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The President’s Message Welcome to the Commencement Edition

of the June 2016 CDU Newsletter.

Graduation is a time of pride and cele-bration. I had the honor of presiding at the University’s 32nd Annual Commence-ment Ceremony. In total, the University conferred degrees and certificates on 322 students completing courses in the Drew/UCLA Medical Education Program, Mervyn M. Dymally School of Nursing and College of Science and Health. The Honorable Louis W. Sullivan, MD, Presi-dent Emeritus, Morehouse School of Medicine and Former U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services, delivered the Commencement Address.

The highest awards the CDU President and Board of Trustees present are the President’s Medal and the Board Medal of Honor. The awards are presented to individuals who exemplify the Vision, Mission, and Values of CDU in their per-sonal and professional lives. This year we saluted honorees Mrs. Alice “Sweet Al-ice” Harris (President’s Medal) and the Sue and Bill Gross Foundation (Board Medal of Honor). Mr. Mark Porterfield accepted the Board Medal of Honor on behalf of Mr. and Mrs. Gross. Prior to the start of the ceremony, Mr. Porter-field presented the University with the Gross’ gift of $250,000 in support of the Sue and Bill Gross Nursing Scholars at

CDU. This gift and those of our support-ers is a testament to their belief in the University and the power of a mission-driven education at CDU. We are thank-ful.

To our many volunteers and supporters who assisted with the commencement activities, I would like to say a special thank you.

Graduates, I believe that you are unique-ly equipped and committed to improving the communities you choose to serve in through service and leadership. I am proud of each of you. As the Class of 2016 bids farewell to the halls of CDU, we welcome you back to the CDU cam-pus in your new role as alumni. Congrat-ulations!

The CDU Mighty Lions look forward to another terrific year ahead in 2016-2017.

2016

SPRI NG | PU BL I SH ED

JUN E 28 , 2 0 16

CDU News | June

CDU hosts College Foundations Week P.7

Dr. David Martins Inducted as President of the Academic Senate |

Dr. Mohsen Bazargan ends 6 years of service Page 2

more May David M. Carlisle, MD, PhD President and CEO

A Commencement Surprise:

Sue and Bill Gross Foundation Donates

$250,000

Sweet Alice Harris Receives

President’s Medal for service to Watts Page 3

Special Pull-out 2016 Commencement Edition: Page3

Video | Galleries

Updates Page 2

Dean Prothrow-Stith Hosts Gun Violence

Awareness Day Page 7

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Richard Morgan Aims for MD & PhD Mr. Richard A. Morgan is cur-rently pursuing a combined MD/PhD degree through the Medical Scientist Training Pro-gram and is a student in the DREW/UCLA Medical Education Program. He received his MSc in Biotechnology at Johns Hopkins University and has contributed to the publication of over 10 original scientific articles in the fields of pathology, oncology, and surgery. Mr. Morgan’s previous research focused on identifying the genetic factors underlying metastatic progres-sion in pancreatic cancer. He is currently working in the lab of Dr. Donald Kohn where he is developing high-throughput methods for the engineering of gene therapy vectors. Mr. Morgan has received mul-tiple fellowships from prestigious institutions, in-cluding CDU and the NMA.

News from Jazz at Drew CDU is pleased to announce the initial lineup of the long-awaited return of Jazz at Drew which will be held October 1st. They are: the legendary Kenny Burrell

and the L.A. Unlimited Jazz Orchestra, Poncho Sanchez, Dwight Trible and Anthony Faulkner. Additional artists to be announced.

Visit www.cdrewu.edu/JazzatDrew for updates about tickets and other event information. Artist lineup subject to change without notice.

Huan Dong Nabs Fellowship to Study in Vietnam Don’t call Huan Dong’s fellowship-funded mission to Vietnam “a year off” from Medical School here at the Drew/UCLA Medical Education Program. “I call it ‘a year on,’” he quipped. “During a previous visit, I managed to volunteer with Vietnamese sex workers and realized that there were deficiencies in drug therapies for STDs.” He pitched an idea to the prestigious University of California Global Health Institute (UCGHI) GloCal Health Fellowship to spend 11 months to educate that population , and got it. He was awarded a stipend, travel, research, supplies and more. For more about how Huan combines acting with medicine read here and here.

CDU News Briefs

Dr. David Martins Elected to Lead

Academic Senate The Academic Senate recently experienced a “Changing of the Guard.” After six years of ser-vice, Dr. Mohsen Bazargan stepped down as the President of the Academic Senate. Dr. Da-vid Martins has been elected to the position for the next two years. Recently, at the start of the Academic Senate meeting,

Dr. Arthur Fleming, Professor Emeritus, led the cere-mony to induct him as President.

An alum, Dr. Martins was a resident here at CDU, and went on to teach at CDU and UCLA and has led many health initiatives. He has served as the medical director at THE Clinic, Inc. and he also founded the Life Center at Weingart YMCA among many other health efforts. Photos

The Winners Circle:

Faculty Members of the Year:

Bita Amani, PhD, MHS

and

Harold Abramowitz, MFA

Photos

Employee Service Awards

Staff Member of the Year:

Armando Estrada, MA

(left) Photos

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ISSUE

June 2016 Special Edit ion

THIS IS THE DAY STU-

DENTS HAVE WORKED HARD

FOR. THEY ARE CLOSER

THAN THEY EVER HAVE BEEN

TO THEIR DREAMS.

COSH, SON AND COM

HOLD SPECIAL AWARDS EVENT

TO HONOR STUDENTS........5

KEYNOTE SPEAKER THE

HONORABLE LOUIS W. SULLI-

VAN, MD, GREETS ASSOCIATE

PASTOR JEFF BYRD OF ZOE

CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP

CHURCH, WHO DELIVERED

THE INVOCATION ............ 4

Commencement A N IG HT T O R EM EM BER | JU N E 2 8 , 2 01 6

Class of 2016:

A special pull out recap of the 32nd Commencement Ceremony of

the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science

Excerpt from the speech of CDU President and CEO Dr. David M. Carlisle

“I am especially humbled and honored to serve as Presi-dent of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Sci-ence at a moment of such great historical significance to the University. In 1966, CDU was founded out of the ash-es of the Watts revolt with a clear mission - to address inadequate access to healthcare in the community of Watts and greater South Los Angeles. This year we cele-brate 50 years in pursuit of this objective, both in those areas near to our campus and everywhere in the world that this disparity in healthcare remains. Today’s gradu-ates are the latest of many who have been dispatched from CDU as leaders and change agents in this cause.”

President’s Medal Presented to “Sweet” Alice Harris

The President's Medal recognizes extraordinary service to CDU by a member of the University community who has performed with excellence in his or her profession.

A prominent community activist, Alice Harris has dedicated her life to mentoring youth and providing assistance to people who are disadvan-taged or underserved. She founded the Parents of Watts which she started in her home in the mid-1960s as a way to alleviate tensions in her culturally diverse neighborhood after the 1964 civil unrest. Read more on page 6 | Watch her receive her award

Charles R. Drew University

of Medicine and Science

2016

Recipient of the Board’s Medal of Honor: The Sue and Bill Gross Foundation, accepted by Mark Porterfield who delivered a new check for $250,000! Click to watch | Read Page 5

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Keynote Speaker

To order official commencement photos of you receiving your diploma, visit this gallery and simply click the link below: http://bit.ly/CDU-GradPhotos2016 Gallery Username: Enter your e-mail on the main page. Gallery password: class2016 If you have a personal album, your password is the last five number of your cell phone. The gallery will expire on July 24, 2016. For questions, reach out to Tony Jackson at gtpho-to@me.com.

Order your Graduation Photo (w/diploma):

Class Gift Presenters

Dr. Carlisle poses with Marie Espinal, COSH, Kristian Menjivar, MMDSON and Ann Quan, COM.

The Honorable Louis W. Sullivan, M.D., is chairman of the board of the National Health Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, whose goal is to improve the health of Americans by enhancing health literacy and advancing healthy behaviors. He also is chairman of the Washington, D.C.-based Sullivan Alli-ance to Transform the Health Professions -- a national non-profit organiza-tion with a community focused agenda to diversify and transform health professions’ education and health delivery systems. Read more bio Page 7 | Watch him speak

Watch Online | View Snapshots | View Pro Shots

(Share all with Family and Friends)

Commencement Video Link: https://youtu.be/7zuFtB5FakU

Staff Photos: (Includes lots of crowd shots): https://cdrewu.smugmug.com/2016-CDU-32nd-Commencement

Pro Shots (Golden Touch): (Your paid order/download will remove watermarks from your chosen photo receiving the diploma photo) http://bit.ly/CDU-GradPhotos2016

Golden Touch (No watermark-hand selected): https://cdrewu.smugmug.com/CDUCommencement2016

Pro Photos: Wende Brown: https://cdrewu.smugmug.com/2016-Commencement-Photo-Album

Student Speaker CDU is very proud of the story of Lyndon Orlando Gonzalez Correa. He attended the Physician Assistant Program at CDU and went on to attend the CDU/UCLA Medical Education Program and now is accepted into the Harvard Medical School residency program in Anesthesiology. He was cho-sen by audition to address the Commencement ceremony as the 2016 Stu-dent Speaker. Watch Him Speak

“Thank You!” to Family and

Friends for Your Support of the Class of 2016!

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Oath and Honors Awards and Graduation Banquet 2016

College of Science and Health Oath and Honors | Held June 1, 2016 at the Marriott in Marina Del Rey. Dr. Charles W. Buggs Award: The College of Science and Health’s highest award, named after the pioneer of allied health training at CDU. All recipients of this award have maintained a 4.0 aver-age: Simon Alarcon, Emmanuel Bankole, Caney Arnold, Kamilah Evans, Catherine Lin, Keila Perez, Antonio Casco-Zuleta, Benyam Goitom, Shaveonte Graham, Jennifer Hwe, Irene Kim, Kanin Loestrangsi, Nikki Orr, Gloria Umutangana, Shi Zhang and Eliza Rono Dr. Jack Mitchell Award: This award is presented to the graduating senior who has demonstrated leadership: Jennifer Hwe Dr. Raymond Kivel Award: This award presented to the graduating senior whose voluntary community service has demon-strated an extraordinary commitment to the delivery of health care in medically underserved communities: Anissa Muhammad Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune: This award is presented to the graduating senior who has demonstrated the ability to per-sist in the face of adversity: Anthony Eversley The Geraldine Burton Branch Scholarship*: The scholarship is granted to the student applicant who exemplifies the po-tential to build, shape and improve the overall health of underserved communities, and a commitment to their program and COSH. Scholarship Recipients: Alexandra Banks-MPH, Savenna Feyijimi-RAD, Keila Perez-PostBacc and Mechelle Rouse-MPH

School of Nursing Oath and Honors | Held June 4th, 2016 at the Marriott LAX, Los Angeles

Dean’s Leadership: Stella Turkson, Sharon Stock, and Tanesha Tekola

Excellence in Academic Achievement: Nakiesha Green, Attallah Dillard, Giselle Tamula, Trisha Tan-Torres Excellence in Clinical Nursing Practice Award: Anne Paquio, Shital Patel, Roceliza Daquiaoag, Jo-hanne Elevazo, Attallah Dillard

College of Medicine Senior Graduation Banquet | Held June 2nd, 2016 at the Marriott Hotel, Marina del Rey, Los Angeles The Dr. Charles R. Drew Award – Joaquin Galarza The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Award – Maereg Wassie The Dr. Rebecca Lee Award – Rebecca Lopez The Dr. Carlos Canseco Award – Emilio Ramos The Dr. Geraldine Burton Branch Award – Brittni John-son Boyd The Dr. Mitchell Spellman Award – Lyndsey Bradley The Cesar Chavez Award – Raul Meza The Student Affairs Peer Advocacy Award – Tracy Pham The Dean’s Award of Excellence – Ann Quan The Leondard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award, sponsored by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation – (student) Lyndon Gon-zalez; (faculty) Dr. Madeleine Valencerina; Medical Student Research Award – First Place – Stacie Collins; Esteban Cota Medical Student Research Award – Second Place – Joaquin Galarza Medical Student Research Award – Third Place – Hannah Kim

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Congratulations to CDU Class of 2016!

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CDU CALENDAR:

July 2016

July 23: Student Research Initiative Event: Knowledge is Power: Your Health Matters Registration July 25: DEVELOP@ CDU: Utilizing Secondary Data: Qualitative Data /

Future Dates: July 30-Aug. 3: NMA Annual Convention and Scientific Assembly in Los Angeles, J.W. Marriott at LA Live August 11 and 12: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: Precision Medicine, Bioethics and the Achievement of Health Equity October 1: Jazz at Drew

Visit our entire calendar at www.cdrewu.edu

Click to join us!

For more information, visit http://www.cdrewu.edu/, and follow CDU on: Facebook, Twitter @cdrewu, and Instagram @charlesdrewu.

College Foundations Day Trains Medical Students and Nurses

From June 20-24, students in the College of Medi-cine were atten-tive to the CDU Faculty and their lessons on blood

draws, ultrasounds and other procedures. The students practiced in advance on digi-tal mannequins then later on live profes-sional actors. The medical students studied with faculty during the early part of the week, then teamed up with students in the Mervyn M. Dymally School of Nursing for mini reality show scenarios complete with actors who played drunk or drug impaired family members or friends, as it can hap-pen in real life.

Here is the photo gallery of some of the events.

CDU Students Present Posters at the AACR Annual Meeting 2016

CDU’s Dream Team Scholars: Melanie Baker, Kamilah Evans, Mechelle Rouse, Karen Tate and Lucy Tran, attended the 2016 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting. They are pictured with their mentor, Dr. Eva McGhee. Click for more.

Division of Cancer Research and Training represents CDU at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2016

Dr. Jay Vadgama and his team attended the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2016 held in New Orleans, rep-resenting cancer health disparities research at CDU.

Dr. Yanyuan Wu, Dr. Piwen Wang and Ms. Marianna Sarkissyan had poster presentations at the scientific gathering. Dr. Yanyuan Wu presented her research on “A83-01 inhibits TGF-β/Smad3 and Wnt/β-catenin-mediated EMT and tumor metastasis in HER2-overexpressing breast cancer cells”, Dr. Piwen Wang – “A lignan compound arctigenin inhibits prostate tumor growth in vitro and in vivo” and Ms. Marianna Sarkissyan presentation was titled “Comorbidities contribute to breast cancer disparities among African-American and Hispanic women.” Click to continue and read the CDU News Special

Supplement with three more stories about Cancer Research. Submitted by Marianna Sarkissyan, Milena Pavlova and Jacob de la Torre. Dr. Jay Vadgama is the Chief of the Division of Cancer Research and Training.

COM Dean Leads Gun Violence Awareness Day

From left: Incoming College of Medicine Dean Debo-rah Prothrow-Stith, Avis Ridley-Thomas, co-chair of the Institute for Nonviolence and Adrienne Lamar Snider, Executive Director of Violence Prevention Coalition of Greater Los Angeles (VPC), Michelle Chambers, Field Representative, Assemblymember Mike Gipson and CDU Provost Steve O. Michael.

On June 2, 2016, CDU honored the second annual National Gun Violence Awareness Day with an on-campus event featuring violence prevention leaders in Los Ange-les County. The full story is at the link: Read more | Photos

Next Month:

Place Matters @ CDU A Recap

By Lucy Tran

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Alumnus Dr. Eleby Washington, III (left) presented Angela Minniefield, Vice Presi-dent of Advancement, Strategic Devel-opment and External Affairs with a check

for $10,000 from the J. Robert Gladden Orthopaedic Society (JRGOS) to support the Saturday Science Academy II. The mission of the JRGOS is to increase diver-sity within the orthpaedic profession and promote the highest quality musculo-skeletal care for all people.

The JRGOS is a pluralist multicultural or-ganization designed to meet the needs of under-represented minority ortho-paedic surgeons and to advance the ide-als of excellent musculoskeletal care for all patients with particular attention to underserved groups.

For more information visit the website www.gladdensociety.org.

Click to go there now!

OFFICE OF STRATEGIC

ADVANCEMENT

CDU News is published monthly

Angela Minniefield, VP, The Office of Strategic Advancement; Publisher; Edna Yohannes, Tonya King, Ali Roshan, Jasmine Hill, William Paz-Leiva, Jovan Owens, James Reed, and Isidra Person-Lynn, Editor. Email comments or story ideas to:

IsidraPersonLynn@cdrewu.edu

Special Thanks to Marianna Sarkissyan, Jacob de la Torre and Milena Pavlova, and Lucy Tran. Of course, we can[t forget Ali Roshan, our web-master!

Read the CDU NEWS online:

www.cdrewu.edu/

Follow Us on Instagram! Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter

#CDUat50

Gladden Orthopedic Society Donates $10,000

Alumni News Alumni Reception Raises Funds The beautiful home of CDU Alum Dr. Har-ding Young and his wife Kimberly, was the location of the Alumni Reception where Dr. Ezra Davidson was honored. Many of his residents, colleagues, family and friends came to honor him, along with his classmate Dr. Louis W. Sullivan who was in town to deliver the keynote address at the 32nd Annual Commencement the next day. Over $44,500 was raised by the alums, friends and CDU supporters for medical student scholarships. Photo Gallery

CDU Photo Galleries

cdrewu.smugmug.com/

To view the list of officers, click here. The inset photo was taken at the in-stallation of officers with Provost Steve O. Michael swearing in President Mabel Kimble.

Next Month: Recap of The Place @ CDU Lecture Series

SSAII Field Trip to Griffith Park Observatory

To mark the end of the se-mester, Satur-day Science Academy II Director Lor-raine Grey, her teachers and Dad’s Club in-vited families to travel to the Griffith Park Observatory for a picnic celebration. These photos tell the story.

Charles R. Drew University Student Government (CDUSG)

is All Sworn in & Ready to Lead!