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IN THIS ISSUE
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Synapse The UCSF Student Newspaper
Thursday, October 17, 2013
synapse.ucsf.edu
Volume 58, Number 6
SCIENCE MOM
‘Dear PI, I’m Pregnant’ By Debbie Ruelas Staff Writer
I
n 2011, I had my son. It w a s a n amazing and life-changing event. While not everything has ch ange d ( I’m still a grad student with all the normal school responsibilities), some things definitely have. I’d like to share with you some of my experiences, in the hopes that it will be helpful, or at least somewhat entertaining. Last week, I was talking to a friend who was about to break the news to her PI that she was pregnant. It was making her feel anxious — and it wasn’t just the hormones. I remember feeling extremely nervous about telling my own PI, much more than telling anyone else in my life. I think it was partly because I was only in my third year of grad school — as opposed to being on the way out — which meant the progress on my project would certainly slow down. I didn’t know how my PI was going to react to my asking for three months off lab after having the baby. I also felt a little awkward about saying the words, “I’m pregnant” to him. My PI is an MD, and he knows by now where babies come from, so I felt like the words “I’m pregnant” were tantamount to saying “I menstruate and have sex.” I felt especially awkward about this because up to that point, our conversations had been mostly about Western blots and flow cytometry. Instead of saying “I’m pregnant,” I decided to casually work it into our conversation. I scheduled a meeting with him to discuss some recent experiments, and planned to throw in an “Oh, F.Y.I. …” as we wrapped up. So I presented my experiments to him on my laptop, and toward the end of the meeting, I presented the last slide, which contained a recent sonogram. He looked at it in astonishment, and then a wide smile came across his face. I felt incredibly relieved to see that smile. Since then, he has been extremely supportive of my having a good work-life balance in my life. It was a huge relief to me to have such a supportive PI. However, that may not be the case in every lab. Below are some tips
DEAR PI » PAGE 4
NEWS
Science Blogs by UCSF Students Gain Traction By Alexandra Greer Science Editor
W
hoever said that scientists aren’t good communicators? At UCSF, students from all types of graduate programs are using their skills outside of the classroom, clinic and laboratory to communicate their ideas to a wide audience of followers. Using a variety of creative media, including radio, video, blog posts and cartoons, these UCSF students (and one recent alum)
help translate scientific research into understandable and even exciting narratives. While their approaches are unique, each provides an entertaining way to stay well-informed about cutting-edge health news. Here are four outstanding blogs created by UCSF students and alum that are worth following: Youreka Science Science sometimes gets a bad rap for being dry, dense and esoteric, and one common challenge with science education is finding
understandable and exciting ways to communicate breakthroughs in scientific research. Youreka Science, started by UCSF Biomedical Sciences PhD student Florie Charles, may offer a solution. Using visual story-telling through whiteboard drawings, Youreka Science illustrate scientific advances outlined in recent journal articles in a way that’s understandable to audiences ranging from high school to PhD level. “We want to empower people by educating them about their health,” says Charles, “How diseases affect us and what we’re actively doing to treat them — by encouraging critical thinking and promoting the scientific method, and by bringing awareness to the importance of funding biomedical research at all levels.”
SCIENCE BLOGS » PAGE 8
NEWS
White Coat Ceremony Marks the Beginning for 120 Students By Priya Jayachandran Staff Writer
T
he School of Pharmacy and the UCSF Pharmacy Alumni Association welcomed 120 first-year students of the Class of 2017 into the profession of pharmacy at the 12th annual White Coat Ceremony. Students, faculty, staff, alumni, family, and friends gathered in Cole Hall on October 11, to mark this occasion, which was first celebrated in 2001. To date, more than 1,300 student pharmacists have participated in the ceremony, which honors the students’ decision to become a health care professional. After the customary processional of the first-year class, School of Pharmacy Dean B.
Photo by Frank Farmer Front row: Samantha Morgan, Jeffrey Morimune, Olivia Nathan, Jenny New, Khanh Nguyen, Neda Nguyen, Thien Nguyen. Rear row: Harinder Chahal, Bob Day, Cathi Dennehy, Marcus Ferrone, Lisa Kroon, Leon Levy.
Joseph Guglielmo, PharmD, offered opening remarks. He spoke of a recent landmark in the profession, the signing of Senate Bill 493 into law, which gives pharmacists the status of health care providers, and the impact this leg-
islation will have on the future of pharmacy and the graduates of UCSF. Vice Dean Sharon Youmans, PharmD, MPH (’85) and fourth-year student pharma-
WHITE COAT » PAGE 4