UCSF Synapse

Originally published in Synapse on May 25, 1989. The eyes of medical professionals and legislators throughout the nation will be trained on New York this summer as unprecedented regulations limiting resident working hours begin to take effect. Starting on July 1, New York medical residents will be allowed to work no more than 80 hours per week and no more than 24 hours in a single shift.

Health equity has become a key focus in healthcare and biomedical research. However, in clinical trials, equity is often only addressed during the recruitment phase, when clinicians discuss with patients whether to participate in studies that might provide a potential treatment or cure. These conversations are important but occur too late. By the time a patient is approached, many of the most critical decisions about who can realistically participate have already been made.

Originally published in Synapse on May 19, 1978. Immortality, Mankind’s oldest dream, that of conquering death itself to secure a place in the eternity of time. In his widely publicized book, In His Image: The Cloning of a Man, author David Rorvik claims to have witnessed the dawn of the Age of Immortality. Researchers at UCSF, however, strongly doubt Rorvik’s bold claim.

This bird paused its walk along the shoreline to drink some cool water from a tidepool using its long beak. The tidepools had been recently filled by a crashing wave. The rock was covered in moss, making it both green and slippery, but the bird had no trouble walking. The light green moss stood out amidst the brown and blue hues of the rocks and ocean. The bird’s feathers are dappled brown and white, matching the pattern of the water in the tidepool rippling in the wind.

“If you had but one lecture to give, what would you say?” Last month, Dr. Jennifer Cocohoba from the School of Pharmacy set out to answer this question as UCSF’s 2026 Last Lecture awardee, which was nominated by student vote. And judging by the attendance, they chose well. Hundreds gathered at Cole Hall to listen to Cocohoba’s personal talk, including her family, former Last Lecture awardees Drs.

What does it mean to practice medicine in a time of political upheaval, environmental crisis, and deepening inequality? This unsettled question anchored the 11th Biennial Conference of the Society for Humanities, Social Sciences, and Medicine, held this April 11 and 12 at UCSF Mission Bay.

I am a descendant of a survivor of the Armenian Genocide. I grew up surrounded by fragments of this history through my grandparents’ stories and documentaries about survival, loss, and resilience. My great-grandparents survived so that I could be here today, carrying forward the life, memory, and identity they nearly lost. Every year on April 24, Armenians worldwide mourn the 1.5 million people who were killed, displaced, and erased from their ancestral homeland.

Originally published in Synapse on May 12, 1981. In calling for a national day of protest against the arms race on May 10, the new Women’s Party for Survival is returning to Mother’s Day its original intention — giving American women a chance to combine their voices in unified opposition to the insanity of war. That was the declared purpose of the first Mother’s Day, which was organized in Boston by poet and women’s suffragist Julia Ward Howe in 1872.

I showed up in scrubs. Red jacket, denim tote bag, cowboy frog socks. My first time in the OR. I went straight to the scrub room. Before we walked in, the liver transplant surgeon I was shadowing, Dr. Chuck Rickert, pointed to the metal tables draped in blue. “That’s the sterile field,” he said. “Respect it.” Through the window, I saw the patient. Her abdomen was distended, very. Her arms were thin. We reviewed anatomy. Hepatic artery, portal vein, bile ducts. The portal triad.

When investigative journalist and former Synapse staff writer Charles Piller addressed UCSF students during this year’s Science Speaker Series, he delivered more than a warning about scientific misconduct. Drawing from his reporting on fraudulent Alzheimer’s research, Piller challenged future scientists and health professionals to embrace humility, accountability and open dialogue — especially when confronting uncomfortable truths inside academic medicine.