmD               The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to pose challenges, both nationally and worldwide. Many countries that were facing public health crises prior to COVID-19 have subsequently seen a worsening of these crises, as much of the funding and attention previously available has…

By: Jason Ifeanyi, PharmD Candidate c/o 2022               The liver is one of the most commonly transplanted solid organs in the United States (US) today. The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) is a mission-driven non-profit that leads the network of transplant hospitals, organ procurement organizations, and thousands of volunteers who are dedicated to saving…

By: Lyana Sayilar, PharmD Candidate c/o 2022               Multiple myeloma is characterized by an accumulation of abnormal plasma cells in the bone marrow and the formation of tumors in bones. An insufficient quantity of healthy blood cells are produced in the bone marrow leading to a weakened immune system.1 The exact cause of multiple myeloma…

By: Richa Tamakuwala, PharmD Candidate c/o 2022               There has been a dramatic rise in the number of patients with cardiovascular implantable electronic devices (CIEDs), such as permanent pacemakers and implantable cardioverter‐defibrillators (ICDs), due to an increasing aging population and clinical trials showing benefits in mortality and morbidity.  Multiple studies investigating the use of ICDs…

By: Jason Ifeanyi, PharmD Candidate c/o 2022               Epilepsy is a highly prevalent neurological disorder caused by unusual nerve cell activity, and is among one of the most common disease states encountered today in clinical practice. Each year around 150,000 Americans are diagnosed with epilepsy.1 Epilepsy is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as…

By: Rubab Hassan, PharmD Candidate c/o 2022              Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a genetic disorder that causes muscle degeneration and weakness along with various other symptoms. It is predominantly caused by deletions of one or more exons, which lead to mutations of the dystrophin gene. Dystrophin stops muscle fibers from being degraded by proteases.…

By: Nishanth Viswanath, PharmD Candidate c/o 2022              Multiple myeloma (MM)  is a hematological malignancy characterized by an accumulation and proliferation of monoclonal plasma cells in the bone marrow. 1 Throughout the course of the disease, malignant plasma cells induce an overproduction of non-functional immunoglobulin (paraproteins), which is evident during urine and blood screenings. 2…

By: Oluwafemi Popoola, PharmD Candidate c/o 2021, SUNY Binghamton School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences              A patient with past medical history of von Willebrand’s disease (VWD) and myasthenia gravis on chronic prednisone therapy, presented for follow-up for VWD at the hematology/oncology clinic. The provider considered having the patient undergo a “desmopressin challenge” with desmopressin…