School of Pharmacy News Archive

Visit pharmacy.vcu.edu/news for news features published after October 4, 2024

User uploaded custom header image

ISPOR International Meeting: SOP chapter ranks second in world

by Cynthia McMullen

 

Yaena Min
Yaena Min

VCU School of Pharmacy graduate students, faculty and alumni made a good showing at the 19th Annual International Meeting of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research. This year’s theme was “Examining the Role of Big Data in Healthcare Decision Making.”

The ISPOR meeting, which took place the first week of June in Montreal, Canada, attracted about 3,400 attendees, including at least 11 connected to VCU: students Batul Electricwala, Yaena Min, Raheema Muhammad-Kah, Kunal Saxena and Della Varghese; alumni Timothy Inocencio (Pharm.D./Ph.D. ’12), Seina Lee (Pharm.D./M.S. ’06), Urvi Desai Mafatia (Ph.D. ’11), Anuprita Patkar (Ph.D. ’05) and Arpamas Seetasith (Ph.D. ’13); and professor David Holdford. Holdford is vice chairman of graduate studies for the school’s Department of Pharmacotherapy and Outcomes Science.

Among the School of Pharmacy’s ISPOR chapter achievements during the 2014 meeting:

  • It placed second in the Outstanding Chapter Award competition. (University of Illinois-Chicago placed first.) ISPOR has 60 student chapters in the United States, Canada, Africa, Asia and Europe.

    Kunal Saxena (left) and Norman Carroll
    Kunal Saxena (left) and Norman Carroll
  • Team VCU – Electricwala, Min, Saxena and Varghese – reached the final four in the Student Research Competition.
  • VCU chapter president Kunal Saxena received an ISPOR Distinguished Service Award.
  • Posters were presented by Electricwala on “Prevalence of Prescription Medication Use Not Captured by Prescription Claims Database”; Min on “The Association Between Sleep Problems, Sleep Medications and Falls in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: Results From the Health and Retirement Study 2010”; and Saxena on “Cost-effectiveness Analysis of a New Epinephrine Auto-Injector for the Treatment of Food-Allergy Reactions: Decision Modeling Using Societal Perspective.”
Fourth annual VCU alumni dinner
Fourth annual VCU alumni dinner

The VCU chapter hosted its fourth annual alumni dinner at Restaurant Vallier in downtown Montreal.  “We had a great alumni attendance at the dinner,” reports Saxena.

“Everyone had a great time learning, networking and having fun in Montreal. It is a beautiful city!”

Professor Norman Carroll, who serves as VCU ISPOR chapter advisor, said, “This is a great group to be advisor for. I just sit back and watch them roll!”

ISPOR’s 20th Annual International Meeting will take place May 16-20, 2015, in Philadelphia.

 

 

Team VCU -- Yaena Min (left), Della Varghese, Batul Electricwala and Kunal Saxena -- celebrate with professor David Holdford after cracking into the final four of research competition.
Team VCU — Yaena Min (left), Della Varghese, Batul Electricwala and Kunal Saxena — celebrate with professor David Holdford after cracking into the final four of research competition.

 

Categories Alumni news, Faculty news, Graduate students, Student organizations