Students Get Look Inside UCSF
Karla Lozano, who was among the undergraduate students to participate in the outreach event called Inside UCSF in April, got a hands-on lesson from professor Henry Sanchez in a pathology lab.
UCSF recently welcomed about 40 undergraduate students for an inside look at one of the nation’s top graduate universities.
The annual outreach program called “Inside UCSF” is geared towards students at two- and four-year degree universities who are interested in pursuing careers in health and science.
Participants, who were visiting from California State University Fresno and UC Merced, learned about UCSF through student panels and interactive workshops and met with faculty and staff at a reception during the outreach event in April. Participants also heard about academic programs in each of the four professional schools and the Graduate Division and how to obtain financial aid.
This year’s renewed funding was secured by the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Academic Diversity, which works with other campuswide diversity committees to implement UCSF’s diversity initiative, one of seven strategic directions outlined in the UCSF Strategic Plan. That plan, released in June 2007, specifically calls on the University to “ensure that UCSF continues to attract the best and most diverse candidates for all educational programs.”
Inside UCSF is one of many student outreach events designed to encourage young people to purse higher education and careers in life sciences and health professions. This year, the two-day event featured a campus tour, dinner with UCSF students and a view of health sciences classroom led by Sharon Youmans, PharmD, MPH, associate dean for diversity in the UCSF School of Pharmacy.
“Inside UCSF has given our campus an opportunity to develop a relationship with diverse students who aspire to be among the next generation of leaders in the health professions,” said Joseph Castro, PhD, vice provost of Student Academic Affairs. “One key to this initiative’s success will be sustaining these relationships in ways that benefit both the participants and UCSF.”
UCSF Graduate Division Dean Patricia Calarco, PhD, greeted the students giving them an overview of the University. She talked a bit about her personal life as the grandmother of African American children.
One of the most popular parts of the program was a visit to a pathology lab on the UCSF Parnassus campus. There, Henry Sanchez, MD, a professor of clinical pathology, gave student participants an entertaining and informative hands-on lesson about anatomy and showed them several specimens, including a cow heart.
Photos by Susan Merrell