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

  • 'U.S. News' Releases 2009 Rankings of Graduate Schools (Chronicle of Higher Education, The)
    The CHE reports: "U.S. News & World Report released another of its ever-contentious rankings at midnight, this time picking what it says are the top graduate schools in various disciplines. ... In medicine, Harvard was ranked No. 1 in research, followed by the Johns Hopkins University, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of California at San Francisco."
  • Donors' big gifts come with no name tags (Los Angeles Times)
    The LA Times reports: "Whatever the reason for anonymity, all sorts of California causes have benefited from the kindness of strangers. A $150-million donation -- the largest known anonymous gift in the U.S. last year -- went to UC San Francisco for cancer care and research."
  • Robot now makes tracks through hospital (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
    The Milwaukee Journal reports: "Since October, Children's Hospital [of Wisconsin] has used a robotic cart called TUG to move equipment and supplies throughout the hospital. ... Last May, the University of California San Francisco Children's Hospital was the first to use the train cart after Jericho Rajninger, a 7-year-old leukemia patient, wished for a robot to make it easier to take his cancer medication."
  • Pedaling cross country for cancer, spina bifida cures (Modesto Bee, The)
    Retired Modesto police Detective Ray Taylor, 59, will bicycle from California to Florida in hopes of finding a cure for his daughter's melanoma and granddaughter's spina bifida. The Modesto Bee reports: "He is paying his expenses, so all donations will go for research at University of California at San Francisco's Melanoma Center and the Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio."
  • Study Hints of Gene Link to Risk of Schizophrenia (New York Times)
    Researchers from the National Institute of Mental Health, the University of Washington, Seattle, and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory report in the journal Science "that rare and previously undetectable genetic variations may significantly increase the risk that a person will develop schizophrenia," said the New York Times. --- Dr. Samuel Barondes, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, is quoted.
  • Prescription Drug Precautions and the FDA (Reader's Digest - Online)
    Drummond Rennie, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco, advises sticking to drugs that have been on the market for at least 4 or 5 years.
  • The best of Beat NonStop (Sacramento Bee, The)
    The Sacramento Bee reports: "Chris Webster was originally on board to open Jackie Green's CD release show at Empire last night, but she's been forced to cancel her upcoming gigs because of a throat ailment called unilateral vocal fold paresis. In layman's terms, Webster is unable to sing for the next couple of months, and perhaps more. This is a pretty tough blow for one of the Sacramento area's most gorgeous voices, and for now she's being treated at the University of California, San Francisco's medical center."
  • City hospitals rattled by building costs (San Francisco Business Times)
    The San Francisco Business Times reports: "Leaders of three of San Francisco's largest hospitals said last week they're poised to spend more than $4.75 billion to build new hospitals and upgrade existing facilities by 2014, due in large part to seismic safety requirements. ... [CPMC CEO Martin] Brotman, UCSF Medical Center CEO Mark Laret and Mitch Katz, M.D., the head of San Francisco's Department of Public Health who's responsible for the rebuild of San Francisco General Hospital, outlined the latest plans for their huge construction projects at the Business Times' March 21 'Bay Area health care infrastructure' breakfast."
  • Immigrants who embody the American Dream (San Francisco Chronicle)
    The Chronicle reports: "The Commonwealth Club will honor six immigrants to the U.S. selected for having best achieved the American Dream at the group's 20th Annual Distinguished Citizen Award Dinner on April 30 at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco." --- Dr. Haile Debas, executive director UCSF's Global Health Sciences, from Eritrea, is one of the award recipients.
  • New UC president to earn $591,000, plus perks (San Francisco Chronicle)
    The Chronicle reports: "The UC Board of Regents confirmed Mark Yudof as the university's new president on Thursday and will pay him $591,084 to run its prestigious but problematic 10-campus system. When the 63-year-old Yudof was introduced at the regents' session at its UCSF-Mission Bay campus, he called UC the 'premier public university system in the world' and said, 'There's no better job in higher education in America.'"
  • Nonprofit gears up for biotech road show (San Francisco Chronicle)
    The Chronicle reports: "The Myelin Repair Foundation, which [Scott] Johnson founded in 2004, is part of a growing phenomenon in the nonprofit arena that some call 'venture philanthropy' or 'social entrepreneurship.' ... Nonprofits including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are gathering at a UCSF forum next week to discuss methods of collaborating with industry to provide new therapies faster for infectious diseases that plague the developing world."
  • Science tackles female sexual dysfunction (San Francisco Chronicle)
    The Chronicle reports: "Dr. Leah Millheiser, [director of the Stanford Female Sexual Medicine Program], founded the program three years ago when she noticed an increase in female patients seeking help for sexual disorders. Women's new interest in sexual health, she said, was an unexpected side effect of a major medical breakthrough for men: the availability of Viagra in the United States, beginning a decade ago this month." --- Dr. Louann Brizendine, director of the UCSF Women's Mood and Hormone Clinic and author of "The Female Brain," is quoted.
  • Best Graduate Schools (US News & World Report)
    The UCSF School of Pharmacy ranks first, the UCSF School of Nursing ranks second and the UCSF School of Medicine ranks fifth in the U.S. News & World Report 2009 annual ranking of the nation's best graduate schools.
  • Many Women Unclear About Breast Cancer Treatments (Washington Post)
    University of Michigan and Ann Arbor VA researchers report in the journal Health Services Research that "only half the women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer clearly understand the risks and benefits of a mastectomy versus a breast-conserving lumpectomy plus radiation, even after they have one of the procedures," said HealthDay News. --- Dr. Leah Karliner, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, who was not affiliated with the study, is quoted.

UCSF TELEVISION COVERAGE

  • UC Regents appoint Mark Yudof as new president (ABC 7 Morning News - KGO-TV)
    KGO reported from UCSF Mission Bay: "The University of California Board of Regents has hired Mark Yudof as the new president. He is the chancellor of the University of Texas and will replace Robert Dynes, who retires in June." --- Air Time: 5 AM
  • Botox easy, skin cancer check not (WCBD-TV - NBC 4 Hometown News At 6)
    NBC news stations in South Carolina report on a past AP story that said: "According to a nationwide study, it's easier to schedule an appointment for Botox injections than to get a suspicious mole checked out." --- Jack Resneck, M.D., UCSF assistant professor of dermatology, is quoted. [This story aired on NBC affiliates in South Carolina and Texas over the weekend.]

UCSF RADIO COVERAGE

  • Caregiving - Live Remote Broadcast (KQED - Forum)
    KQED reports: "As the population ages and we live longer, more Americans are becoming informal caregivers for aging family members. What are the physical, psychological and financial costs to caregivers? Is California prepared to address the increasing need for services and support? We discuss these questions in a special remote broadcast from the Downtown Oakland Multipurpose Senior Center." --- Margaret I. Wallhagen, professor in the department of physiological nursing and director of the John A. Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence at the UCSF School of Nursing, is a panel guest. --- Air Time: 10 AM

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