Dental and pharmacy students recognized

Texas A&M University Health Science Center students and former students have recently won a number of prestigious awards.

Chris Cramer ’13, DDS, MBA, a 2016 graduate of the orthodontic program at the College of Dentistry, received the Harry Sicher Research Award during the 2017 American Association of Orthodontists Annual Session for research performed during his orthodontic residency at the dental school.

A 2014 graduate of the orthodontic program, Peter Truong, DDS, received the Wayne G. Watson Award for Biologic or Experimental Research from the American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics. The award is given to the highest-rated research article published in the journal during the previous year. It is the third year in a row that a graduate of the college’s orthodontic program has received the award.

Crystal Stinson, DDS, is graduating with her PhD in biomedical sciences from the College of Dentistry and is continuing her postdoctoral education there thanks to an award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The four-year grant, which totaled $420,000, allows her to research pain by developing an animal model that presents orofacial symptoms associated with shingles.

At the Texas Society of Health-System Pharmacists (TSHP) Annual Seminar in Galveston on April 28, 2017, second-year Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy students Kevin Tran and Lois Kim placed first in the student section of the 2017 TSHP Research & Education Foundation Poster Competition. They presented their research, which they did under the supervision of Juan F. Castro, MD, assistant professor of pharmacy practice, in a poster titled “Patient Oriented Communication Development Through Practical Applications and Specific Question Protocols.” Third-year student Olivia Collado received honorable mention in the practitioner education category with a work product from an independent study with Stephen “Eric” Grayson, PharmD, clinical assistant professor of pharmacy practice, titled: “When Texas pharmacists gain provider status, which reimbursement model should be implemented?”