Dear UCSF Community,
We are delighted to announce the sixth annual UCSF celebration of International Women's Day (March 8) and the start of Women’s History Month. From March 6 through March 10, the UCSF community is invited to recognize, honor, and celebrate the contributions of women at UCSF.
Sponsored by the UCSF Committee on the Status of Women, Office of Diversity and Outreach, Women of UCSF Health, and Women in Tech @ UCSF ([email protected]), International Women’s Day programming includes in-person networking events; a Black Women’s Health & Livelihood Initiative panel on community and wellness; stories of women leaders in health care; a discussion on mental health and resilience; and much more.
Please visit the event website for the full schedule of events.
This year’s International Women's Day campaign theme is #EmbraceEquity. The theme asks us all to imagine a gender-equal world, free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination—a world that is diverse, equitable, and broadly inclusive. This theme resonates here at UCSF, where we recognize that celebrating progress and taking action to support greater inclusion and equity go hand in hand.
We hope that you attend UCSF International Women’s Day events. All genders are welcome.
Sincerely,
Renée Navarro, PharmD, MD
Vice Chancellor
Chief Diversity and Outreach Officer
Professor of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Care
Sam Hawgood, MBBS
Chancellor
Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Distinguished Professor
Suresh...
Dear UCSF Community,
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria early Monday morning has taken at least 3,500 lives and has left many thousands more injured and without shelter. While search and rescue efforts are underway, the scale of this massive disaster may not be known for days or even weeks. We do know that many people across the region need immediate assistance. They have been left homeless and face near-freezing temperatures.
Our thoughts are with those affected by the earthquake and those in our UCSF community who have family and friends in the region. If you have the means, I encourage you to help by donating to one of the organizations working to provide relief on the ground. They include:
- The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the world’s largest humanitarian network
- Turkish Philanthropy Funds, which will provide survivors with food, water, shelter, and medicine
- Project Hope, a global health and humanitarian relief organization addressing public health challenges
As we have before, let’s work together as a community to ease the suffering of the survivors in this widespread disaster and contribute what we can to help those in greatest need.
Sincerely,
Sam Hawgood, MBBS
Chancellor
Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Distinguished Professor
Dear Members of the UCSF Community,
I am writing to share the news that Francesca Vega, vice chancellor of Community and Government Relations, will be leaving UCSF for a new opportunity at Seattle Children’s Hospital.
Over the past few years, Francesca has led our community and government relations efforts in support of several of our most important initiatives. These include UCSF’s Comprehensive Parnassus Heights Plan – our 30-year vision for developing a state-of-the-art campus that will enable us to continue driving innovations in research, education, and patient care. She also has helped us lay the community and government relations groundwork for modernizing the century-old UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland as we plan for a new hospital pavilion and clinical facilities.
Under her leadership, the Community and Government Relations team also has expanded our Anchor Institution initiative on both sides of the Bay. Our ambition is to increase the training, hiring, and promotion of individuals from under-resourced communities; direct more of UCSF’s purchasing power toward small, local businesses from those communities; and explore investment options with social impact.
Francesca has played a significant role in garnering the public support we need to continue this vital work, and I am grateful for her efforts. As we conduct a national search for the next vice chancellor of Community and Government Relations, I have appointed Ellie Rossiter, executive director for community relations and strategic partnerships, to lead the office on an interim basis.
Please join me in thanking Francesca for her contributions to UCSF and in wishing her the very best as she...
Dear UCSF Community,
The news coming from Memphis is heartbreaking. Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black father and son, died after being beaten by five police officers following a traffic stop earlier this month. Like many across the country, we are struggling to understand how another Black person has died in a situation many of us would never consider life-threatening. Our thoughts go out to the Nichols family and his friends.
The familiarity of this tragic narrative is beyond frustrating. Though efforts to strengthen policing practices across the nation have been made since the passing of George Floyd, further constructive changes are needed. For what we witnessed in the death of Tyre Nichols was more than a catastrophic failure in policing, it was an attack on our humanity. We grieve and know that it is not enough.
The coming days will be a trying time as more information about the circumstances of Mr. Nichols’s death becomes public. The videos of how the Memphis police confronted Mr. Nichols are difficult to watch. For many, this incident may trigger traumatic feelings, and we urge you to connect with others if that would be helpful. You may also reach out to UCSF’s counseling resources for students, faculty, and staff for additional support.
As always, please take care of yourself and those around you.
Sincerely,
Sam Hawgood, MBBS
Chancellor
Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Distinguished Professor
J. Renee Navarro, PharmD, MD...
As more employees and patients return to UCSF campuses, we are challenged with increased parking demand primarily at Parnassus Heights and Mission Bay. To better accommodate the needs of all of our constituents, and preserve parking close to our health care facilities for patients and visitors, we are making changes effective Monday, February 6. They include:
- Expanding valet service for employees at the Ambulatory Care Center (ACC) Garage at Parnassus Heights which will increase employee parking by 150 spots.
- Discontinuing the daily discounted employee parking rate ($26) at two locations: Millberry Union (MU) Garage at Parnassus Heights, and Medical Center Garage and lots at Mission Bay. Daily discounted rates were introduced during COVID-19, and while we will not fully discontinue daily rates, we need to eliminate discounts from patient parking areas. The daily discounted employee rate continues to be offered at the ACC Garage and all other non-Medical Center parking locations in Mission Bay.
- Promoting conveniently located non-UCSF facilities.
We continue to encourage you to use UCSF Shuttles, public transportation, and transportation options such as biking, ride share, and carpools, which also contribute to our sustainability efforts and goal to reach carbon neutrality.
Ensuring patients and their visitors have convenient access to UCSF health care is one of our top priorities, and we greatly appreciate...
Dear UCSF Community,
On Saturday evening, at least 11 people were killed and nine more were wounded in a mass shooting at a dance ballroom in Monterey Park, a Southern California community with a sizeable Asian American population. Our hearts go out to the families and friends of those who were killed or injured in yet another act of gun violence.
While much is not yet known, it appears that many of the victims were of Asian heritage in their 50s, 60s, and 70s, including the deceased gunman. This tragedy is compounded by the fact that it took place on the eve of Lunar New Year, which many in the Asian American Pacific Islander community celebrate.
It is hard to make sense of the ongoing gun violence epidemic that has claimed the lives of so many people in our communities, including some of the most vulnerable such as the young and elderly. If you or someone you know could benefit from UCSF’s support services, please reach out to one of the following teams for assistance:
- Student Health and Counseling: (415) 476-1281
- Faculty and Staff Assistance Program: (415) 476-8279
As more information about this tragic event becomes available, I encourage all of us in the UCSF community to look out for each other and provide comfort and support to those who need it.
Sincerely,
Sam Hawgood, MBBS
Chancellor
Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Distinguished Professor
Dear UCSF Community,
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is Monday, January 16. This federal holiday offers us dedicated time to reflect on the meaning of Dr. King’s legacy—and to carry on his tradition of service to humanity. In his 1964 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Dr. King said:
“I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality, and freedom for their spirits.”
In today’s turbulent world, with pervasive racism and violence, climate change disasters, and a pandemic that is not yet over, Dr. King’s brilliant words can sustain and encourage us. At UCSF our mission is to advance health worldwide, and we understand deeply how inequity and injustice adversely affect the health of individuals and whole communities. We know—and learn more with each passing day—what is needed to facilitate health: food, housing, education, dignity, equality, freedom.
As members of this dynamic organization, we are committed to achieving health equity by addressing the underlying causes of health disparities; we also have pledged to dismantle structural racism within the University. Across UCSF, individuals and teams are working on a wide array of projects in service of the inextricable goals of health and justice. You can see some recent highlights in this report.
To celebrate Dr. King’s legacy, we encourage all members of UCSF to participate in one...
Dear Colleagues:
I am writing to let you know that Barry Selick, PhD, who has served as vice chancellor for business development, innovation and partnerships at UCSF since 2017, will step down from his post on January 8.
I am deeply grateful for the leadership Barry has demonstrated in his five-plus years as head of Innovation Ventures and the ways it has improved our ability to work with our partners in industry. As a basic scientist who spent many years in biotech, Barry knew that the efforts of our faculty inventors would have a better chance of commercial success if they were more fully developed before we tried to license them.
Under his leadership, Innovation Ventures strengthened and expanded the support provided to our translational research community in funding and helping to manage proof-of-concept studies of drug molecules, device prototypes, digital health applications and more, to gather evidence on which inventions are most likely to help patients and address significant unmet medical needs. This effort has been reflected in the quality of UCSF start-up companies that benefit from both the technology as well as the hands-on support that the Innovation Ventures team provides to our faculty founders.
For example, the Catalyst Program, which has supported 264 projects over the past 12 years, has realized a return of more than 50 times its $10 million in funding, with more than 25 companies having licensed intellectual property. The InVent Fund, which Barry started, has funded 18 projects, all of which remain active. Both programs offer mentoring and access to more than 150 volunteer advisors, who have given our faculty invaluable help. Charles Hart, PhD, and...
Dear UCSF Community,
To help prevent the spread of COVID-19, UC San Francisco staff, faculty, and learners are asked to meet a new vaccination requirement to receive the COVID-19 bivalent booster shot (if eligible), or formally opt out, by Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023. UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland employees, please see below.
The bivalent booster, which the FDA approved this past fall, is effective against COVID-19 and its subvariants. Studies show that the bivalent booster increases protection against severe COVID-19 disease, even for those who have had COVID-19 or have received a prior booster shot. UCSF’s internal data show significantly lower infection rates among UCSF faculty, staff, and learners who have received the new bivalent booster compared with those who have not.
Required Action by Feb. 1, 2023
UCSF faculty, staff, and learners – who have already met the vaccine primary series and booster requirements – must take one of the following actions:
- Submit documentation that you have received the COVID-19 bivalent booster
- or
- Submit your decision to opt-out of getting the COVID-19 bivalent booster
You may submit your proof of vaccination or decision to opt-out via the Occupational Health Services portal or by email to [email protected]. Whether you received the vaccination at UCSF...
Dear UCSF community:
I am writing to share the outcome of some important work undertaken by our Program for Historical Reconciliation (PHR), which my office established to examine and report on moments in UCSF’s history that have raised questions about our past institutional practices.
The PHR recently examined clinical experiments performed at California prisons in the 1960s and 1970s under the direction of UCSF faculty in the Department of Dermatology. In its report, the PHR acknowledges the problematic and unethical nature of the research – despite its perceived acceptability to some at the time – and identifies a path forward focused on reconciliation and restorative justice. More information on the findings can be found in this story, published on the UCSF.edu website.
As a learning institution committed to equity and transparency, we believe it is important to acknowledge this historical harm and document the lessons we have learned, even if those lessons are realized years later. While the findings are troubling, I am heartened by this opportunity to hold our history accountable and affirm UCSF’s commitment to our community and ethical values as we continually seek ways to strengthen the way we serve our public mission.
Sincerely,
Daniel H. Lowenstein, MD
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost
Dr. Robert B. and Mrs. Ellinor Aird Professor of...