2021 KWiSE NY/NJ Annual Conference Report
Theme: Health and Welfare in COVID era
Time: 9:00 am – 12:00 pm ET, Saturday May 29, 2021
Organizers:
HeaYeon Lee, PhD: Founder/CEO of Mara Nanotech New York, Inc.
Sung Eun Choi, PhD, RD: Associate Professor, Queens College Yeon Bai, PhD, RD: Professor, Montclair State University Hyunah Cho, PhD: Assistant Professor, Fairleigh Dickinson University
Due to COVID-19, this event was held virtually via Zoom (a Webinar app).
Meeting Schedule:
09:00-09:20 Greetings/Opening Remarks, Dr. HeaYeon Lee, Chapter President
09:20-10:20 Member Introduction: Round Table-Self Introduction
10:20-10:40 Dr. Tsz Chung Lai, Abuse-Deterrent Formulations of Opioids
10:40-11:00 Dr. Jong Min Lee, East Asian international students’ perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors in relation to U.S food and the food environment
11:00-11:20 Dr. Hyunah Cho, The big world of the small: into the nano era of drug delivery
11:20-11:30 Discussions
11:30-12:00 Closing Remark
Summary:
The 2021 KWiSE New York/New Jersey Chapter Regional Conference was held on Saturday, the 29th of May, 2021 via Zoom. Under the theme of “Health and Welfare in COVID era”, this year’s conference featured three scholars from pharmaceutical industry, nutrition and food sciences, and pharmaceutical sciences. This event was organized by HeaYeon Lee (Founder/CEO of Mara Nanotech New York, Inc.), Sung Eun Choi (Associate Professor, Queens College), Yeon Bai (Professor, Montclair State University) and Hyunah Cho (Assistant Professor, Fairleigh Dickinson University). A total of 12 members/speakers were in attendance.
This year’s conference started with greetings of the Chapter President Dr. HeaYeon Lee. In her greetings, she thanked KWiSE New York/New Jersey Chapter members joining this virtual event for the pursuit of both personal and professional excellence and resilience. Next, members had the time to introduce themselves and share any updates on both their personal and professional lives. Each member shared their personal/professional experiences and lessons learned at this challenging time during COVID pandemic.
Then, the three speakers took turns to present on topics of their specialties. The first speaker was Dr. Tsz Chung Lai, a Senior Principal Scientist, Bristol Myers Squibb. His talk was titled “Abuse-Deterrent Formulations of Opioids”. Dr. Lai discussed the recent trends/opioid-related overdose issues, abuse-deterrent technologies, mechanisms of deterrence, and clinical data from pharmacokinetic or human abuse potential studies. The second speaker was Dr. Jong Min Lee, an adjunct professor in nutrition at Montclair State University. Her talk was titled “East Asian international students’ perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors in relation to U.S food and the food environment”. Dr. Lee reviewed and discussed her recent study that focuses on East Asian international students’ changes in eating habits since coming to the U.S. (New York), the reasons for the changes, and how they perceive the U.S. food environment. The third speaker was Dr. Hyunah Cho, an assistant professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Fairleigh Dickinson University. Her talk was titled “The big world of the small: into the nano era of drug delivery”. Dr. Cho summarized some of her research projects associated with nano-based drug delivery systems including polymeric micelles, nanogels and nanodiscs. These drug delivery systems were utilized to deliver poorly water soluble drugs and/or imaging agents to the patients in controlled and safe manners. In the first 5 min, each speaker talked about their career path. After each talk, members had opportunities to ask questions and share their thoughts.
After the three presentations and discussions, the 2021 annual conferences ended with the closing remark given by the Chapter President Dr. HeaYeon Lee. It was great success and a smooth event with active discussions and open conversations. The presentations were high in quality and covered the various aspects of health and welfare. It provided the meaningful opportunities to catch up and share the personal and professional experiences at this challenging time.
Talk info: 2021 KWiSE NJ-NY Annual Conference
Event photo:
