Task Force to Present Possible Pension, Health Benefit Options on April 23
Current and retired faculty and staff are invited on April 23 to hear about options on the table to ensure that pension and health benefits are sustainable in the future.

University of California San Francisco
Current and retired faculty and staff are invited on April 23 to hear about options on the table to ensure that pension and health benefits are sustainable in the future.
An international study published in the March 25 <em>New England Journal of Medicine</em> showed what researchers call a clinical breakthrough in one of the greatest unmet needs for patients with advanced liver disease.
UCSF received more research funds from the National Institutes of Health than any other public institution in 2009, and received the second largest amount of all institutions nationwide, according to new figures released by the NIH. <a href="http://news.ucsf.edu/releases/ucsf-tops-public-institutions-in-nih-funding-ranks-second-overall/">See UCSF news release</a>.
Learning and memory are possible thanks to the strengthening of synapses between nerve cells. UCSF’s Roger Nicoll has identified molecules and mechanisms responsible.
UCSF and SEEK Development, a global health and development consulting group based in Berlin, Germany, have launched an international partnership that aims to improve global health by helping to turn scientific evidence into policy and action. The Evidence-to-Policy Initiative, or E2Pi, officially launches this week in San Francisco and Berlin, Germany.
Seth Berkley, president and CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and one of <cite>Time</cite> magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World, will talk about the global hunt for a vaccine at UCSF on April 5.
Roger Nicoll’s skill and drive to discover have led to a rare degree of success and recognition among his fellow neuroscientists, who judged him worthy of the National Academy of Sciences’ Neuroscience Award. <a href="http://www.ucsf.edu/science-cafe/articles/learning-memory-mind-brain-long-term-potentiation-ltp-roger-nicoll/">Read about Nicoll and his research on Science Café</a>.
If you sing, dance, play an instrument, tell jokes or juggle, UCSF is looking for you to audition via YouTube for a live talent show. Video entries are due on April 8.
UCSF plans to begin construction of the new 289-bed children’s, women’s and cancer hospital complex at Mission Bay this year, says CEO Mark Laret.
In April 2010, personnel aboard the International Space Station plan to carry out an experiment designed by a San Francisco VA Medical Center researcher that will investigate why the immune system’s T cells stop working in the absence of gravity. The experiment has implications for understanding the body’s ability to mount an immune response on earth, as well.
Red Hill Studios, a California-based serious games developer, in partnership with the UCSF School of Nursing, has been awarded two grants totaling $1.1 million from the National Institutes of Health to continue development, production and testing of computer-based physical therapy games for patients with Parkinson’s disease and cerebral palsy.
The campus community is invited to a fundraising dinner on April 2 to benefit the victims of the Haiti earthquake.
In light of the economic times, the University of California’s two newest chancellors decided to forgo a formal inauguration opting instead for a low-key celebration last week.
Talk of taxing sugary drinks may spread in light of a new study that connects soft drink consumption with diabetes.
Elazar Harel has been approved by the Regents to serve as vice chancellor for information technology, bringing to UCSF a rare combination of “technical expertise and vision,” says UCSF Chancellor Sue Desmond-Hellmann…
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Jeffrey Bluestone hopes to harness the “creativity, passion and focus of academic research, industry and the clinical communities to transform translational research from a concept to a reality”.
UCSF scientists report that they were able to prompt a new period of “plasticity,” or capacity for change, in the neural circuitry of the visual cortex of juvenile mice.
The campus community is invited to join Chancellor Sue Desmond-Hellmann and other leaders talk about the progress, challenges and solutions in achieving diversity at UCSF on April 13.
UCSF scientists have used a novel cell-based strategy to treat motor symptoms in rats with a disease designed to mimic Parkinson’s disease. The strategy suggests a promising approach, the scientists say, for treating symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases and disorders, including epilepsy.
After a candid and passionate discussion of recent racial incidents at University of California campuses, UC Regents pledged today to take responsibility for stamping out intolerance. <a href="http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/23079">Read the full story on the UC website</a>.
UCSF has appointed Jeffrey A. Bluestone, PhD, a preeminent scientist and proven campus leader, as UCSF executive vice chancellor and provost.
The University of California, San Francisco has appointed a vice chancellor to oversee the university’s information technology systems. The appointment of Elazar Harel, PhD, JD, as UCSF vice chancellor for information technology and chief information officer was officially approved today by the UC Board of Regents.
UCSF researchers have shown that delivering HIV prevention services to people living with HIV in clinical settings can sharply reduce their sexual risk behaviors.
UCSF and UC Berkeley researchers have designed and field-tested a new overhead drill for construction workers that reduces ten-fold the stress on hands, while also significantly reducing fatigue and injury to workers performing this common construction task.
Senior Vice Chancellor John Plotts anticipates being able to provide information to the UCSF community about recommendations to achieve operational excellence in mid- to late-April.
The occurrence of an unusual type of fracture of the femur, or the thigh bone, is very low in patients with osteoporosis, including those treated with the drug family known as bisphosphonates, according to a new study led by a team of UCSF epidemiologists.
A first round of proposals from the UC Commission on the Future includes ideas for increasing enrollment of nonresident students, a three-year undergraduate degree, multiyear fee schedules and exploring more online instruction as ways to help the university navigate a fiscally challenging environment. <a href="http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/23070">Read the story on the UC website</a>.
Delivering on a promise to the American people, President Barack Obama today signed into the law the Affordable Health Care for America Act, extending health care to 32 million more Americans.