A Holiday Message

Chancellor Sam Hawgood, Jane Hawgood and the entire Chancellor’s Cabinet extend their warmest holiday wishes as 2020 comes to a close.

Hear from the heads of our departments, schools and more about why you inspire us, and the many, many accomplishments from the past year that we thank you for.

In order of appearance:  Sam Hawgood, Dan Lowenstein, Keith Yamamoto, Talmadge E. King Jr., Mark Laret, Catherine Gilliss, Michael Clune, Chris Shaffer, Brian Smith, Sharmila Majumdar, Michael Reddy, B. Joseph Guglielmo, Francesca Vega, Theresa O’Brien, Corey Jackson, Jennifer Arnett, Jaime Sepúlveda, Lindsey Criswell, Renée Navarro, Paul Jenny, Won Ha, Elizabeth Watkins, Greta Schnetzler, Jane Hawgood and Henry.

Major Milestones

With everything that happened this year, 2020 may seem like a blur. Take a stroll back through the year's highlights across UCSF to relive all that we have accomplished. And read through the science and health stories that most captured your attention (even a handful of non-COVID-19 ones).

Chancellor’s Message on UCSF : The Campaign

281,657 gifts. 159,701 donors. Impact that touches every corner of UCSF.

From gifts that support our education of the next generation of health-science researchers and clinicians to those that advance scientific knowledge and clinical innovations, the thousands of donors to our campaign will help us to advance health worldwide.

Go beyond the numbers and see the stories about how our successful campaign is enabling us to solve the grand challenges. See the results

Best Pictures of the Year

See how UCSFers brought our public mission to life across patient care, research, and in the communities we proudly serve.

A medical worker exists a COVID screening tent erected outside the hospital at the Parnassus campus

In early March, ACU’s (Accelerated Care Units) were erected to triage patients that may have been exposed to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The units provide a negative pressure environment to house patients. Arnold Shepherd, RN, exits an ACU on March 7, 2020. Photo by Noah Berger

Nurses and doctors examine a scan of a patient's lungs on a monitor

Saned Raouf (far left), MD, resident in the department of Emergency Medicine, Rachel Muster, medical student, Brandon Scott (center), MD, MBA, resident in the Department of Medicine, and Alexandra Hill (far right), MD, resident in emergency medicine, look at a lung scan during rounds in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit at UCSF Medical Center on the Parnassus Heights campus. Photo by Susan Merrell

Two medical workers stand on either side of a patient's bed wearing protective gear

Sharon Dopak (left), RN, and Helcerna Hernandez, patient care assistant, treat a COVID-19-positive patient in a respiratory isolation room in the ICU of the UCSF Helen Diller Medical Center on the Parnassus Heights campus. Photo by Susan Merrell

A patient in a wheelchair is being hugged by his family as he's wheeled away from the hospital after recovery

George Delgado is embraced by his family as he is released from the UCSF Mount Zion Hospital after recovering from COVID-19. Assisted by his nurse Nathan Enriquez, RN, Delgado was outside for first time in a six weeks. Photo by Susan Merrell

Clement Yeh hugs his family at the airport before taking off to NYC to help with patient care

UCSF clinicians volunteered to support hospitals in greater need than San Francisco. Clement Yeh (far right), MD, a UCSF clinical professor of emergency medicine at ZSFG and medical director for the SF Fire Department, hugs his family before heading to New York-Presbyterian. His wife, Elizabeth Fair, PhD, MPH, an infectious disease epidemiologist at UCSF and daughters Elsa, 11, and Thea, 9, are there for his departure from SFO. Photo by Susan Merrell

Brenda Beyal, a member of the Navajo Nation, adjusts her mask while quarantining at the Howard Johnson motel

In solidarity with Navajo Nation colleagues, UCSF Health workers joined forces with local frontline medical teams to combat COVID-19 in Navajo Nation. Brenda Beyal tested negative for COVID-19 but was exposed to the virus. She was provided shelter at Howard Johnson Hotel in Gallup, Ariz. to keep the rest of her family safe until she was cleared. She received daily medical checks until it was safe to return to her home on the reservation, where she was caring for a sick relative. Photo by Barbara Ries

A UCSF resident shakes the hand and laughs with a Navajo resident quarantined in a motel in Gallup

Anne Montgomery, MD, UCSF resident and HEAL volunteer in Navajo Nation, goes door to door on her rounds at the Days Inn Motel in Gallup, Ariz. She shares a laugh with Calvin Hasgood, 74, a Navajo resident in the Hotel-Motel program. Hasgood is homeless and was worried about where he will live after his COVID-19 isolation. Anne assured him the team could help place him in an elderly care residence in Gallup. Photo by Barbara Ries

Two researchers wearing PPE tape the wrists of their gloves before entering a high biocontainment lab

Our researchers regroup to focus their research on the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Lisiena Hysenaj (left), PhD, postdoctoral fellow in the Jeroen Roose Lab, and Lauren Rodriguez, PhD, a specialist for UCSF CoLabs and manager of a Biosafety Level 3 (BSL3) facility, don complex personal protective equipment (PPE) in an anteroom before entering the high biocontainment lab. The lab studies various aerosol pathogens. Photo by Susan Merrell

A researcher wears a mask in a dark room while they examine a 3D representation of a COVID-19 spike particle, created using a cryo-electron microscope

UCSF graduate student Bryan Faust examines a 3D representation of a COVID-19 spike particle, created using a cryo-electron microscope. Photo by Noah Berger

Two surgical technicians sit apart on the steps of the Parnassus Campus as they eat lunch

Physical distancing became part of safety precautions against transmission of COVID-19. Edgar Perez (left), principal surgical technologist, and John Briggs, surgical technician, take a physically distanced lunch break on the Parnassus Heights campus. Photo by Susan Merrell

Two students practice a tracheostomy procedure on a simulation model while wearing masks, face shields, and gloves

Students also needed to adapt to new procedures in their on-site learning. Claudia Martinez (left) and Rita Huober, students in the UCSF Master’s Entry Program in Nursing (MEPN), practice a tracheostomy procedure on a simulation model at the Parnassus Heights campus. Photo by Susan Merrell

A UCSF postdoc holds up a sign that says free hand sanitizer and masks while holding a bottle of hand sanitizer up in her other hand

Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in the Science Policy Group at UCSF launched a project to produce and provide sanitizer to vulnerable communities in San Francisco, people living in public or transitional housing or experiencing homelessness. Larissa Maier, PhD, postdoctoral research fellow in the UCSF Department of Psychiatry, helped with distributing free hand sanitizer and masks on Eddy Street in San Francisco. Photo by Barbara Ries

An unhoused man accepts a mask from a UCSF volunteer distributing free masks

Aenor Sawyer, MD, MS, and volunteers restrung expired N95 face masks for community use, and distributed them to the homeless directly and via agencies. She gives a refurbished face masks to Tony, who lives in a tent in the Cathedral Hill area, and explains how it’s used. Photo by Susan Merrell

An overhead view of COVID-19 testing tents scattered across a baseball field

UCSF partnered with local community organizations to provide COVID-19 testing to communities most affected by the virus. Tents are distanced in a baseball diamond at the testing site at Herz Playground in Visitacion Valley, San Francisco. Photo by Maurice Ramirez

Two children watch on as their Mom gets tested for COVID-19

Shereda Nosakhare gets tested at the UCSF pop-up COVID-19 test site at Akoma Farmer’s Market outside of Eastmont Mall in Oakland, as her children look on. Photo by Maurice Ramirez

Students stand on a curb in protest wearing masks and holding their fists in the air beside a giant black health matters sign

After George Floyd's killing by police, the UCSF community came out in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. UCSF nursing students Jen Chavez and Nicole Naramura and medical student Eric Smith rally against police shootings during a “Bridging the Bay for Black Lives” protest in Oakland. Photo by Noah Berger

Two medical workers hug during a Black Lives Matter protest

In response to the killing of George Floyd, UCSF health care workers join the protest for justice as part of White Coats 4 Black Lives. Arthurine Zakama, MD, a third-year OB/GYN resident, hugs Marleen Rashad, MD, a first-year OB/GYN resident. Crowds of up to 10,000 people gathered at Dolores Park for a march from Mission High School to the district police station on Valencia Street. Photo by Barbara Ries