Winter 2024

Could UCSF discoveries transform aging? PLUS: How a suite of advanced 3D+ technologies is ushering in surgery’s most sophisticated era yet, what a tiny grassroots program in the Tenderloin is teaching doctors about healing through human connection, and UCSF’s industry archives expose the marketing tactics that fueled the opioid epidemic.

About this Issue:

Vol. 12, No. 2
Editorial Team

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Features

$Photo realistic collage illustration of an older man, fractured with cut out shapes and half a face of an older version of himself.$

Science Winter 2024

The Road to Rejuvenation

Fortified stem cells. Enhanced memory. A longevity hormone. UCSF researchers are finding out whether we can cancel – or at least delay – old age.

Painted illustration of an older man sitting on a staircase, his head leaning down, with shadows of trees in the background.

Health Winter 2024

A Prescription for Loneliness

3d printed model of a heart, split into two pieces, floating in front of a pink background.

Science Winter 2024

The Wonderful World of 3D+

Photo illustration of documents from the UCSF Opioid Industry Archive.

Human Interest Winter 2024

Corporate Strategy, National Tragedy

Insights & Voices

12 Ways UCSF Is Exploring the Lungs

A world of science is examining the centerpiece of our respiratory system.
Perspectives

The Light and Shadow of Life

The saying “Todo tiene solución, menos la muerte” (“Everything has a solution, except death”) was instilled in every fiber of my being by my courageous parents.
Ask the Expert

Artificial Intelligence: A Revolution for Health Care?

Could AI make nurses’ jobs – and our health care – better? Kay Burke, MBA, RN, who helps UCSF Health improve its digital tools, weighs in.
Ask the Expert

How to Grieve – and How to Help Others Through Times of Loss

A grief facilitator and UCSF chaplain shares some advice on processing loss.
Mythbuster

What’s the Truth Behind Popular Online Dental Myths?

Get the real story instead of social media’s oral health hype.
Ask the Expert

Five Questions for Ryan Hernandez

Ryan Hernandez, PhD, is helping propel a new era for science at UCSF by championing diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Alumni Stories
Winter 2024

Returning an Age-Old Vocation to its Roots

Amber Bell, MS ’19, CNM, is helping UCSF “do the hard work of re-diversifying the midwifery profession.”

Books

North Woods

The Washington Post calls this novel “a time-spanning, genre-blurring work of storytelling magic.” Written by Daniel Mason, MD ’04, it’s the tale of a house in the New England woods, told through the lives of its inhabitants across the centuries.

Videos

Meet UCSF’s Black Student Change-Makers

“You are here because you are a genius in every right,” says Sydney Williams in this video about the graduate student organization BE-STEM (Black Excellence in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) and the exceptional leadership of Williams, Jaysón Davidson, and Christina Stephens. Find it on UCSF’s YouTube channel.

Podcasts

Shame in Medicine: The Lost Forest

This award-winning podcast series draws on the personal stories of more than 200 health care workers to explore how shame manifests in medicine. UCSF hospitalist and resident alum Emily Silverman, MD – who calls shame “the elephant in the room” – hosts the series, which is a collaboration between her Nocturnists podcast and the University of Exeter’s Shame in Medicine project.