KEYWORD

medicine

Daniele Piomelli

Finding his bliss

Behind its stylish art deco facade, the Gillespie Neuroscience Research Facility has hosted some of the most important scientific discoveries in UC Irvine’s brief history. From its laboratories came the first stem cell therapies for spinal cord injury, and breakthrough findings by researchers there on the roots of neurodegenerative diseases offer real hope for people with Alzheimer’s […]

NICU patient baby Megan grabs onto the finger of glove wearing registered nurse

Keeping hospitals healthy

Linda Dickey, a nurse and director of epidemiology & infection prevention at UC Irvine Medical Center, wears a small but significant yellow badge on her white coat. It’s proof that she’s current on her influenza vaccine. It’s also a symbol of the hospital’s commitment to fighting infectious diseases. In 2009, when fears were running high about […]

Camille Fitpatrick and Alex Vasquez

A cure for healthcare

In a bustling trailer at the El Sol Science & Arts Academy in downtown Santa Ana, UC Irvine’s Program in Nursing Science offers a window to healthcare’s future. Children and their parents fill a sparse waiting area, but the people in white coats who move from room to room seeing the young patients aren’t physicians. […]

Cinder the golden retriever sits with children

Different breed of therapist

Cinder, a golden retriever with a sweet face and slow gait, reclines on a dog bed at the UC Irvine Child Development Center as, one by one, half a dozen 8- and 9-year-olds deliver pats and hugs. One boy puts his arms around her in a warm embrace; another gently curls up at her side. From behind […]

Ivan Soltesz

Uncharted territory

Neuroscientist Ivan Soltesz is recognized as one of world’s leading epilepsy researchers, but when talking about the focus of his work, he sounds more like the young dreamer and poet he was growing up in Budapest. “The brain is the last great frontier,” says Soltesz, UC Irvine Chancellor’s Professor and chair of anatomy & neurobiology. […]

Dr. Kristen Kelly zaps port-wine stain blood vessels on the anesthetized child’s face and arm

Lighting the way

The concept that revolutionized laser surgery and earned UC Irvine more than $40 million came to Dr. J. Stuart Nelson in 1992 while he was watching a baseball game. In the early 1990s, surgeons like Nelson were trying to adapt laser technology for medical use, and the Beckman Laser Institute & Medical Clinic was an […]

Getting in tune with patients

Matt Fradkin, a fourth-year student in UC Irvine’s School of Medicine, was doing research at CHOC Children’s Hospital when he saw firsthand how music could relieve a patient’s suffering. A boy of about 7 with cancer had been lying in bed complaining constantly of pain when a music therapist entered his room and began playing […]

Hector Parra at Calit2 uses Telios to confer with Dr. Ira Lott

Seeing a specialist — from afar

All five University of California medical schools participate in the Specialty Care Safety Net Initiative, which currently links their specialists with 40 clinics statewide.

Beach volleyball player icing their ankle

Taming the weekend warrior

Dr. David Kruse, medical director of UC Irvine’s Orthopaedic & Sports Medicine Center, sees first-hand when weekend warriors push themselves a little too far. He offers his insights on avoiding injury while still having fun this summer.

Dr. Nitin Bhatia (left) and Dr. Samuel Bederman use the SpineAssist robot to place spinal implants during a recent surgery.

Expanding the role of robots

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 […]