Many of the medicines we depend on to treat disease—and even to save our lives—pose potentially serious risks along with their benefits. Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that about 40,000 deaths yearly in the United States may be attributable to the side effects of drugs, a number that rivals the toll of traffic accidents.
Javier Chavez, left, and Sebastian Mederos, fifth grade, work together to design their bottle rocket.
Every good scientific exploration starts with questions, and at UCSF’s 2017 Summer Science Camp, the recent “bottle rocket engineering and launch day” was no different.
The camp’s nearly 50 fifth- and sixth-graders started the morning in a classroom on the Parnassus campus, discussing pictures displayed on the large screen: a car with a sloped roof and a rear spoiler, a kite aloft, a runner with an open parachute tied to his back.
Edward Leong Way celebrated his 100th birthday in July 2016, surrounded by friends, family, and UCSF colleagues.
Edward (Eddie) Leong Way, PhD, UCSF School of Pharmacy alumnus, UCSF faculty member, and dear friend, died peacefully at home in San Francisco on June 12, 2017, four weeks before his 101st birthday.
Eddie mentored generations of UCSF PhD students and taught scores of pharmacy students during his tenure as a professor in the UCSF School of Medicine, from 1949 to 1978. He was a member of the UCSF emeritus faculty since 1987.
Heather Hertema, PharmD ’10, founder of UCSF Summer Science Camp, returned for the camp’s 10th anniversary.
As a first-year UCSF PharmD student, Heather Hertema, PharmD ’10, had a big idea: a free summer camp for kids who might not otherwise be exposed to the creative problem-solving and making-things-explode fun of science.
Each year, Summer Science Camp brings 55 fifth- and sixth-grade students to the UCSF campus for a free week of learning and fun.
Ten years ago, at the inaugural UCSF Summer Science Camp, 10-year-old Najwa Anasse held a human brain in her hands—an “Aha!” experience that set her career path.
“I thought, ‘Oh my god, I want to study this.’ I was so excited,” says Anasse, who grew up in San Francisco’s Excelsior District and was a fifth grader at Alice Fong Yu Elementary School at the time.
“Find a need and fill it” was a popular slogan that graced the side of pink Kaiser Cement trucks around the San Francisco Bay Area in the 60s and 70s. But Donald Kishi, PharmD ’68, took the motto as his professional mantra.
