FYI…UCSF in the News is a daily summary of news stories published worldwide that highlight UCSF, its affiliated programs, and issues that affect the University.  To read the full news story, click the individual headlines listed below.

On the second Wednesday of each month, FYI…UCSF in the News includes an additional "Research Roundup" section that lists research papers authored by UCSF faculty and published in the journals Cell, Health Services Research, JAMA, Lancet, Nature, NEJM, Nursing Research, and Science.

UCSF PRINT AND ONLINE COVERAGE

  • Still recovering, Leal readies for private life (Bay Area Reporter)
    The Bay Area Reporter said: "Susan Leal, the outgoing general manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, is still recovering from a brain hemorrhage she suffered in December, the result of being struck by a car while she was walking in the crosswalk in front of City Hall. ... She had nothing but praise for the paramedics who helped her that day and hospital staff. A neurologist at the University of California San Francisco's medical facilities is currently treating her."
  • UC workers fight for new contract (Bay Area Reporter)
    The Bay Area Reporter writes: "The University of California system and a union that represents its patient care providers, custodians, food service workers, and several other employee groups are locked in an increasingly heated labor dispute." --- Tim Thrush, an ultrasound technician at UCSF and part of the union's bargaining team, is interviewed.
  • Cesium chloride limits urged (Boston Globe)
    Theodore Phillips, a professor of radiation oncology at the University of California at San Francisco, headed a panel that produced a report advising limits on the use of radioactive cesium chloride which is found in medical and research equipment and could be used to make a dirty bomb.
  • Scientists predict the next giant leaps for mankind (Kansas City Star)
    The Kansas City Star examines scientific breakthroughs that may lead to the "next giant leap for mankind." A research collaboration with UCSF, Harvard and MIT in 2006 advanced the field of synthetic biology by finding "ways to refine and standardize pieces of DNA so that they could be mixed, matched and snapped together with the long-term goal of creating new kinds of life," said the Star.
  • Movies still pushing tobacco at kids (Marin Independent Journal)
    "Unless things change, we know how 2,850 of Marin's current crop of young people will die -- from smoking. We also know how half those kids will be recruited to smoke -- by mainstream movies. Research on three continents consistently finds that U.S. films are the single largest recruiters of new young smokers," said Jonathan Polansky of Fairfax, who consults with University of California at San Francisco's Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education.
  • When Opportunity Knocks Loudly (Wall Street Journal -- Independent Street, Blog)
    A Wall Street Journal entrepreneur blog shares comments from readers about a recent WSJ article about solving problems that face the baby boom generation. The article featured Dr. Michael Merzenich, pioneer in neuroplasticity, whose Brain Fitness Program helps sharpen cognitive skills and memory. --- Dr. Merzenich is also featured in the February issue of "The Journal of Life Sciences."

UCSF HEADLINES

  • Leading Contributor to Human Genome Project to Speak at UCSF (UCSF Today)
    The UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Center invites members of the campus community to hear noted genomic researcher Eric S. Lander, PhD, who will present "Beyond the Human Genome Project," on Wednesday, March 5, from 4 to 5 p.m. in Cole Hall on the Parnassus campus.
  • New Mini Medical School for the Public to begin at UCSF (UCSF Today)
    The public is invited to join the world's leading experts in medicine and the health sciences at the spring quarter of UCSF’s Mini Medical School, presented by the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, from February 27/28 to April 2/3. For more information or to register, call the UCSF Office of CME at (415) 476-425.