Summer 2011 - Western University of Health Sciences

Pomona Ninth Graders ExperiencePharmacy CompoundingBy Jeff Malet, Writer/PhotographerPalomares Academy of Health Sciences students Julie Lac and her toothpastemakingpartner, Caroline Rodriguez, were really careful while they made atube of toothpaste. They wanted to make sure they had a nice product whenthey finished.“When you do something for the first time, you want to handle it with care,” Juliesaid. “Today taught me to be real clean, and that you don’t want to get your hairin anything, and that you have to be extra careful when you deal with things likethis, because it not only affects you, it affects your patients.”Julie and Caroline were among 30 Pomona ninth-graders enrolled in their school’sProject Lead the Way Biomedical Program who visited WesternU’s College ofPharmacy on May 13, 2011. Faculty and students taught the high school studentshow to compound non-medicated toothpaste in the College of Pharmacy’sCompounding Lab.Dean Daniel Robinson, PharmD, told the group that he was excited to showcase thepharmacy program and some of the things student pharmacists can do.“It’s an opportunity to expose you to some of the sights and scenes in pharmacyand share the energy and excitement that goes on in the university campus andlearning about the health professions,” he said.Students were afforded this opportunity because of the relationship between thePomona Unified School District and WesternU fostered by the Pomona HealthCareer Ladder program. The partnership has led to a strong pipeline of extendedactivities through the high school grades, said Palomares Academy of HealthSciences Principal Reedy Wade.6 | RxBound WesternU, College of Pharmacy