UCSF Invites the Public to Mini Medical School

"Bringing Science to Life: The Promise of Modern Medicine" is the theme of UCSF's Mini Medical School for the public, which begins May 3. Mini Med seeks to inform the public at a time of accelerating interest in the science behind the health headlines, and of increasing consumer involvement in making health care decisions. Mini Med is designed to provide members of the community the opportunity to see and hear what goes on every day in UCSF's classrooms and research labs, with lectures from the same faculty who are in the vanguard of teaching and research. Special elective classes will take students "behind the scenes." Classes will be held on six Wednesday evenings, May 3-June 7, from 7 to 9 p.m. at Cole Hall on the UCSF campus, 513 Parnassus Ave. Each class includes a one-hour lecture followed by a question-and-answer session. Tuition for the course is $75. Parking in the UCSF campus garage is $3 per evening. UCSF first offered Mini Medical School in fall 1999 to a sold-out audience. Early registration is encouraged. For more information, call the UCSF Public Affairs office at 415/476-2557, or visit the website. Following is this year's schedule: • May 3: "Risky Business: Reporting on Research in the Lay Press" by Lisa Bero, PhD • May 10: "Embryonic Stem Cells and Their Potential for Treating Diabetes" by Michael German, MD • May 17: "Telomeres and Telomerase and Their Implications for Fighting Cancer and Diseases of Aging" by Elizabeth Blackburn, PhD • May 24: "What Does a Drunken Fruit Fly Tell Us About Addiction?" by Ulrike Heberlein, PhD • May 31: "The Developing Embryo and Implications for Disease" by Didier Stainier, PhD • June 3: "Elective Saturday" featuring visits to UCSF clinical and scientific programs and campus research labs • June 7: "Genomics and Infectious Diseases: Hunting the Causes of SARS, Malaria and Prostate Cancer" by Joe DeRisi, PhD Mini Medical School is offered in conjunction with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UCSF (OLLI). Supported in part by a grant from the Bernard Osher Foundation, this UCSF community education program is sponsored by the UCSF schools of dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy, the UCSF Medical Center and the UCSF Public Affairs department.