Summer 2024

When patients with baffling neurological symptoms can’t find answers, they turn to an ace team of brain detectives at UCSF. PLUS: What you need to know about the new wave of weight loss drugs, why genetic testing is a medical revolution, and how a restorative state called deep rest can counter stress at the cellular level.

About this Issue:

Vol. 13, No. 1
Editorial Team

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Features

Portrait of a female neurology clinic team

Science Summer 2024

How a Team of Brain Detectives Is Cracking the Hardest Cases

A new diagnostic clinic for mysterious nervous-system disorders is giving patients answers they can’t find anywhere else.

Photograph of a silver box on a conveyor belt. The box has a flap on one side, a red light flashing on top, an injection pen and needle pointing to the left on a dial, and a label that reads "GLP-1". On the left side of the box on the conveyor belt is a large iced tea in a plastic cup and a large order of french fries in a red and white cardboard fast-food fry container. On the right side of the box on the conveyor belt is a small version of the iced tea, french fries, and a tiny green apple.

Health Summer 2024

Are the New Weight Loss Drugs Too Good to Be True?

Illustration of a DNA double helix with a woman stepping through the bars. The side of her that has stepped through the bars is a darkened silhouette with stardust coming off of her.

Science Summer 2024

Genetic Testing Is the Key to Our Health Secrets

Human Interest Summer 2024

The Power of Deep Rest

Media Coverage
Treasure Chest

Treasure Chest

The UCSF Rare Book Collection is a trove of health sciences history in the Kalmanovitz Library. Here are a few gems to pique your curiosity and perhaps prompt a visit.

Insights & Voices

14 Ways UCSF Is Exploring the Heart

In labs and clinics across UCSF, scientists are unraveling how to keep one of our hardest-working organs beating away.
Perspectives

My Olympic Reflections

Every time I watch Olympic track and field events, I relive the extraordinary opportunity I had to represent Trinidad and Tobago in Beijing in 2008.
Ask the Expert

Digital Health: Transformative Tech or Unfulfilled Potential?

Can digital health really make people healthier? We asked Linda Park, PhD ’13, NP, who studies how providers can best use digital health tools to boost patient outcomes.
Ask the Expert

Should Women Take Hormones to Manage Menopause?

UCSF gynecologists explain how hormone therapy may ease the transition.
Mythbuster

Are Any Childhood Medical Myths Actually True?

Drink ginger ale for a bellyache. Don’t swim after eating. Does any advice doled out to kids hold up?
Ask the Expert

Five Questions for Sepideh Banava

Sepideh Banava, DDS, MSc, MPH, MBA, aims to use artificial intelligence to develop a tool that will help dentists screen for intimate partner violence.

Illustrated portrait of Sebastian Bernales

Alumni Stories
Summer 2024

Inspiring Innovation through Connection

Sebastian Bernales, PhD ’06, postdoc alum, has spent years bringing scientists together for conversation and collaboration and uniting funders with scientists who have promising ideas.

Books

Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor’s Unlikely Adventure

In this coming-of-age memoir, UCSF clinical fellow alum Mimi Zieman, MD, recounts her experience – while still in medical school – as the team doctor on a perilous climb. New York Times bestselling author Meg Wolitzer calls Zieman “brave, tough, and impressive when on Everest, and lively, engaging, and funny when on the page.”

Videos

How a Brain Implant and AI Gave a Woman with Paralysis Her Voice Back

UCSF scientists made international headlines when they developed a brain-computer interface that allowed a stroke survivor to speak for the first time in 18 years. Find this award-winning video, which has been viewed by millions, on UCSF’s YouTube channel.

Podcasts

Mini Medical School for the Public

Curious about how magic mushrooms might treat depression? Or about new ways to manage back pain? Or the neuroscience of developing healthy habits? In this UCSF Osher Center podcast series, experts share the latest research on hot topics in health and science. Find it on Apple Podcasts.