A team of physicians at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and University of California, San Francisco recommends more effective use of interpreters, greater awareness of potential areas of mistrust and misunderstanding, better communication with families, and better knowledge of cultural differences in general when planning end-of-life and palliative care for Latino patients in the United States.

Researchers have developed a new mouse model that allows them to replicate normal pigment cells at the earliest stages of conversion to malignant skin cancer in humans. After testing the mouse with a combination of two drug therapies, the team found the treatment caused a statistically significant regression in cancer cell development.

UCSF Medical Center CEO Mark Laret discusses the importance of translational medicine, and how UCSF is working to accelerate the transition of scientific breakthroughs from the lab to the patient’s bedside.

M. Anthony Pogrel will oversee the School of Dentistry’s interactions with UCSF Medical Center and affiliated hospitals.

Interest in personal health records as an electronic tool to manage health information is increasing dramatically. A group led by a UCSF researcher has identified cost, privacy concerns, design shortcomings and difficulties sharing information across different organizations as critical barriers hindering broad implementation of electronic personal health records.

As politicians and policymakers around the country push to expand the use of electronic medical records, UCSF Professor James Kahn says flaws in the current systems are standing in the way of widespread adoption by the American public.

Older women with the metabolic syndrome – a constellation of health-risk factors – had a 66 percent increase in risk of developing cognitive impairment compared with women who did not have the syndrome, according to a large study of post-menopausal women led by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco.

New UCSF Faculty, March 2009

New UCSF Faculty, March 2009

New UCSF Faculty, March 2009