UCSF leaders Joseph Castro and Orlando Elizondo with San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty, who spoke at the event.

Obama himself reflected on what this election meant for millions who witnessed a sea change in the struggle for civil rights and equal opportunity.

“This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations," Obama told the huge crowd of supporters in Chicago on Tuesday night. "But one that's on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing -- Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

"She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons -- because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

"And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America -- the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can."

Reaction to the news that Obama would become the 44th president of the United States prompted dancing in the streets, neighborhood parties and fireworks. The days ahead will allow for quiet reflection.

Here are some of the thoughts of UCSF faculty and staff in their own words.

Michael B. Adams, director, UCSF Office of Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity and Diversity

“I was up all night watching, and talking to friends and family around the world. I am glad we were thinking about each other.

“To see the demographics of the voters who elected [Obama] is to see the community organizer’s dream come true. This is a shared victory among the most diverse constituency imaginable, coming together around shared values. I believe that our culture will continue to grow in the celebration of diversity and sharing of opportunity in meaningful ways.

“President Obama will not face (in the words of George Bush) the “soft bigotry of low expectations.” To the contrary, he will be tested with high expectations from all of us, precisely because of the brilliance of his inclusive, people-centered campaign, preceded by a level of perseverance throughout his life that has conditioned him for high achievement. He represents a promise of the final chapter in our great Civil War, and an upgraded membership in a civilized and progressive world community. He will experience the irony of living in the White House, much of which was originally built by slave labor.

“On a very personal level, I feel unable to celebrate, given the history in our country. The joy is competing with a foreboding concern for him and his family (and us). So for me, right now, it is one cautious day at a time with restrained pride and measured hope. January 20th is a long time away, and I plan to celebrate when he is actually sworn in, should nothing prevent that from taking place.”

Bobby Baron, MD, associate dean, UCSF School of Medicine; chair, Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Academic Diversity

“This is an amazing achievement for all of us who care so much about issues of diversity, health disparities, peace and social justice. Now the hard work begins!”

Alma Sisco-Smith, director, UCSF Work~Life Resource Center

“The first way that I was touched [by Obama’s victory] was by the memory of my parents. The states where they were born, Delaware and Virginia – once strong Jim Crow states – opened their arms to vote for Barack Obama. I visited my grandparents and relatives in those states as a little girl, and noticed the different treatment of my relatives, me, and other black adults and children compared to our treatment in Boston, where my family had moved.

“My parents could not perceive such a victory ever occurring in their lifetime. Yet they and many others taught us to excel at whatever we wanted to do, to set our heights high, not to fear failure and to treat all people as we wanted to be treated.

“At the moment of victory, I and a handful of African American friends were standing amidst a large crowd of young Caucasians, many first-time voters who roared with delight and emotion as Obama accepted McCain’s concession and his election to the presidency. And it could not have been clearer that we had elected a gifted man of principle, intellect, courage and compassion who happened also to be black.

“One of the journalists present later asked, ‘Did race matter?’ Of course it did, and in many different ways and on different levels. But race was not a barrier to the ascension to the highest office of government in the United States.

“That, after all, is what was stated in the founding language of our Constitution and what we must continue to seek and expect: EQUALITY.”

Shane Snowdon, director, UCSF LGBT Resource Center

“The pundits are saying that the state of the economy heavily contributed to Barack Obama’s election, and I know that’s true.

“But I do think that, for millions of us, his candidacy was also a historic opportunity to show how seriously we take the wounds that bias has inflicted, and how much we want to heal them. As far as we still have to go as a nation, I feel moved and inspired that so many people voted for him, at least in part, to take a stand for fairness, unity, equality and understanding.

“I was also touched by how many Californians did the same thing in voting against Proposition 8, which eliminates the civil right of marriage for same-sex couples. But it looks like even more Californians voted to withdraw this right from us – a reminder that while minds and hearts can change profoundly, as the presidential vote shows, the struggle for equality in our country is far from over.

“Election 2008 renewed both my faith and my resolve.”

Daniel Lowenstein, MD, professor in residence, UCSF Department of Neurology

“For me, Nov. 4 was the most important day in the history of this country in my lifetime because there has been no other moment where the collective wisdom and resolve of ‘we the people’ have been so profoundly put to the test. This is for two main reasons.

“First, over the past eight years, all of us have witnessed the disastrous effects of a misguided, abusive and inhumane administration. The election asked us to decide whether we should stay on this same general course or take back our country and redirect it toward what is our only long-term hope: the attainment of the ideals upon which our country was founded – liberty, freedom and justice, and the responsibility we hold to care for our fellow man.

“Second, this election tested us with a very simple question: Are we willing, as a nation, to entrust the responsibility of the presidency in the hands of someone whose skin color is not white? As graphic and absurd and simply answered as this question is today, we had absolutely no idea what the real answer was yesterday. Our nation reached a watershed in our history when we answered the question with a resounding chorus: ‘Yes, we can!’

“My belief in the greatness of this country has been restored.”

Elba R. Sanchez, associate director, Community and Governmental Relations

“Last night, even in the chill of the night, folks in my neighborhood in Oakland were outside their homes. We were talking to each other, and when some young black folks walked by us and started to yell, ‘Obama! Obama! Obama!’ we were all soon a part of the group, all yelling ‘Obama!’ over and over. We all laughed and wished each other well as we went back into our homes.

“There was a shared feeling of expectation in the air, a sense of excitement. We all felt it, and people were in need of sharing their hope. It unified us all; it was palpable in the neighborhood. It was wonderful waking up to a new morning, to a new and hopeful energy and perspective today.

“The irony of the fact that Obama and his family will be living in the White House, built by slaves and slave labor, cannot escape us! May none of us forget that.

“We are a society fed up with the present status quo politics, desperate for change, a fresh point of view and more humane analysis. Obama in the White House means a window of fresh air, a new White House culture. It is certainly not business as usual.

“This is not only a historic juncture in our timeline; it is a meaningful, giant blip on the radar screen, a step in the right direction. Perhaps it signals a more involved and caring society, since it will take all of us to turn this ship around, and we appear to be ready to make that step as a whole. Maybe we will finally have a leader that sees, respects and invites the everyday contribution of each and every worker, mother, student and community in the United States.

“It is going to take a concerted effort on all of our parts to make a difference, and with Obama at the helm, this and more can be accomplished. It’s about an inclusive culture, and each one of us who voted feels like our vote truly counted this time around! We felt included.

“We have made a giant step forward in electing Obama, but have a long way to go when we vote to take away the civil rights of others as we have done with [California’s] Proposition 8. Voting ‘yes’ on 8 is a serious step back for all of us, and the irony of voting to take away someone else’s rights in this ‘democracy’ is jarring and does not bode well.”

Barbara Gerbert, PhD, professor, UCSF Division of Behavioral Sciences, Professionalism and Ethics

“During the primaries and the general election, I was supporting Barack Obama because of his expressed vision for our country; his policies; his courageous, early and enduring stance against our occupation of Iraq; his hope for a better future for all who live in the United States; and his goal to restore our country’s standing as an exemplary leader for the world. I was impressed by his team and teamwork, seemingly invisible and flawless in their implementation of a path to victory.

“I must admit I have had trouble breathing the last few months, worrying about ‘swift boating’ and whether Obama’s campaign might have to turn very negative to win.

“Now that what I view as ‘goodness’ has triumphed, I have faith and trust in Obama and his picks as teammates for the journey ahead; his selecting inclusivity over partisanship; his momentum for action and improvements; his willingness to listen, think and reflect; and his ability to build a solid future, based on a clear understanding of history.

“I think many of us did not let ourselves also contemplate the historic nature of Obama’s multiracial heritage and what it might signify about race relations in our country until last night. There seemed to be too many other obstacles to overcome.

“Now, it is clear that we have made progress in the most critically divisive issue in the US – racism – in versus out, us versus them, good versus bad, black versus white. May peace prevail! I look forward to joining the bandwagon that pulls us all together to work with Obama and Biden for a brighter future for all.”

Express Yourself

What do you think about the election results? Send an email to UCSF Today Editor Lisa Cisneros by Thursday, Nov. 13. We will post a diversity of opinions, including your comments and your name and UCSF title, on UCSF Today on Friday, Nov. 14.

The symposium spotlighted the work of eight UCSF faculty members working to address the striking gaps in health and health care between various racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups.

The event was part of UCSF’s ongoing effort to serve the local, regional and global communities and to eliminate health disparities – a key element of the University’s Strategic Plan, unveiled in June 2007. It was also timed to coincide with the UCSF diversity celebration, a monthlong series of special events.

“The intellect and collaborative culture at UCSF mean we’re in a unique position to help eliminate [health] disparities,” said UCSF Executive Chancellor and Provost Eugene Washington, MD, who called the symposium “an unequivocal success.”

Some of the research projects took the form of quantitative clinical trials, such as the one-year study by Michael Conte, MD, of survival, limb amputation and vein graft failure rates among 1,400 patients suffering from critical limb ischemia, a severe obstruction of the arteries leading to the extremities.

Conte, UCSF’s chief of Vascular Surgery, found that African American patients had inferior outcomes in nearly all categories, with African American females faring the worst: The female patients had higher rates of graft failure and limb loss than any other group.

Other projects featured at the symposium focused less on clinical observations and more on patients’ self-reported experiences.

In one such project, Margaret Fang, MD, MPH, UCSF assistant professor in the Division of Hospital Medicine, surveyed more than 180 people taking the stroke prevention drug warfarin, and attempted to see how much they knew about the drug and about strokes in general.

What she found was striking: Roughly 40 percent of respondents demonstrated an incomplete or flawed understanding of warfarin and the disease it is intended to prevent.

Patients with low levels of literacy or English proficiency made up a disproportionate share of that group, Fang’s survey indicated.

Like Fang, Allison Bryant, MD, UCSF assistant adjunct professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences, opted for a more qualitative approach to examining health disparities.

She and her colleagues spoke to women of various races and socioeconomic levels about unintended pregnancy and the amount of time they waited between births.

Both issues are of particular concern to African American women, who account for a disproportionate number of both unintended pregnancies and infant deaths due to low birthweight and preterm delivery, which have been linked to inadequate birth spacing.

In addition to the symposium’s eight featured researchers, a poster display after the main program showcased nearly 70 highly diverse projects whose topics ranged from homelessness among HIV-positive and indigent adults to oral health problems among agricultural workers in rural California.

The research and findings presented on Oct. 24 represented huge advancements in the understanding of health disparities, said Nancy Adler, PhD, professor and vice chair of the UCSF Department of Psychiatry.

As recently as the early 1990s, the medical community was still coming to terms with the fact that such disparities exist, Adler said. Today, the focus has shifted to “what’s creating them; how do we address them?” she said.

Transforming research-documented knowledge into action is of utmost importance, Washington agreed.

“We need to go beyond describing, defining and attacking these disparities and go about taking action and actually eliminating them,” he said in his closing remarks at the symposium.

Washington summed up his point with a quote from the German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: “Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”

The symposium was sponsored by the UCSF Diversity Celebration Planning Committee and co-chaired by Barbara Gerbert, PhD, professor and chair of the Division of Behavioral Sciences, Professionalism and Ethics in the Department of Preventive and Restorative Dental Sciences, UCSF School of Dentistry; Eliseo Perez-Stable, MD, professor in the UCSF School of Medicine and director of the UCSF Medical Effectiveness Research Center for Diverse Populations; and Victor Y. Fujimoto, MD, associate clinical professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences in the UCSF School of Medicine.

Related Links:
UCSF to Host Second Health Disparities Research Symposium
UCSF Diversity Website, Oct. 22, 2008

UCSF Unveils Strategic Plan to Guide Its Global Leadership in Advancing Health
UCSF Today, June 28, 2007

Appointed in October 2007, Navarro is the first person to hold the position of director of academic diversity, a post created as part of 10 key outcomes outlined in UCSF’s diversity initiative. Nurturing diversity is also one of seven top priorities outlined in the UCSF Strategic Plan, a blueprint to guide the University’s direction and development over the next decade. Navarro serves as the point person for ensuring the advancement and timely completion of academically related diversity initiatives at UCSF and for coordinating with relevant systemwide committees.

As a member of the Diversity Leadership Group, Navarro works with A. Eugene Washington, MD, executive vice chancellor and provost; Sally Marshall, PhD, vice provost of Academic Affairs; Joseph Castro, PhD, vice provost of Student Academic Affairs; Bobby Baron, MD, chair of the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Academic Diversity (CACAD); Lisa Cisneros, assistant director of Public Affairs; and the deans of the four professional schools and the Graduate Division to enhance diversity at UCSF.

Navarro also serves as a member of CACAD, which is working to implement a comprehensive communication program, establish a new faculty database, develop best practices for faculty searches and establish a coordinated outreach program, among other activities.

Navarro is assisted in her role by Misty Loetterle, coordinator of the Academic Diversity Program. Loetterle represents the director by serving as a primary information point person and liaison with the chancellor’s office, deans’ offices, other campus administrators, faculty and professional colleagues on a wide range of diversity issues. She oversaw the campuswide implementation of and maintains the Academic Demographic System (ADS), a new database that tracks faculty searches and applicant demographics, and captures current workforce and availability data.

Loetterle works closely with department managers and staff to ensure that they receive appropriate training on the ADS and that all faculty searches and applicants are recorded in the system. She and Navarro assist search committees to ensure they have the information needed to effectively conduct a faculty search and attract the most diverse and qualified applicant pool.

On Oct. 22, a roomful of UCSF students, faculty and staff cried with her as she related the circumstances surrounding the 21-year-old gay college student’s murder near Laramie, Wyoming, in October 1998. The crime sparked outrage around the world and led to the introduction of hate-crime legislation at the state and federal levels.

“All our hopes for Matt were killed,” Shepard said of her son’s death in a Colorado hospital five days after his two attackers tied him to a split-rail fence in a remote area, savagely beat him and left him to die.

“There is a hole in my life,” she said. “But I know Matt would be very disappointed in me if I gave up. He would be very disappointed in all of us if we gave up.”

Shepard certainly hasn’t given up: In the years since Matt’s death, she and her husband, Dennis, have become prominent advocates for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, touring the country to educate people, speaking before Congress, and creating an online community and resource center for gay youths.

Her appearance at UCSF not only coincided with the anniversary of her son’s death, but also marked an important milestone in the history of the University’s LGBT Resource Center, which organized the event.

“It was 10 years ago that the center was founded, and it was 10 years ago that Matthew Shepard was killed because of bias, hate and ignorance,” said Shane Snowdon, the center’s director.

Shepard said it was against her naturally shy, introverted nature to get up in front of large groups of people.

“This is not who I am,” she told the UCSF crowd. “For me to be able to speak out in crowds, I have to think [Matt] is helping me do this.”

She said that when it comes to promoting equal rights and combating hate, she has seen signs of progress over the past decade.

Speaking of her home state of Wyoming, she noted the occurrence of an annual picnic sponsored by the local chapter of PFLAG – Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays – as well as a Matthew Shepard memorial bench at the University of Wyoming, his alma mater.

“It may not seem like much to people here,” she said of the changes, “but it’s huge for Wyoming.”

However, Shepard said, there is much work left to be done. She urged the audience to educate themselves about Proposition 8, the measure on California’s Nov. 4 ballot that would outlaw gay marriage.

“This is about protection for everybody,” she said of the measure, which she opposes. “This is about all people.”

Shepard described herself as “an ally” of the gay community, but acknowledged that she lacks a true insider’s perspective on the LGBT community and its struggles.

“I don’t need to understand everything to know what’s right and wrong,” she said to loud applause. “You are who you are and you love who you love, and that’s just the way it is.”

One of many diversity-related events at UCSF this month, Shepard’s talk, which was held at the Parnassus campus and simulcast to UCSF Mission Bay, was co-sponsored by the UCSF Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on GLBT Issues, LGBT Student Association, LGBT Staff Group, Cultural Enrichment Fund, Associated Students of UCSF, Graduate Students’ Association, Diversity Celebration Committee, Center for Gender Equity and Student Activity Center.

The University’s Science & Health Education Partnership (SEP) is a collaboration between UCSF and the San Francisco Unified School District that aims to provide high-quality science learning opportunities to K-12 students and to help them recognize their potential. It especially targets students from backgrounds that are currently underrepresented in the scientific community.

The NCRR grant – one of 16 offered this year through the center’s Science Education Partnership Awards program – will enable SEP to implement a project called Pathways, which will bring together local high school teachers and UCSF scientists in an intensive, yearlong effort to promote equity in the classroom and diversity in the scientific workforce.

“San Francisco schools, like schools across the country, have huge achievement gaps when it comes to the sciences,” said SEP Academic Coordinator Rebecca Smith, PhD. “We want to use real developments in biomedical research to engage students and make [science] highly relevant to their lives. They will be grappling with data, learning how to use evidence and designing their own experiments, so that they can start to see themselves as scientists.”

By promoting diversity and reaching out to the local community, the Pathways program seeks to put into action two main elements of the UCSF Strategic Plan, announced in mid-2007.

The program will start in the summer of 2009 and will assign six UCSF scientists to three San Francisco schools in its first year, Smith said. In subsequent years, the program will expand to six schools and 12 UCSF volunteers, she said. The schools have yet to be selected.

In recruiting UCSF scientists, the program will “draw on a Universitywide volunteer base” ranging from medical students to postdoctoral fellows to members of the faculty, Smith said.

As evidence of the need for programs like Pathways, Smith pointed to an unpublished 2008 survey that SEP volunteers conducted in the classrooms they visited.

“We asked the students, ‘What surprised you about the [UCSF] scientists you met?’” she recalled. “A huge number of them said two things – that they were surprised some of the scientists were girls and they were surprised to see scientists from different racial backgrounds.”

Currently, SEP offers an internship program to 20 high school students per year; with Pathways, Smith hopes to reach 2,000 students over the five-year life of the NCRR grant, which was announced on Oct. 30.

“Our current internship program has been highly successful,” Smith said. “If we can inspire additional students in a similar way, as well as help promote long-term changes in teaching practice, then the sustained impact could be tremendous.

“I don’t want students a generation from now to be surprised when female or nonwhite scientists come into their classroom,” she added.

The campus community is invited to attend the symposium and poster session, which highlights the work of another 70 UCSF researchers, on Friday, Oct. 24, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Laurel Heights Auditorium.

Addressing the goal of contributing to the reduction in health disparities, as stated in the UCSF Strategic Plan, the UCSF Health Disparities Research Symposium II is part of the UCSF diversity celebration, a monthlong series of special events.

The symposium is sponsored by the UCSF Diversity Celebration Planning Committee and co-chaired by Barbara Gerbert, PhD, professor and chair of the Division of Behavioral Sciences, Professionalism and Ethics in the Department of Preventive and Restorative Dental Sciences at the UCSF School of Dentistry; Eliseo Perez-Stable, MD, professor in the UCSF School of Medicine and director of UCSF Medical Effectiveness Research Center for Diverse Populations; and Victor Y. Fujimoto, MD, associate clinical professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences in the UCSF School of Medicine.

Health disparities are defined as gaps in the quality of health and health care across racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups. The definition of health disparities includes differences in the presence of disease, health outcomes, and quality of and access to health care.

The symposium will showcase the breadth of both quantitative and qualitative research in diverse disciplines at UCSF. Organizers say one of the goals is to build community among health disparities researchers from various disciplines and across units, schools and campus sites. “Understanding the mechanisms that lead to health disparities by race, ethnicity and social class will facilitate advances in knowledge about the basic biological, behavioral and social factors affecting health,” said Perez-Stable.

Seating at the symposium is almost at capacity and is being facilitated by Karen Newhouse, associate diversity director in the UCSF Office of Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity and Diversity. Please email karen.newhouse@ucsf.edu to reserve a spot.

Symposium Presentations

1. “The Disproportionate Cost of Smoking for Communities of Color” by Hai-Yen Sung, PhD, associate adjunct professor, UCSF Institute for Health & Aging
2. “Oral Health Disparities Research: The Fluoride Varnish Example from Clinical Trial to Health Policies” by Jane A. Weintraub, DDS, MPH, professor and chair, Division of Oral Epidemiology and Dental Public Health, UCSF School of Dentistry
3. “The Impact of Language Barriers on Poor Glycemic Control Among Insured Latinos with Diabetes” by Alicia Fernandez, MD, associate professor of medicine, UCSF School of Medicine
4. “Disparity in Outcomes of Surgical Revascularization for Limb Salvage: Race and Gender Are Synergistic Determinants of Vein Graft Failure and Limb Loss” by Michael S. Conte, MD, professor and chief, UCSF Division of Vascular Surgery, UCSF School of Medicine
5. “Language, Literacy and Characterization of Stroke Among Patients Taking Warfarin for Stroke Prevention: Implications for Health Communication” by Margaret Fang, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine, UCSF School of Medicine
6. “Challenges to Patient-Centered Care for Limited English Proficient Breast Cancer Patients” by Leah Karliner, MD, UCSF Division of General Internal Medicine, UCSF School of Medicine
7. “Self-Reported Race, Genetic African Ancestry and Chronic Kidney Disease in Young Adults: The CARDIA Study” by Carmen A. Peralta, MD, assistant adjunct professor in the Division of Nephrology, UCSF School of Medicine
8. “Predictors of Unintended Pregnancy and Inadequate Birth Spacing: A Mixed Methods Approach” by Allison Bryant, MD, MPH, assistant adjunct professor, UCSF School of Medicine

The conference attracted underrepresented medical students and professionals who gather to attend a wide range of educational and networking events. It is consistently the largest gathering of underrepresented minority medical students at any time of the year in any place in the nation, according to SNMA. "The Student National Medical Association has been instrumental in nurturing and developing me into the student-physician that I am today,” said Jones.

Founded in 1964 by medical students from Howard University School of Medicine and Meharry Medical College, SNMA is the nation’s oldest and largest, independent, student-run organization focused on the needs and concerns of medical students of color. With chapters across the country, SNMA membership includes more than 7,000 medical students, pre-medical students and physicians.

Jones has been actively involved in SNMA throughout his medical school career. He organized the SNMA-sponsored activities movie series during Black History Month. Jones leveraged SNMA’s reach to communicate with underrepresented in medicine students.

Jones has been working with youth in San Francisco’s Visitation Valley and BayView Hunter's Point neighborhoods for several years. “A classmate and I started a group that focuses on helping at-risk youth to formulate and achieve their life goals through mentorship," he said.

At UCSF, Jones is a member of the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee for Academic Diversity, which works to identify, implement and evaluate efforts to promote diversity among UCSF faculty, students and trainees and monitors progress toward stated goals. Among the goals identified in the UCSF Strategic Plan is to “educate, train and employ a diverse faculty, staff and student body.”

Jones was born and raised in Stockton, CA and graduated from Saint Mary’s High School. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree at the University of California, Davis in biochemistry and molecular biology. While in college, Jones was a member of the football team, received academic All-American honors. Jones also earned the highest possible scholastic honor from UC Davis, the University medal. Jones plans to pursue a career in orthopedic surgery.

SNMA is dedicated to increasing the number of African-American, Latino and other underrepresented students of color entering and completing medical school and to assisting in the eradication of racial and ethnic health disparities. SNMA community service and mentoring programs provide science appreciation, health care education, mentoring, and academic enrichment to elementary, junior high school, high school and college students interested in pursuing health-related careers.

Diversity refers to the variety of personal experiences, values and worldviews that arises from differences in culture and individual circumstance. Such differences include race, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, language, abilities/disabilities, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status and geographic region, among others.

The new website, produced by the UCSF Public Affairs department, is the product of collaboration and input by a wide spectrum of representatives from throughout the campus community, including the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Eugene Washington, MD, the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Academic Diversity, the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Diversity, the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Disability Issues, the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on the Status of Women and the Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Issues.

Part of a larger communications plan on diversity, the website is designed to keep the campus community informed on how UCSF is “nurturing diversity,” one of seven strategic directions outlined in the UCSF Strategic Plan. The strategic plan, unveiled in June 2007, specifically calls on UCSF to “build upon its commitment to diversity” and to “educate, train and employ a diverse faculty, staff and student body.”

The communications plan is also part of UCSF’s 10-point diversity initiative, which calls on the University to promote and nurture diversity at UCSF among faculty, staff, students and trainees, coordinate diversity outreach programs, and improve communication related to diversity. In addition, enhancing diversity through outreach, recruitment and retention strategies of women and underrepresented minorities to better address the health care needs of the 21st century is one of three areas of focus for UCSF’s accreditation process with the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

“I believe one of our noblest challenges is the need to honor and pursue diversity within every element of our campus community,” said UCSF Chancellor J. Michael Bishop, MD, in his welcome message on the website. “It is imperative that those from diverse and disadvantaged backgrounds be properly represented in all walks of life, and in positions of authority and distinction. The shape of our future as a culture rests on that imperative.”

Diversity Website Features

A central feature of the diversity website is a new video series called Voices, which profiles diverse members of the campus community to emphasize the importance of diversity in achieving UCSF’s fourfold mission of education, research, patient care and service. The series debuts with the inspirational story of Alicia Gonzalez-Flores, a native of Mexico who grew up in the San Joaquin Valley and graduated from UCLA. She is now entering her third year of medical school at UCSF and plans on serving the underserved as a physician.

“By giving individuals the opportunity to tell their own stories, we are able to tell the institutional story of diversity, highlighting the importance of an inclusive campus community to UCSF’s identity and function,” says Lisa Cisneros, assistant director of Public Affairs, who initiated the Voices series.

Another feature of the website is the facts and figures section, which will showcase the gender, race and ethnicity of faculty, staff, students and trainees over time. Information about the faculty, for example, is pulled directly from UCSF’s new academic search database, a project of the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Academic Diversity (CACAD).

The academic search database functions by tracking applicant demographics, capturing current campus workforce data and reporting national availability data, which is crucial in the effort to monitor UCSF’s progress in nurturing diversity, according to Renee Navarro, MD, PharmD, director of academic diversity and a member of the CACAD. To read more about the academic search database, see this story.

The diversity website also includes a section to recognize “Champions of Diversity,” a program that has honored more than 800 individuals at UCSF since it started a decade ago.

“Championing diversity has to become more of a movement to recognize folks who pay attention and those who put the oar in the water to pull the boat along without necessarily being the captain,” says Michael Adams, director of Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity and Diversity (AAEOD), which created and administers the program.

Lastly, the diversity website serves as a resource with news and events and links to existing UCSF websites and relevant reports, videos and podcasts.

UCSF Public Affairs welcomes comments about the diversity website. Please email your input and ideas to Cisneros at lcisneros@pubaff.ucsf.edu.

Related Links

• UCSF Leaders Approve Initiatives to Improve Staff Diversity, Work Climate, Professional Development
• UCSF Launches 10-Point Initiative to Promote Diversity

“Despite phenomenal work by a cadre of people who have done isolated studies on the lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender (LGBT) community – and the fact that in California, we make up approximately the same percentage of the population as African Americans – LGBT people are not identified in the larger studies,” says Diane Sabin, DC, executive director of the Lesbian Health & Research Center (LHRC) at UCSF.

Sabin believes that a pilot program the LHRC is undertaking in conjunction with the UCSF Institute for Health & Aging (IHA) will be the first significant step in addressing that concern – and that the stakes are high. “In some sense, we’re fighting for our lives,” she says. “We’re hoping that we won’t have another epidemic like AIDS before we have a deeper understanding of LGBT health needs.”

Ongoing Collaboration

The LHRC’s mission is “to enhance clinical practice and inform policy about the health care needs of and delivery of services to lesbians, bisexual women, and transgender individuals through a program of research, postgraduate education and training, and public service.”

An ongoing collaboration between the UCSF schools of nursing and medicine, the LHRC was founded by faculty emerita Suzanne Dibble, RN, DNS, and Dixie Horning, executive director of the UCSF National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health. Dibble and Patricia Robertson, MD, from the School of Medicine served as founding co-directors from 1999 to 2007. Since its inception, the LHRC has been located within the IHA, which has provided an intellectual and physical home, as well as administrative support.

That longstanding relationship is at least a partial explanation for how the leaders of the LHRC were able to conceive of what they knew would be a bold experiment. It began as a discussion on how best to expand and implement the research piece of their mission, during which they realized they had not yet made the most of a unique opportunity.

“UCSF is a world-renowned research institution,” says Sabin. “You name the western pathology and it’s being studied here. We know lesbians are in those studies, but since we’re not identified as such, our community cannot benefit from the research findings, and we felt that had to change.”

In the fall of 2007, LHRC leadership made a proposal to researchers at the IHA: Would the IHA researchers be willing to partner with the LHRC to develop and insert tested questions about sexual orientation and gender identity into their studies? Such questions would enable researchers to identify LGBT participants and to assess any potential differences between them and the other groups traditionally identified in health research.

“We received a resounding ‘yes’ from the faculty,” says Sabin. “And the outpouring of support reminded me of one of the deep joys of working at UCSF. The people at IHA and beyond – School of Nursing Dean Kathy Dracup, Vice Dean Nancy Milliken at the School of Medicine, Co-Directors of the Institute for Health & Aging Wendy Max and Pat Fox, and School of Nursing Associate Dean [and LHRC Co-Director] Zina Mirsky – really are the unsung heroes and heroines of the work we do here.”

Sabin calls the project “bold and ambitious, precedent-setting and necessary.” She hopes that it will lead to support for inclusion of LGBT questions in all UCSF research – and ultimately in all research, period. “If the administration could encourage everyone to routinely include these questions, it would make an enormous difference,” she says.

Discovering Differences

But what kind of difference would it make? Sabin acknowledges that there are those who wonder why a lesbian’s health issues would be any different than those of a heterosexual woman.

The answer begins with the fact that existing research in this emerging field has indicated differences in areas that include access to health care without fear of stigmatization, access to abortion and family planning, substance abuse, depression and anxiety disorders, stress and family acceptance, sexually transmitted diseases, body mass index education and transgender health-related issues.

Consider the process of taking a proper history, perhaps the most critical piece of a medical diagnosis. “If a patient feels unwelcome in the provider’s office – intimidated by intake forms or ill at ease with the provider’s attitude, questions or demeanor – the history can be compromised,” says Sabin.

Even in the most welcoming provider’s office, a lack of insight or information about certain cultural norms, biological differences or psychosocial factors can make it difficult for the provider to ask the right questions in the right way. It is not unusual for LGBT patients to report such barriers, and the literature has confirmed and documented this experience.

More to the point, however, “LGBT individuals are so underserved and understudied with regard to health, it’s impossible to know what we don’t know until we make a concerted effort to discover, confirm and understand the differences,” says Sabin.

“Let’s consider this matter from a historical perspective,” she continues. “Until 1990 and the release of the Nurses’ Study [which looked at more than 80,000 women over 30 years], women were viewed as small men. That study established that a woman’s health is different from a man’s and caused a true shift in consciousness.

“Now it’s possible the results and differences from our pilot won’t be that interesting, but they also might be dramatic and important. And it’s my fervent hope that this is the beginning of a process that will get us to where we can look back and say, ‘Wasn’t it amazing that we weren’t identified in studies at an earlier date?’”

The LHRC has a number of projects running simultaneously to create templates that specifically address the improvement of LGBT health. Among them: creating a national think tank to focus on the issues of LGBT health, serving as a core collaborator for the newly formed California LGBT Health Coalition, providing culturally appropriate training for providers and working on community-based projects.

Further, it is conducting research in the field of resiliency to explore two essential questions: 1) Why, in the face of so many obstacles, do so many lesbians manage not only to function but to thrive? and 2) Are there factors that can be identified and shared with the LGBT community as well as other underserved, minority and oppressed population groups?