UCLA scientists and colleagues have created a first-of-its-kind roadmap that traces each step in the development of blood stem cells in the human embryo, providing scientists with a blueprint for producing fully functional blood stem cells in the lab. 

These days, a runny nose or a tickle in your throat could signal that you’ve come down with COVID-19.

But those symptoms could also be caused by seasonal allergies.

Allergies and COVID-19 share some symptoms, but there are significant differences between the two.

In celebration of Women’s History Month and in preparation for the upcoming LA Best Bioscience Ecosystem Summit this spring, we spoke with Dr. Gay Crooks about her research at UCLA, her quest to change the way cancer is treated and her love of Los Angeles as a great ecosystem for science.

The Class of 2022 celebrates their matches at UCLA's Match Day 2022, on March 18. (Photo by Reed Hutchinson for DGSOM)

Visitors to UCLA’s Match Day 2022 could have been forgiven for thinking they’d wandered into a time warp. It looked like 2019 all over again.

A crowd of 400 excited guests filled Irma and Norman Switzer Plaza behind Geffen Hall, and floral bouquets and warm embraces replaced masks and social distancing.

The Class of 2022 celebrates their matches at UCLA's Match Day 2022, on March 18. (Photo by Reed Hutchinson for DGSOM)

Visitors to UCLA’s Match Day 2022 could have been forgiven for thinking they’d wandered into a time warp. It looked like 2019 all over again.

A crowd of 400 excited guests filled Irma and Norman Switzer Plaza behind Geffen Hall, and floral bouquets and warm embraces replaced masks and social distancing.

LGBTQ providers and fellows celebrating Dr. Saavedra’s completion of the fellowship (provided by Dr. Yen) are (back row) Dr. Cage Hall, Dr. Emery Chang, Dr. Rebecca Rada, Dr. Gladys Ng, Dr. Cal Burton, Dr. Amy Weimer (front row) Dr. Jessica Bernacki, Dr. Felipe Saavedra, Aaron Taber, Dr. Nupur Agrawal, Dr. George Yen, Dr. Gifty-Maria Ntim, Dr. Brandon Ito.

The Class of 2022 celebrates their matches at UCLA's Match Day 2022, on March 18. (Photo by Reed Hutchinson for DGSOM)

Visitors to UCLA’s Match Day 2022 could have been forgiven for thinking they’d wandered into a time warp. It looked like 2019 all over again.

A crowd of 400 excited guests filled Irma and Norman Switzer Plaza behind Geffen Hall, and floral bouquets and warm embraces replaced masks and social distancing.

Chase Cates, DO, MPH, knew he wanted to make a difference in people’s lives since middle school. As the inaugural fellow for the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA LGBTQ Fellowship, now in its fourth year, Dr. Cates says the program gave him the tools he needed to become a competent doctor for others in his community.

If the past two years of the COVID-19 pandemic feel kind of blurry and you have a hard time remembering if something happened three weeks ago or three months ago, there’s good reason for that.

Many of us are experiencing a kind of pandemic time warp, with 2020 and 2021 blended together.

(Photo by Joshua Sudock/UCLA Health)

Match Day is back. 

After two years during which Match Day ceremonies were held virtually due to the pandemic, the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA held the event in person on March 18 — and it was bigger and better than ever. 

A crowd of 400 excited guests filled Irma and Norman Switzer Plaza behind Geffen Hall, clutching countless smartphone cameras, dozens of floral bouquets and more than a few adorable babies. The scene rippled with embraces and nervous smiles.

(Updates: On March 29, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the BA.2 omicron subvariant had become the dominant strain of COVID-19 in the U.S., accounting for nearly 55% of new cases.

Johnese Spisso is president of UCLA Health, CEO of the UCLA Hospital System and associate vice chancellor of UCLA Health Sciences.

Women have long been underrepresented in health care leadership.

UCLA Health is making great strides to change that.

At UCLA Health, women make up 59% of hospital executive leadership and women are at the helm of many other departments, divisions and programs.

Louie Mejia’s first big break came at the age of 18 when a TV news director promoted the former gang member from sweeping floors to capturing video footage.

Mejia, now 46, went on to cover history-making events around the country, including working 20 years as a photographer and show producer for CNN.

COVID-19 has battered the health care system and economy for two years and has greatly exacerbated health inequities – putting families at risk for losing their jobs, health insurance and lives. Today, about 3.2 million Californians are uninsured.

UCLA has embarked on ambitious research to better understand the immune response of people with Valley Fever who develop life-threatening symptoms.

Alan Li, class vice president of The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA’s Class of 2024, understands the numerous sides to the symbolism of the White Coat Ceremony, a symbolic rite of passage for students beginning their journey into medicine.

Susan Bookheimer, PhD, the Joaquin Fuster Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, is co-principal investigator for a newly awarded nationwide study that will investigate what keeps our brains sharp as we age, and what contributes to cognitive decline. The study will be performed by researchers from UCLA, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Harvard University/Massachusetts General Hospital and the University of Minnesota.

Neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS) and epilepsy can be difficult to diagnose and treat, because the same disease may cause different symptoms in individual patients.

“We're starting to become an interplanetary species,” says Haig Aintablian, MD. “For the first time ever, life is on the verge of moving from one planet to another – which is mind-blowing.”