By: Aleena Cherian, Co-Copy Editor [Graphics-Focused] and Jenny Prakash, PharmD Candidate c/o 2014 – Starting your rotations in 5th year usually brings mixed emotions. On one hand, it’s a relief to finally be finished with labs and D&Ds…imagine, a whole year without any exams! But on the other hand, now you have to test how…

By: Ada Seldin, Staff Editor – On November 22, 2013, simeprevir (Olysio®), a new agent to treat chronic hepatitis C, received approval under the FDA’s priority review program. Simeprevir is an NS3/4A protease inhibitor that blocks the replication of the hepatitis C virus. Two other drugs from the same class, boceprevir and telaprevir, which were…

      Lambda Kappa Sigma (LKS) is an international professional pharmacy fraternity that provides opportunities to women in pharmacy through professional excellence and personal growth. It was founded at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in 1913, and has grown to over 24,000 members since its inception. Our St. John’s University Alpha…

The mission of the  Drug Information Association (DIA) Student chapter is to cultivate an awareness of opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry and public health needs for PharmD and allied health professions candidates. Goals of the chapter include: informing student members of opportunities that exist within the pharmaceutical industry, providing tools to facilitate student members in taking…

By: Katharine Cimmino, Editor-in-Chief – Marijuana, also known as “grass,” “pot,” “joint,” “weed,” “reefer,” “hashish,” and “Mary Jane,” is a very popular illicit drug.1 According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, “In 2012, 5.4 million persons aged 12 or older used marijuana on a daily or almost daily basis in the past 12…

The mission of the American Pharmacists Association Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP) is to be the collective voice of student pharmacists, to provide opportunities for professional growth, to improve patient care, and to envision and advance the future of pharmacy. Our main purpose as a student chapter is to provide means for student pharmacists to…

By: Elizabeth Kopec, PharmD Candidate c/o 2014, South University School of Pharmacy at Columbia, SC – Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a global pandemic, with approximately 35.3 million people infected in 2012. The United States currently has 1.3 million people living with HIV, with 20,000 deaths occurring every year due to acquired immune deficiency syndrome…

      The Student Society of Health-system Pharmacy (SSHP) seeks to educate pharmacy students on the future of clinical pharmacy practice and the role that health-system pharmacists play as vital healthcare experts. The Society fosters professional and personal development, provides a strong network of pharmacy leadership, and promotes membership in both the American Society…

By: Taryn Mondiello, PharmD Candidate c/o 2015 – Halloween came early this year to St. John’s University and to the children at the “Hour Children” program in Long Island City. On Wednesday October 30th, Phi Lambda Sigma, also known as the Pharmacy Leadership Society, hosted their 12th Annual Healthy Halloween, a Halloween celebration for local…

By: Rebecca Gilene, PharmD Candidate c/o 2014, St. Louis College of Pharmacy – The FDA approved macitentan (Opsumit®) on October 18, 2013 for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension.1 Pulmonary arterial hypertension, often referred to as PAH, is a disease characterized by high blood pressure in the arteries between the heart and lungs. An increase…

By: Sang Hyo Kim, Staff Editor – Near the end of December, the pharmaceutical company, MannKind Corp, will submit their clinical data to the U.S Food and Drug Administration for the approval of an inhaled dosage form of insulin, Afrezza®.1 Administered with the Dreamboat inhaler, this inhaled dosage form delivers insulin packaged into single dose…

By: Sherine Jaison, PharmD Candidate c/o 2015 –  The leukemia chemotherapy drug ponatinib (Iclusig) has just been taken off the market. The drug was under investigation by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) following several reports of serious and life threatening blood clots and narrowing of the blood vessels.1 Ponatinib is a BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase…

By: Hamid Razaki, PharmD – Drug shortages seen across pharmacies in the United States continue to be an issue in patient care. A drug product shortage is defined as a supply issue that affects how the pharmacy prepares or dispenses a drug product, or that influences patient care when prescribers must use an alternative agent.1…

By: Ramya Mathew, PharmD Candidate c/o 2015 – Vertex Pharmaceuticals, an American biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has been researching a new “nuke” for the treatment of Hepatitis C called VX-135. This nucleotide polymerase inhibitor is currently undergoing clinical trials, but the FDA has put the research on a partial hold due to findings…

By: Sang Hyo Kim, Staff Editor – Pharmacy, like much of medicine, is constantly changing, and the new changes in pharmacy practice are even happening to technicians. While there were originally no national standards for pharmacy-technician education and training, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) and the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) have…

By: Jenny Park, PharmD Candidate c/o 2015 – Lung cancer takes away the lives of about 160,000 individuals annually, which is more than a quarter of all cancer deaths.1 The U.S Preventive Service Task Force is now recommending lung cancer screenings for heavy smokers which could save up to 20,000 lives a year (or about 13%…

By: Samantha Schmidt, PharmD Candidate c/o 2014, Palm Beach Atlantic University – The role of pharmacists in healthcare has grown exponentially over the years. Pharmacists now provide advanced patient-centered care services including coordination of medications during transitions of care, comprehensive medication reviews with medication monitoring, chronic disease management, disease education, prevention and wellness services, and…

By: Beatrice Popovitz, Staff Editor and Ada Seldin, Staff Editor –       In August 2013, St. John’s University welcomed Rev. Joseph L. Levesque, C.M., former president of Niagara University, into the community as interim president. Fr. Levesque has an elaborate background in Vincentian leadership and higher education, having taught in various religious institutions such…

By: Sang Hyo Kim, Staff Editor – A new experimental vaccine, PfsPZ, offers great promise as a cure for malaria. PfsPZ demonstrated 100% success in protecting subjects from this mosquito-borne tropical disease, which affects about 200 million people and causes 660,000 death annually.1,2 Historically, it has been known that sustained immunity for malaria could be…

By: Uzma Toppa, PharmD Candidate c/o 2014 – Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, also known as MERS, is a viral respiratory illness caused by a coronavirus called MERS-CoV. It was first reported in humans in Saudi Arabia in 2012. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), from September 2012 to September 2013, there have been a…

By: Arya Mathew, PharmD Candidate c/o 2014 –  About twelve percent of the U.S. population suffers from migraines, affecting adult women three times more than adult men.  Migraines are returning attacks of moderate to severe, throbbing or pulsing pain, usually on one side of the head.  Along with the severe pain, migraine sufferers also experience…

By: Hayeon Na, Co-Copy Editor and Sang Hyo Kim, Staff Editor – In Volume 1 Issue1 of the Rho Chi Post, we were honored to have an interview with Sandra Leal, PharmD, MPH, FAPhA, CDE, and Director of Clinical Pharmacy at El Rio Health Center in Tucson, Arizona. She had started a petition to support…

By: Joshua Bliss, PharmD Candidate c/o 2016 – Doctor – a word often utilized by both professionals and the general public alike to describe a physician. “Doctor” finds its origins in the Latin word for “teacher.” The word “physician,” however, carries a more complicated origin. It is derived from Latin’s “physicum,” meaning remedy.1 In Luke…

By: Ansel Oommen, BS Toxicology Candidate c/o 2014 – DNA damage is the driving force behind aging, and, on a more serious note, the development of cancers.1 While the stresses of life can be taxing on cells, the human body possesses a remarkable repair mechanism to remedy them. Researchers from the University of Texas Medical…

By: Samad Tirmizi, PharmD Candidate c/o 2014 – Hemolytic anemia (HA) is a type of anemia that occurs due to the breakdown of red blood cells. It is classified as intrinsic and extrinsic according to causative factors. Medication induced hemolytic anemia is an example of extrinsic, while genetic predisposition is an intrinsic factor. Drug induced…

By: Davidta Brown – Every year in late October, the third year pharmacy students at the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences attend a ceremony that marks their entry in the first professional year of their education. For these students, the White Coat Ceremony marks a coming of age and a full acceptance of the…

By: Nathan Trustman, PharmD Candidate c/o 2014, AMSCOP at LIU – The antibiotic class known as the fluoroquinolones is widely used in both outpatient and inpatient settings. They provide bactericidal effects by inhibiting DNA gyrase and topoisomerase IV enzymes in bacteria. The systemic agents that are most commonly used in clinical practice include ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin,…

By: Davidta Brown, Staff Editor – Pathogenic bacteria have been enemies to human health for centuries. As recently as last month, the Centers for Disease Control published an 80-page document informing the public about America’s biggest microbial threats. Most of the pathogens on the list exhibit antibacterial resistance. One particular bacterial species, ranked at threat…

By: Hayeon Na, Co-Copy Editor [Content-Focused] – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on July 26th that oral dosage forms of ketoconazole (Nizoral®) should no longer be prescribed as first-line therapy for any fungal infections.1 The label and indication for oral ketoconazole were updated, and a new medication guide was added. Other dosage forms…

By: Katharine Cimmino, Editor-in-Chief and Erica Dimitropoulos, Senior Staff Editor –       Just last month, St. John’s University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences kindly welcomed a new Dean into our family, Dean Russell J. DiGate. Dean DiGate is a highly experienced educator and academic leader. He attended the University of Rochester, where…

By Erica Dimitropoulos, Senior Staff Editor – If you were in charge of government spending, how would you allocate our funds? Would you put more money into public schools? Restructure the healthcare system? How about a multi-billion dollar project to remap the brain? A few months ago, President Obama announced his plans to invest in…

By: Andy Zhang, PharmD Candidate c/o 2015 – On August 1st, 2013, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a new warning of serious acetaminophen associated skin reactions, including Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS), toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) and acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis (AGEP).1 Acetaminophen is one of the most widely used over-the-counter (OTC) medication, and…

By: David Ong, PharmD Candidate c/o 2014 – Manipulating the renin-angiotensin system is one of the many ways drugs are used to treat hypertension. By blocking key steps in the renin-angiotensin cascade, blood pressure decrease may be achieved. Angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs) represent one of the drug classes that utilize the aforementioned mechanism. ARBs…

By: Sang Hyo Kim, Staff Editor – On June 27, 2013, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), AIDS.gov, and other national and local entities organized the 19th annual National HIV Testing Day. On this day, the theme of “Take the Test, Take Control” was employed to spread awareness of testing and prevention methods…

By: Davidta Brown, Staff Editor – When the seasons transition from winter into spring every year, healthcare providers brace for a shift into a time of increased sneezes, requests for cough medication, and vaccinations, otherwise known as flu season. The rounds of illness that pass each year are usually more of an annoyance than a…

By Davidta Brown, Staff Editor – For post-operative pain treatment, few drugs are as trustworthy, as tried-and-true, as codeine. Prescriptive confidence in the analgesic has promoted its use in children recovering from uncomplicated surgeries, but the spate of injuries and deaths of young children who had been given codeine after undergoing adenotonsillectomies has provoked a…

By: Sang Hyo Kim, Staff Editor – This year, on July 23rd, FDA advisers voted 7 to 6, with one abstention, in favor of approving the drug certolizumab (Cimzia®) for the indication of axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA). axSpA is a chronic imflammatory condition that includes ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and non-radiographic axial spndyloarthristis (nr-axSpA).1,2 axSpA, AS and…

By: Praneeta Nagraj, PharmD Candidate c/o 2015 – Summer is a great time to recover from the school year through reflection and relaxation, but it’s also the perfect opportunity to develop your career and discover where you belong within the pharmacy profession, which can be realized through work or an internship. What if I told…

By: Aleena Cherian, Co-Copy Editor [Graphics-Focused] – Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a chronic neurological behavior characterized by persistent patterns of inattention and/or hyperactive behavior, resulting in a wide range of emotional, functional, and neurocognitive impairments.1,2 First line therapy for ADHD consists of stimulant medications together with non-pharmacologic interventions, and has been shown to improve…

By Omar Khalid Pharm.D. Candidate c/o 2014 – The outpour of a multitude of new oral anticoagulants in recent years has health care professionals questioning whether they should switch the patients over, and what new agents should be used. With the recent addition of dabigatran (Pradaxa®) in October 2010, rivaroxaban (Xarelto®) in November 2011, and…

By: Efime Popovitz, BS/MD Candidate, Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education – When Sarah Murnaghan received the long awaited adult lung after years of battling cystic fibrosis, she not only narrowly escaped her death sentence, but also brought to light a plight that thousands of individuals face each day- a struggle for the opportunity to…

By: Kristin M. Cheng, PharmD candidate c/o 2014  –       The Drug Information Association (DIA) 2013 Annual Meeting took place from June 23rd to June 27th at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in Boston, Massachusetts. Twenty-one students from the St. John’s University DIA student chapter attended this year. The purpose of the meeting was…

By: Beatrisa Popovitz, Staff Editor –  For the past decade, antibiotic resistant bacteria have been a growing concern in healthcare. Over the last few months, there has been a great deal of media attention surrounding strains of drug resistant bacteria in hospitals across the United States.  Most recently, there has been an increased effort to…

By: Aleena Cherian, PharmD Candidate c/o 2014 – Although opioid analgesics are among the most effective drugs to treat pain, they are associated with a growing number of public health issues including addiction and severe, often fatal, overdoses. The recent increase in incidences of opioid overdose is directly correlated to rapidly increasing and widespread use…

By: Tamara Yunusova, Senior Staff Editor – Approximately 3.2 million Americans have chronic hepatitis C infection.1 While acute cases are not common, rates of chronic hepatitis C continue to surge due to the recent discovery of the virus in 1989 and consequently, the establishment of a test screening for HCV antibodies in 1992.1 HCV has…

Davidta Brown, PharmD Candidate c/o 2017 –      The debate on the nature of compounding practice and the extent to which it ought to be regulated has come to the forefront of public attention.  Those who regularly follow American news and politics are familiar with the series of events that have led to the present…

By: Tina Chang & Helen Dong PharmD Candidates c/o 2014   Ever been to a conference where all you do is tweet all day? That’s exactly what we did at the New York State Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference, where this year’s focus was on the role of health information technology in…

By: Jacqueline Chirico; Pharm D Candidate c/o 2016 – The reasons behind the choice to study pharmacy here at St. John’s University vary from student to student. Some are interested in helping patients, while others are interested in the science behind how drugs affect the body. For me, it was the experience that I had…

By Sang Hyo Kim, Staff Editor – Angelina Jolie, the actress recognized for her charismatic beauty, revealed to the New York Times that she had undergone double mastectomy, the surgical removal of the breasts. Because her mother died of ovarian cancer at 56, when Jolie learned that she had a mutation in her BRCA1 gene,…

By: Tasnima Nabi, Content-focused Co-Copy Editor – The College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences has officially launched a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree program and accepted applications for Fall 2013. Public Health has become an increasingly important area of study over the years as our country experiences rising numbers of chronic disease, health care…