MIND&BODY
HUMOR
IN THIS ISSUE
When Your Jaw Has a Graduate Student Falls News Briefs » PAGE 3 Soundtrack of its Own Asleep in Lecture Journal Club » PAGE 5 Does your jaw pop and click? Student is distraught Puzzles » PAGE 7 » PAGE 3
Synapse » PAGE 11
The UCSF Student Newspaper
Thursday, May 8, 2014
synapse.ucsf.edu
Volume 58, Number 30
NEWS
Paying it Forward: Family House Role: Family House Volunteer Featuring: A group of UCSF Pharmacy students, organized by Shawn Wen Sun Doctor of Pharmacy Candidate, 2016
1. Why did you get involved and/or why would you recommend this to others? We are a group of pharmacy students promoting and exploring pediatric pharmacy. Since the Koret Family House primarily helps the families of pediatric patients, we felt that volunteering with them would be a great opportunity for our members to think outside the medical mindset by contributing to a basic and vital support system for young patient's and their families. Activities such as these give us a great break from the classroom and a chance to develop a new appreciation for patients we will be caring for in the future. We HIGHLY recommend volunteering here! 2. What does the role entail? Volunteers are essential in helping ensure a safe and welcoming home away from home for all the families staying at Family House. What's the training like? Training is easy and is a part or the orientation process. Each training session is tailored for a specific project and the number of participants. 3. What's the time commitment/schedule? Weekly volunteers are required to volunteer at least three hours, once a week for three months. Groups can come work on a “done-in-a- day” project during a morning (10 a.m.-1 p.m.) or afternoon (1-4 p.m.) Monday through Friday. The types of projects include, but are not limited to: sorting donations, painting a bedroom, doorway or communal
T
(2) Within a month you will get an email when/where their next "pop-up" dinner is going to be and you need to quickly go online and fill out a questionnaire with your party size, any dietary restrictions and preferred choice of dates. You can also find out about cancelled reservations and other opportunities if you follow their Twitter: @lazybearsf. (3) Now you need to patiently wait for a confirmation email telling you that you've been selected from the lottery to dine at Lazy Bear. If you don't get an email, you go hungry and wait until the next Lazy Bear pop-up. (4) If you are one of the lucky few that receives a confirmation, go to Eventbrite to purchase a non-refundable deposit ticket (one
hese are difficult times to be an academic biomedical researcher. Budget cuts and misguided policy decisions have lead to a hypercompetitive funding environment. The Budget Control Act of 2011, which put a hard cap on discretionary spending between 2011 and 2021, and the accompanying five percent across-the-board budget cuts (i.e. the sequester) reduced the National Institute of Health (NIH) budget by $1.55 billion in FY13. One year later, the impact of these cuts on research institutions and principle investigators is coming to light. As a result of these cuts there are an estimated 1000 fewer NIH funded principal investigators compared to 2012, according to Science (March 7, 2014). On top of this, the success rate for awarded NIH grants is at an all time low of 17 percent overall, and 13 percent for first time PIs, according to the NIH Datebook. Coupled with an estimated three-fold increase in the number of investigators exiting the NIH system, according to Grantome, this suggests that a long-anticipated contraction in the number of NIH-supported labs is occurring. Not surprisingly, these cuts are affecting trainee funding as well, with K99 and F32 awards at all time lows of 22 percent and 24 percent respectively. However, the impact these cuts are having on trainee research and career development has not been examined. To find out how the current budgetary constraints and the sequester are impacting the training environment, productivity and career goals of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers at UCSF, the Science Policy Group at UCSF surveyed UCSF trainees. The survey was administered and responses were collected in October 2013. A total of 229 trainees responded—40 postdoctoral scholars and 89 graduate students, corresponding to approximately 10 percent and 15 percent of the respective populations. A summary of the poll results is described below. Full poll results and analysis are available online at facebook.com/UcsfSciencePolicyGroup.
LAZY BEAR » PAGE 8
SURVEY » PAGE 2
Photo by Nicole Croom/MS2 Family House volunteers: (left to right) Elaine Mac (P1), Leanne Thai (P1), Shawn Sun (P2), Malini Madhusudhan (P1), Jessica Lu (P2), Riti Gupta (P1), Victoria Su (P1), Katherine Tran (P1).
space, disinfecting, organizing and restocking of communal spaces, etc. 4. How would someone else get involved if they're interested? For a weekly volunteer position, fill out the volunteer application on the website www. familyhouseinc.org. If you would like to volunteer as a group, please email, Volunteer Coordinator Karen Banks at kbanks@familyhouseinc.org. 5. Anything else you'd want to add? It's because of organizations like the Ko-
ret Family House that UCSF is able to deliver high quality care to its patients. The Koret Family House plays a vital role in helping families through challenging times. As volunteers, it's a humbling opportunity to help support the mission of the organization, as well as the care for these families. “Volunteers make it possible to serve our families the way we do," said Greg Mora, Director of Volunteer Programs at Family House. "It is the Family House community that helps each family persevere during their time in crisis. Volunteers are an essential part of that thriving community.”
Lazy Bear: Fine Dining, Pop-Up Style
W
hen I saw the confirmation e-mail in my inbox from Lazy Bear, my heart felt like I just won the Yerba Buena Dream House raffle! I couldn’t believe that I got a pair of coveted seats on my first attempt through their convoluted reservation system. Most people try for at least three months before scoring a spot. I'm thinking that perhaps the alignment of the Sun, Earth and Moon during April's blood moon eclipse might have had something to do with my good fortune. Lazy Bear is an acclaimed underground pop-up restaurant in the Mission and an ana-
Survey: Funding Cuts Lowered Productivity and Morale of UCSF Trainees By Bradley Webb and Jason Porter Contributing Writers
FOOD
By Sam Lee Staff Writer
NEWS
gram of Chef David Barzelay's last name. It is the fanciest and most expensive meal I have had in San Francisco, but considering the value of the experience I think it’s something worth checking out even on a student budget! I only had to live off of instant ramen for about two weeks to help pay for my meal. So how did I find this place you ask? Well, Lazy Bear got on my radar when I did a Yelp search for restaurants in the Mission and the solid 5-star rating with around 100 reviews caught my eye. Curious, I decided to see what the hype was all about and began my adventure through their reservation system. Here’s the process: (1) You sign up for the Lazy Bear email list by going to the website: www.lazybearsf.com/.