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As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded, the main focus was on reducing direct health impacts of infection. In contrast, the Office of the California Surgeon General (CA-OSG) was particularly concerned about the potential secondary impacts of the pandemic, both mental and physical, as well as the need to identify mitigating strategies. Thus, early in the pandemic, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris helped to draw attention to these issues and sought to engage partners to conduct the necessary systematic...

By Alejandra Salgado, Cal Matters, August 23, 2021 This past school year, Madeline Waters struggled to find a way to pay for food while also studying for classes. As a nutrition major at Sacramento State, she wasn’t unfamiliar with what skipping meals could mean for her academic career. So this spring she applied, yet again, for food stamps. “I was really hungry, and my brain cells were barely functioning,” she said. “I was trying to get food and I’d fill out the paperwork and I was trying...

English: The California Department of Public Health, Injury and Prevention Branch (CDPH/IVPB) and the California Department of Social Service, Office of Child Abuse Prevention’s (CDSS/OCAP) , Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative , ACEs Connection , and the Yolo County Children’s Alliance co-created “Coping with Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic” in both English and Spanish. This material is intended for Californian families experiencing the severe economic consequences resulting from...

By Brandon R. Reynolds, University of California San Francisco, March 22, 2021 COVID-19 has exposed many vulnerabilities in our society – fueling the spread of the virus and leaving questions about what comes next as the world emerges from the pandemic. A panel of health experts and government officials addressed the myriad issues related to COVID-19, including health disparities before and during the pandemic, public partnerships, and how communities can better address inequities to prevent...

By Institute for Global Health Sciences, UCSF, February 10, 2021 In 2020, the unequal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with the state-sanctioned murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, laid bare the persistent disparities in access to quality health care, education, and opportunity facing Black, Latinx, Indigenous and other people of color. IGHS has undertaken a number of new projects to reduce the inequities in our own house and backyard and across the world. Today, we are...

By Laura Kurtzman, December 14, 2020, UCSF Patient Care. As California’s new program to screen Medi-Cal patients for adverse childhood experiences (which are termed “ACEs”) gets underway, experts at UC San Francisco are trying to ensure that the adults and children who report trauma get the help they need. Experts now believe it’s most effective to treat the whole family when traumas occur. But any successful program would need to overcome fragmented payment systems, which usually dictate...

A college student on Twitter shared a pre-Thanksgiving e-mail she and her classmates received from a professor, and it's just the best example of real human-kindness. It reads: "Good morning. I know this has been a difficult time for a lot of you—some of you have had Covid, some of you are currently in quarantine, and some of you may not be able to go home for Thanksgiving as you have family members who are socially distancing. I don't want anyone to feel alone at Thanksgiving, or to miss...

Californians voted this week by a 56.1% to 43.9% margin to continue the state’s ban on considering race, ethnicity and gender in public college admissions, hiring and contracting. But universities are pushing forward with other efforts to recruit and retain a diverse student body. Black and Latino students are underrepresented at the University of California compared to those groups’ share of the state’s population. Statewide, many students of color enter college but don’t graduate. Among...

UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals, Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Portal & Center for Child & Community Health Register now and be eligible for 5 hours of AMA Category 1 CME credit and ABP MOC Part 2 credit. Saturday, October 10, 2020 8am - 3:30 pm Recognizing & Addressing Childhood Trauma - Dayna Long MD Trauma-Informed Care Principles in COVID-19 - Saun-Toy Trotter MFT & Ken Epstein LCSW, PhD Patient Perspective - Jen Leland MFT & Joan Jeung MD Early Adopters Discuss...

From Child Mind Institute, September 11, 2020 The 2020 Distinguished Scientist Award will honor Dr. Tom Boyce, the Lisa and John Pritzker Distinguished Professor of Developmental Health at the University of California, San Francisco, whose work focuses on the impact of socioeconomic factors and early life experiences on child physical and mental health. Motivated by the recent crises, there will be a new format for this year’s On the Shoulders of Giants event. Specifically, following brief...

From University of California, San Francisco, September 9, 2020 Please join UCSF's Early Success Clinic Collaborative for a panel discussion on "Early Child Care & COVID-19: The Science of Transmission, Safe Practices, Stress and Resilience" on Thursday, September 10th from 6:30-8:30 P.M. This conversation will be focused on translating the science around COVID-19 in preschool and early childhood ages to help inform considerations to keep children, teachers, and caregivers healthy. The...

By Tatiana Sanchez, San Francisco Chronicle, August 24, 2020 Elaine Shelly has lived with multiple sclerosis for 30 years. But she said she still panics whenever she has to see a new neurologist because of racial discrimination she’s experienced in the past. Even getting a proper diagnosis for her illness was a battle. “I’d go to these neurologists who would tell me that Black people don’t get M.S. and that I must be mentally ill,” said Shelly, 63, of San Leandro. A former print journalist,...