Hindsight, unlike many people’s vision, is always 20/20. Laser eye surgery has become so common, it’s easy to forget that just three decades ago a promising new treatment was greeted with skepticism and even fear. “When the ultrashort pulse laser came along, we were excited that it was a more controlled, delicate way of cutting […]
During last month’s spring break, as most college students recovered from finals by lounging in the sun, 14 UC Irvine undergraduates toiled under it at the La Jolla Indian Reservation, in northern San Diego County. They helped the Luiseno tribe plant a community garden, haul trash and pick California white sage for an upcoming Earth […]
UC Irvine psychologist Karen Rook can trace her interest in how loneliness affects the elderly to her childhood, when she saw a much-loved, once-robust grandmother decline markedly after losing her husband. Unable to manage the family farm on her own, her grandmother moved into an apartment. After breaking her hip in a fall, she ended […]
Lourdes Medina had a common problem: relentless back pain and sciatica caused by a herniated disk and an unstable spine. The solution, however, was anything but common. At UC Irvine Medical Center, she underwent the first robot-assisted spinal surgery on the West Coast. Within a day of her March 15 operation, the 32-year-old Los Angeles woman was […]
When she enrolled in UC Irvine’s School of Law, Susan Lewis figured she’d someday become an attorney at a private firm. Then she signed on for the kind of hands-on, pro bono work the law school endorses as part of its commitment to public service, and her career plans changed. Lewis joined the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project, […]
When Kristina Smith, a top-ranked tennis recruit from Dana Hills High School, announced in fall 2008 that she would attend UC Irvine, her decision didn’t just please the university’s coaching staff. It was cheered by a large cadre of her relatives. By enrolling in the class of 2013, Smith became the youngest member of an […]
When it comes to women and heart disease, UC Irvine Medical Center cardiologist Dr. Dawn M. Lombardo can recite some sobering statistics. Cardiovascular disease kills six times more women than breast cancer, she says. In fact, twice as many women die of it as die of all cancers combined. “It’s the No. 1 killer of women,” Lombardo […]
Most people have just one question regarding Roombas: How well do the robotic floor vacuums suck up pet hair and dust bunnies? A few might even wonder if their Roomba could go rogue and chase the family cat or attack them in their sleep. Rebecca Grinter, M.S. ’94, Ph.D. ’96, a graduate of UC Irvine’s […]
Amid the riot of books, papers, student exams, posters and paraphernalia in John Dombrink’s office at UC Irvine, one thing stands out: little yellow sticky notes he’s tacked onto a row of file drawers labeled “sin.” Dombrink — who once considered the priesthood before finding his true calling — specializes in sin. The professor of criminology, […]
His name is pronounced “Googy,” and in his native African tongue, it means “work.” It’s fitting, because prolific author Ngugi wa Thiong’o has worked hard his entire life, turning out books, plays and newspaper columns that have made his unusual name known the world over. Now in his 70s, Ngugi could be forgiven for slowing down the […]