By: Nishanth Viswanath, PharmD Candidate c/o 2022 Introduction   Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)  is a hematological malignancy of mature CD5 positive B-lymphocytes that primarily affects elderly patients.1 With the average age of diagnosis being 71, the incidence of CLL is relatively rare in younger populations, though cases have occurred in those under the age of 50.1…

By: Dana Weinstein, PharmD Candidate c/o 2022              Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) infection in humans is caused by two main species, Mycobacterium avium and Mycobacterium intracellulare. These species are difficult to differentiate and therefore are collectively referred to as Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare (MAI).1 These acid-fast, atypical nontuberculosis mycobacterium (NTM) are the most common cause of lung disease in the U.S.2 MAC is…

By: Lyana Sayilar, PharmD Candidate c/o 2020 Approved on April 17, 2020, tucatinib (TukysaTM) is indicated to aid in the treatment of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) positive metastatic breast cancer and could be a potential add-on therapy.3 Among the different types of breast cancers, an increase of HER2, a transmembrane glycoprotein consisting…

By: Jason Ifeanyi, PharmD Candidate c/o 2022 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the viral strain responsible for causing COVID-19, continues to have a profound impact on communities at a local, national and global level. As of August 20, 2020, nearly 5.7 million confirmed cases exist in the United States with a total of…

By: William Obilisundar, PharmD Candidate c/o 2023, Binghamton University School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences              One of the most interesting events hosted by the Binghamton University School of Pharmacy during the 2019-2020 academic year was a seminar entitled, “Mental Health Awareness: A Focus on Suicide & Stigma,” presented by Dr. Carolyn M. Tyler, Ph.D.,…

By: Preethi Samuel, PharmD Candidate c/o 2021, Aisa Mrkulic, PharmD. Candidate c/o 2022              Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a chronic illness involving misuse of opioids, both prescribed and non-prescribed, as well as the use of illicitly obtained heroin. OUD carries a risk of fatal overdose, preceded by the following triad: pinpoint pupils, respiratory depression,…

By: Evan Cheung, PharmD (c/o 2020)             On March 11th, 2020, a research article was published in the Lancet journal that informed the public about a hypothesized issue regarding the use of ibuprofen in COVID-19 patients.1 Because of the information found in this article, patients and medical professions are wary of utilizing nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs…

By:  Natalia Loomis, PharmD Candidate c/o 2022 The World Health Organization announced the official name “COVID-19” on February 11, 2020 when the outbreak was first identified in Wuhan, China. ‘CO’ stands for ‘corona,’ ‘VI’ for ‘virus,’ and ‘D’ for disease and 19 for the year the first case occurred.2 The Center for Disease Control and…

By: Jason Ifeanyi, PharmD Candidate c/o 2022 Severe acute respiratory syndrome 2 (Sars-Cov-2), the viral strain responsible for causing COVID-19, continues to have an undeniable impact both on a national level and a global level. As of June 20th, 2020, there have been nearly 2.4 million reported cases in the United States, with nearly 122,000…

By: Shivani Kaneria, Pharm D. Candidate c/o 2020 Postpartum depression is a mood disorder that affects 10 – 20 percent of new mothers post childbirth per year, and is caused by a combination of both physical and emotional factors.5 Mothers who experience this form of depression undergo common symptoms of feeling sad, crying often with…

By: Aiśa Mrkulic, PharmD. Candidate c/o 2022 APhA’s Red Dress Gala continues to be their largest, not-for-profit fundraising event of the year. Welcome were members and non-members all the same. Student pharmacists from other chapters are often present—the 5th Annual Red Dress Gala being no exception! DAC Ballroom housed the festivities, as awareness was brought…

By: Alisha Kuriakose, PharmD Candidate c/o 2022 Every ten seconds, someone in the United States (U.S.) goes to the emergency room with complaints of head pain, many of which can be attributed to migraines. A migraine is a neurological condition characterized by intense and debilitating headaches. Those suffering from migraines may have experiences including nausea,…

By: Aiśa  Mrkulic, PharmD. Candidate c/o 2022 Thrive NYC’s Adult Mental Health First Aid Training Program has taken Johnnies by storm! Three sign-ups and a wait-list later, I managed to secure my spot as an attendee. Students of various majors, who belonged to any one of a wide range of student-led organizations, flooded into Marillac…

By: Mah Noor, PharmD Candidate c/o 2021 Although the opioid crisis began in the late 1990s, there has been a recent increase in prescription and illicit opioid drug use which has led to an increased prevalence of opioid overdoses due to misuse and dependency. In 2017, the number of overdose related deaths involving opioids, including…

By: Joseph DiPaola (PharmD Candidate c/o 2022), Nishanth Viswanath (PharmD Candidate c/o 2022)            Neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBAs) are drugs that induce a physiological state of paralysis, and are used in a variety of surgical procedures, disease states, and situations in clinical pharmacy and anesthesiology. Practitioners have been successfully using NMBAs since 1995 after the…

By: Darien Lee, PharmD Candidate c/o 2021            Wuhan, the most populous city in Central China, has a population of over 11 million people. The city is one of China’s largest transportation and manufacturing centers with dozens of railways and roads as well as thousands of technological enterprises and institutions, respectively. In late December 2019,…

By:  Maria Sedky Saad (PharmD Candidate c/o 2021), Shivani Shah (PharmD Candidate c/o 2021)            Hyperglycemia is a common condition in hospitalized patients whose glucose levels are normally controlled with oral antidiabetic medications, which are often discontinued upon admission. To circumvent hyperglycemic complications in hospitalized patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, glucose levels…

By: Maryam Sekhery, PharmD Candidate c/o 2020            According to the World Health Organization, anemia is defined as having a level of Hemoglobin (Hb) below 13.0 g/dL in male adults, below 12.0 g/dL in female adults who are not pregnant, and below 11.0 g/dL in pregnant women.1 Hemoglobin is an iron-containing oxygen-transport metalloprotein in red…

By: Michael Lim, PharmD Candidate c/o 2020            Osteoporosis is a bone disease affecting nearly ten million people in the United States.1 It can be caused by excess bone loss, insufficient bone production, or a combination of both factors. The disease is responsible for two million broken bones and 19 billion dollars in related healthcare…

By: Yao Jiang, PharmD (St. John’s University c/o 2019)            “Do you want to do a residency?” a senior pharmacy student asked me as I strolled past their booth on Pharmacy Organization Day during my first year of pharmacy school. I stopped for a minute, but everything they said about post graduate training and clinical…

By: Evanthia Siozios, PharmD Candidate c/o 2020            Anxiety, nausea, muscle pain, insomnia are some of the most common withdrawal symptoms experienced when users stop taking opioids. According to a randomized controlled trial entitled Prescription Opioid Addiction Treatment Study (POATS) conducted in outpatient treatment settings across the United States including Mclean Hospital in Massachusetts and…

By: Daniela Farzadfar, PharmD Candidate c/o 2020            Over 30 million Americans are currently living with diabetes. According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), in 2017, the total cost of diagnosed diabetes in the United States was 327 billion dollars with 237 billion dollars alone attributed to direct medical costs.1 Among these direct medical costs…

By: Michael Lim, PharmD Candidate c/o 2020            In a February 2019 Senate Finance Committee hearing, executives from major pharmaceutical companies including AbbVie, Merck, and AstraZeneca were criticized for the high cost of brand-name prescription drugs.1 When asked why brand-name prescription drugs in the United States were more expensive compared to other developed countries, an…

By: Michael Lim, PharmD Candidate c/o 2020            As modern technology continues to grow ever more complex and powerful, it is no surprise that the healthcare industry is constantly searching for medical applications of the latest technological advancements. Whether it be new health system software or medical devices for at home testing, the integration of…

By: Evanthia Siozios, PharmD Candidate c/o 2020            A diagnosis of epilepsy requires either two unprovoked seizures or one unprovoked seizure with the possibility of having more.1 These seizures are not usually caused by factors such as alcohol withdrawal or hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). Missing doses of seizure medication is the most common cause of…

By: Michael Lim, PharmD Candidate c/o 2020            In 2017, 70,237 overdose deaths occurred in the United States. Of those deaths, 47,600 (sixty-seven point eight percent of all drug overdose deaths in 2017) involved opioids.1 As the current main driver of drug overdose deaths, opioids and their misuse and abuse represent an ongoing health epidemic…

By: Sylvia Hong (PharmD Candidate c/o 2021), Muaz Sadeia (PharmD Candidate c/o 2021)            On March 5, 2019, Janssen Pharmaceuticals gained approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for esketamine (Spravato™), the first fast acting nasal spray antidepressant indicated for treatment of resistant depression as conjunctive therapy to oral antidepressants in adults.1 This new…

By: Michelle Lavrichenko, PharmD Candidate c/o 2020            What does it mean to be a pharmacist? A pharmacist is a qualified health care professional who reviews, prepares, and dispenses medications; but what is the definition of the term qualified as it pertains to pharmacy practice? In order to obtain a license to practice pharmacy, one must pass the North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination…

By: Sarah, Hewady, PharmD Candidate c/o 2020            Calcium’s fundamental importance in the early hemostasis phase of wound healing has been established through its role as a cofactor in the blood-clotting cascade, facilitator of platelet aggregation with von Willebrand factor, and activator of protein kinase C, ultimately leading to glycoprotein IIb/IIIa’s increased binding affinity for…

By: Michael Lim, PharmD Candidate c/o 2020            In the investigation of gene function and its role in health care and disease management, RNA interference is an important scientific tool. Possessing the ability to individually turn off nearly 22,000 genes upon introduction into human cells, small interfering ribonucleic acids (siRNAs), while useful in research settings,…

By: Vasantha Kolluri, PharmD Candidate c/o 2019 With the recent advancement of oral oncology drugs, there has been an ever-growing need for specialty pharmacy services. Although these oral agents allow for patients to receive therapy at home, clinical outcomes heavily depend upon patient adherence and management. Specialty pharmacy is a niche area of pharmacy practice…

By: Yeonah Suk, PharmD Candidate c/o 2020 Of all the industrialized countries in the world, the United States (US) still ranks number one in having the highest rate of maternal mortality. Data from the World Health Organization demonstrates that overused procedures including early labor induction, restricting food and drink, as well as mandating bed rest…

By: Mah Noor, PharmD Candidate c/o 2021 As society flourishes, life seems to grow more complex. Among the barrage of images, voices and social media campaigns, a domestic issue which often seems to be neglected in the United States is the overall deficit in addressing various aspects of mental health. On May 30, 2018 The…

By: Joseph Eskandrous, PharmD Candidate c/o 2019 Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) is a gram-positive, anaerobic, sporogenic bacterium that is primarily responsible for antibiotic-associated diarrhea and is a significant nosocomial pathogen.1 Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is triggered by toxin production from the bacteria. Normal bacterial flora is disrupted when the colon is colonized with C. difficile…

By: Ruchira Kasbekar, PharmD Candidate c/o 2020 It is estimated that approximately 80,000 Americans died from the flu during the 2017-2018 flu season which is the highest death toll from influenza in the last four decades.1 As the 2017-2018 flu season progressed, there was a shortage of oseltamivir (Tamiflu®) availability. To prevent shortages during the…

By: Jonathan Mercado (PharmD Candidate c/o 2019), Rebecca Sin (PharmD Candidate c/o 2019) Immuno-oncology is an advanced and rapidly growing area of research focused on utilizing the body’s immune system to help fight cancer. Immunotherapy has demonstrated clinical efficacy and unprecedented rates of response in treating specific cancers, usurping the classical approach to chemotherapy and…

By: Michael Lim, PharmD Candidate c/o 2020 In 2010, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved fingolimod (Gilenya®) for the treatment of adults with relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS).1 Historically, fingolimod has been used as a convenient second line oral treatment upon failure of initial disease-modifying therapy for relapsing-remitting MS in adult populations.2 Therefore, when a…

By: Karen Chen, PharmD Candidate c/o 2019 On July 13th, 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a voluntary recall of several different national drug codes (NDCs) of medications containing the active ingredient valsartan (Diovan®) after the discovery of an impurity called N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). The reason for the recall was because the impurity…

By: Michael Lim, PharmD Candidate c/o 2020 As the nation continues to struggle with the growing opioid epidemic, numerous organizations, researchers, and even the president are taking initiative in resolving the crisis. Of these groups, perhaps one of the most proactive in its efforts is the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). With its promotion of…

By: Shivani Shah, PharmD Candidate c/o 2021 Medication therapy management (MTM) is a service provided by pharmacists to eligible patients who participate in a Medicare drug plan, namely part D. The geriatric population, which is included among the aforementioned eligible patients, is prone to taking numerous medications as they tend to have multiple disease states…

By: Rizwan Atiq, PharmD Candidate c/o 2019 – Biotin is a nutrient that is present in certain foods and is available as a dietary supplement. It is present in many multivitamins as well as sold as its own supplement in pharmacies and supermarkets. It is marketed as a vitamin which is used to improve the…

By: Maria Spilios, PharmD Candidate c/o 2019 – Opioid dependence is a major public health concern. Misuse of prescription opioids and heroin affects more than two million Americans and an estimated fifteen million people worldwide per year; the prevalence of misuse and addiction is rapidly increasing with each passing year. More than 20,000 deaths in…

By: Lameesa Dhanani, PharmD Candidate c/o 2019 – *Disclaimer: In November 2018, the FDA issued a Safety Communication against changing a patient’s medications solely based on the genetic test results since these genetic tests have not been reviewed by the FDA. In a competitive market where pharmacy jobs are scarce, I always remind myself why…

By: Michael Lim, PharmD Candidate c/o 2020 – In an era of widespread pharmaceutical innovation, the rise of biological products is no surprise. Biosimilars – biological products that are highly similar to and have no clinically meaningful differences compared to reference products that are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – have taken…

By: Shireen Farzadeh, PharmD Candidate c/o 2019 – Nivolumab (Opdivo®) is a monoclonal antibody that blocks programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1). PD-1 plays an important role in the immune checkpoint cascade. It is indicated for the treatment of melanoma, renal cell carcinoma, non-small cell and small cell lung cancer, squamous cell carcinoma of the head and…

By: Karen Chen, PharmD Candidate c/o 2019 – Ibalizumab-uiyk (Trogarzo®) is specifically indicated for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus type- 1 (HIV-1) infection in combination with other antiretroviral medications in heavily-treatment experienced adults with multidrug resistant HIV-1 infections who are failing their current antiretroviral regimen. Ibalizumab-uiyk is a CD4- directed post-attachment HIV-1 inhibitor that…

By: Alex Chu & Joseph Eskandrous (PharmD Candidates c/o 2019) – The geriatric population grows older with each passing day and is more likely to experience chronic pain due to shifts in body composition and pathological diseases.1 Chronic geriatric pain may be defined as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential…

By: Shireen Farzadeh, PharmD Candidate c/o 2019 – Collaborative Drug Therapy Management (CDTM) began as a three year demonstration project in 2012. It was extended and passed as a bill in September 2015 by the New York State Assembly and Senate and signed into law by the Governor Andrew Cuomo. The CDTM authority was initially…

By: Shivani Shah, PharmD Candidate c/o 2021 – Pharmacists are the primary drug experts in the medical field. Medication reconciliation, patient counseling, and creating drug therapy regimens are important components of health care which are the pharmacist’s responsibility. Many pharmacists are commonly seen behind the counter at your local CVS or Walgreens, glued to a…

By: Natalie Rodriguez, PharmD Candidate 2019 Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, University of the Sciences  and Stacey Gorski, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences – PRESS SUMMARY The most common cause of hyperthyroidism, or an over-active thyroid, is an autoimmune disease known as Graves’ disease.  In patients with Graves’ disease, the immune system attacks the thyroid gland…