The abundance of a subtype of white blood cells in melanoma tumors can predict whether or not patients will respond to a form of cancer immunotherapy known as checkpoint blockade, according to a new study led by UCSF researchers and physicians.

UCSF School of Nursing Dean David Vlahov has announced he will step down as dean at the end of August. He will continue as a member of the school’s faculty where he will focus on research and mentoring.

In 1996, two UCSF physicians published an article in the New England Journal of Medicine that launched a new field of medicine focused on the inpatient experience. To mark the 20th anniversary of their seminal NEJM article, Robert Wachter and Lee Goldman reflect on the rapid rise of hospitalists.

UCSF alumnus Joshua A. Gordon has been selected as the next director of the National Institute of Mental Health.

UC San Francisco’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) has received $85 million over five years from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue to provide training, research support and other services, and to launch new programs aimed at diversifying the patients in research and advancing precision medicine.

The stigma associated with mental illnesses is causing millions of Americans go untreated because of misconceptions and shame. UCSF researchers are among those who are pushing for changes that would help to eliminate the stigma and get people the treatments they need.

The UCSF community is deeply saddened by the passing of Theodore R. Schrock, the former chief medical officer of UCSF Medical Center and a renowned endoscopic surgeon who pioneered the use of colonoscopy as a diagnostic and therapeutic tool.