Laura Kurtzman has just joined the news team as a Senior Public Information Representative. She will be covering education, among other beats that will be posted in the near future. She spent two decades in journalism, working mainly at the San Jose Mercury News, but also at the Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press. She has covered national, state and local politics, education, health care reform, general news and features. In between journalism and coming to the UCSF News Office, she spent three years doing research in health psychology here at UCSF. She holds a BA from Williams College and an MS from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.