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

  • Whoo Hoo! Fargo named one of America's cleanest cities (Bismarck Tribune, The)
    The AP reports: "A city outside California has for the first time been named the sootiest in the nation, one of the categories the American Lung Association uses to determine the most polluted cities in the country." --- Tony Gerber, a pulmonary specialist and assistant professor at the University of California, San Francisco, is quoted.
  • Marin good Samaritans help injured Iraqi boy (Marin Independent Journal)
    Dr. Dan Lowenstein, and members of the Iraq Action Group at UCSF, in partnership with the Ruth Group in Marin, have arranged for a 2-year-old Iraqi boy, who was injured by U.S. bombs, to be brought to UCSF for treatment. Dr. Larry Lustig, a surgeon and anesthesiologist at UCSF has pledged to do the operation pro bono.
  • Stem cells: The 3-billion-dollar question (Nature)
    Nature reports: "Can a state do what a country cannot, and transform the way stem-cell research is funded? Erika Check Hayden reports on the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine." --- UCSF and the J. David Gladstone Institutes are mentioned.
  • Surviving & thriving (Record, The)
    Pacific Baseball pitching coach Jim Yanko, diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, receives MRI scans at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center.
  • Stem-cell cash flows (San Francisco Business Times)
    The Business Times reports: "California's stem cell agency is making a sort of discount-for-cash offer to some research institutions seeking millions of dollars in building grants We'll give you money right away if you'll agree to take less. The finance scheme, leaders of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine believe, will allow the quasi-public agency to stretch its money further, directing $274 million toward building 12 embryonic stem cell research facilities. That includes structures at Stanford University; the University of California, San Francisco; UC Berkeley; and the Buck Institute for Age Research in Novato."
  • 6,000 UCSF patients' data got put online (San Francisco Chronicle)
    The Chronicle reports: "Information on thousands of UCSF patients was accessible on the Internet for more than three months last year, a possible violation of federal privacy regulations that might have exposed the patients to medical identity theft, The Chronicle has learned."
  • McDermott to lead walk for Parkinson's (Visalia Times-Delta)
    Visalia Police Chief Bruce McDermott, 42, diagnosed with Parkinson's, retired in 1997. The Visalia Times reports: "McDermott put his doctor's fears aside and traveled to the University of California, San Francisco, where surgeon Phillip Starr performed a seven-hour, minimally invasive procedure to implant DBS electrodes in his brain and the hardware to run them in his chest."
  • Scientists share $500,000 prize for biomedical research (Washington Post)
    The Washington Post reports: "The nation's richest prize in medicine and biomedical research was awarded Friday to two researchers for work that has improved disease treatments and may lead to new ones for degenerative and other age-related disorders. Joan Steitz and Elizabeth Blackburn are the first women ever to receive the 8-year-old Albany Medical Center Prize. They will share the $500,000 award, which ranks second only to the $1.4 million Nobel Prize among medical prizes."

UCSF TELEVISION COVERAGE

  • The Chronicle reports on patient data posted online (ABC 7 Morning News - KGO-TV)
    ABC 7 reports: “More than 6,000 UCSF patients learned their information may be in the wrong hands after being told their information was available to anyone online. The names of the patients’ doctors were also posted. The San Francisco Chronicle says the data was posted for more than three months. UCSF didn't send out warning letters until April, six months after it was posted. They're looking into whether privacy regulations were violated. Hospital officials say so far there's no indication of identity theft.” --- Air Times: 5 and 6 AM; KTVU (FOX) Ch. 2 -- Air Times: 5/2 at 5 AM and Noon

UCSF HEADLINES

  • Infants in Danger: A Conversation with Infant Psychologist (Science Cafe)
    Most adults can recall a moment when they’ve been afraid. Danger, or the presumption of danger, jacks up both our senses and our stress hormones and lingers in our memory. It was once assumed that infants lacked similar sensory awareness. Not true, says Alicia Lieberman, PhD, a UCSF professor of psychiatry, who has spent her career trying to prevent and undo the emotional damage inflicted on very young children stuck in violence-prone homes.
  • UCSF to Host Science Symposium Highlighting Cardiovascular Research (UCSF Today)
    UCSF is hosting a special science symposium that will highlight 50 years of cardiovascular research and the direction it will take in the future.