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SynapseNewspaper
The UCSF Student
synapse.ucsf.edu | Thursday, April 16, 2015 | Volume 59, Number 13
Dr. Dan Lowenstein on diversity, research, and the evolution of UCSF: An interview with UCSF’s New Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost (EVCP) Lauren Shields Contributing Writer
S ynapse: You’ve held a lot of positions here at UCSF from trainee to leadership. How has UCSF impacted you as you’ve moved through this range of positions?
I came here originally in 1983 as an intern and then the following year as a neurology resident. The first impact was having my clinical skills blossom under the tutelage of great mentors. The second was becoming a postdoctoral fellow working for Stan Prusiner at a very exciting time when the prion hypothesis was gaining significant momentum. The third was being given the opportunity to start up my own lab in epilepsy research as a junior faculty member. And then, as my research,
teaching and clinical responsibilities matured, UCSF gave me the opportunity to became more involved in some of the larger efforts associated with the School of Medicine and the institution at-large. Synapse: On the other side of the coin, how have you seen UCSF progress? If we think about the three mission areas of UCSF (research, clinical care, and education), there’s no doubt that the research enterprise has continued to expand at a spectacular pace. We’ve entered into the true era of team science, and by virtually every metric, UCSF is at the cutting edge of biomedical discovery.
In terms of clinical care, it’s been very impressive to see how the health system has applied systems science to improve the quality of care that patients receive. In terms of education - I can really only speak about the School of Medicine - it’s been incredibly exciting to see us go through major reforms in the curriculum and be
LOWENSTEIN » PAGE 6
UCSF Participates in First Lessons in a Lunch Box Oral Health Literacy Program Ivy Fua Contributing Writer
L essons in a Lunch Box: Healthy Teeth Essentials & Facts About Snacks® is a new
oral health literacy program designed to empower children and their families with proper knowledge about routine dental care, oral health maintenance, good dietary choices and more. Using a “dentally designed” lunch box, the uniquely crafted container illustrates flossing and brushing instructions and healthy nutritional information.
On March 4, 2015, the Student National Dental Association (SNDA) at UCSF School of Dentistry participated in the first Lessons in a Lunch Box program. In collaboration with The Children’s Oral Health Institute (COHI), SNDA presented preventative dental care products, oral hygiene instruction and nutritional information to 180 students at Starr King Elementary School in the Potrero Hill district of San Francisco. “Students from
Potrero Annex…are in desperate need of dental care!” said school nurse Judy Thompson. Prior to the event, COHI and SNDA collaborated in the shipment of all lunch boxes directly to Starr King Elementary. SNDA then recruited 4 dental students and 8 post baccalaureate students from California State University San Francisco,
LUNCH BOX » PAGE 6
Medical Students Organize Ultrasound Techniques Conference Libby Burch Contributing Writer
O n Friday, April 24, Point-of-Care UltraSound (POCUS), invites all UCSF
students and faculty to attend a student-led Ultrasound Conference and Exposition in the Millberry Union Conference Center. Medical students will man interactive stations at which participants – even ultrasound novices - can expect to learn commonly used scans and their clinical applications. This exposition, the culmination of a year-long effort, promises to be one of the semester’s most exciting events. In the spring of 2014, Walid Hamud and Stephen Brown, medical students in the 2017 graduating class, were dismayed to learn that that the UCSF School of Medicine curriculum lacked formal ultrasound instruction. “The expectation was that we would learn it during our clinic rotations or perhaps during our residency,” recalls Hamud, soft-spoken and with an easy smile. He, along with Brown, was part of a growing contingent of the school’s community that wanted to change that. In regards to its clinical usefulness, “ultrasound is the stethoscope of the future,” explains Brown. “We wanted to put UCSF on the map in terms of ultrasound medical education.” Motivated by this conviction and fed by the enthusiastic support of Anatomy Professor Dr. Peter O’Hara, Brown and Hamud set out to create an ultrasound curriculum. They recruited several classmates and set to work. “We began from scratch teaching ourselves ultrasound with two machines in the anatomy lab. We had the internet and a handful of determined second year medical students (MS2’s),” Hamud remembers. By mid-summer, the group had enlisted the expertise of Dr. Nathan Tiesmann, Director of Emergency Ultrasound and EM Ultrasound Fellowship Director, as well as Dr. Emma Webb, a radiologist and educator. With the support of faculty mentors, the student group authored an iBook of common scans and prepared a comprehensive syllabus that could be taught to ultrasound neophytes. “The best thing about ultrasound,” says Brown, “is
ULTRASOUND » PAGE 6