Magazine

Dr. Dawn M. Lombardo

Matters of the heart

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 […]

Rebecca Grinter

Building better Roombas — and other machines

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 […]

John Dombrink and Robert Sterling with students

Vice and virtue

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, […]

Ngugi wa Thiong'o

For prolific African author, the stories never end

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 […]

Leigh Poirier Ball

Breathing lessons

Did your New Year’s resolution involve making a fresh start? Letting go and living better? Reviving body and mind? If those good intentions vanished with your first pressing deadline of 2011 or the daily bumper-car commute, Leigh Poirier Ball is here to help. As acting director of the UC Irvine Health Education Center, Poirier Ball assists […]

Michael Clegg

UCI botanist is America’s scientist abroad

With his rosy cheeks and booming laugh, Michael Clegg is often told he resembles Santa Claus, and he logs almost as many miles. The UC Irvine ecology & evolutionary biology professor also is foreign secretary for the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, which means he’s on the road as much as he’s at home in Irvine. […]

Bryan Doerries

Healing the wounds of war

The ancient Greeks knew the battlefield could leave emotional scars, and they had a distinctive way of dealing with it: They put on a play. Dramas about Achilles and Ajax showed these mythological war heroes suffering from the “divine madness” caused by combat — known today as post-traumatic stress disorder. “Scholars say Greek theater helped […]

Justin Richland

Crossing cultures

Indigenous cultural artifacts share space with family photos on the walls and shelves of Justin Richland’s UC Irvine office: kachina dolls, Hopi ceremonial rattles and a skate deck made by Lakota-owned Wounded Knee Skateboards. The items reflect ancient traditions as well as ways in which Native Americans are adapting their culture to the modern era. It’s […]

Will McKleroy and Sam Dodson practice portable ultrasound

Medicine’s new wave

On her first day as a UC Irvine medical student, Sarah Rooney received an Apple iPad. Not just any ordinary iPad — this one came loaded with all of the books, notes, presentations and videos she needs for her first year of medical school. UCI’s School of Medicine was first in the nation to provide the tablet […]

Salvatore R. Maddi

Stressing the positive

Psychologist Salvatore R. Maddi remembers when one of his graduate students at the University of Chicago showed him an article in Family Circle that warned, “Stress can kill you, so you need to stay away from it.” That was a popular theory in the 1970s, but Maddi was skeptical. He’d already done studies indicating that stress could […]