The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted every corner of our school – from how and where we work or learn to the nature of the projects we are working to advance. While this temporary yet drastic readjustment can understandably cause some challenges, it also focuses and unites every one of us – trainees, staff, basic science and clinical researchers, faculty, administrators, physicians – on one shared goal: working together to solve problems in service of our mission.
I often think of our diverse DGSOM community as a microcosm of Los Angeles, the city we live in and serve. Just as Los Angeles can be seen as a collection of its neighborhoods, the DGSOM can also be viewed as a collection of its departments, centers, themes and institutes. We may live in any one of our city’s 200-plus neighborhoods, and have deep ties to our local communities, but we are also all Angelenos tied together by our interests in the well-being and future of our city.
No matter our role at the DGSOM, we each play an important part in our organization’s ability to discover, teach and heal, and it’s only through mutual respect and appreciation that we can effectively move forward, together. I continue to be inspired by every new idea, process improvement and collaboration that I witness on a daily basis – each one contributing to our greater mission and our shared ethos to do what’s right, make things better and be kind.
Thank you for all that you are doing,
Kelsey Martin, MD, PhD
Dean, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
For the latest COVID-19 information and resources pertaining to medical school staff, faculty, students and trainees, please see my fifth biweekly “COVID-19 Update” below. You will find general updates toward the top, followed by area-specific updates and support resources at the bottom.
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Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced on April 1 that Los Angeles residents should begin wearing non-medical face coverings, such as homemade cloth masks or scarves, while performing essential tasks in public. However, both the Mayor and the California Department of Public Health have advised that medical-grade face coverings, such as N95 and surgical masks, should not be worn by the general public or those performing essential functions who are not in the medical field.
The UCLA Blood & Platelet Center is experiencing a shortage of donated blood. Across its donation sites and blood drives in Westwood, Santa Monica and Ackerman Union, the Center has implemented numerous safety measures to protect donors and staff during the COVID-19 outbreak. Consider making a donation during this critical time. Find a donation site // Make an appointment // Learn more →
Effective April 2, UCLA Health hospitals began temperature screening all employees and visitors for fever (≥ 100°F) at the entrances to our hospitals. Effective April 7, temperature screening will be expanded to include other symptoms to ensure individuals with symptoms consistent with COVID-19 do not enter our facilities. In this event, employees should notify their immediate supervisor and also contact the COVID-19 hotline for workforce members (310-267-3300) for further guidance. Residents should see “GME” section below.
Effective immediately, and for the duration of the emergency declaration, CMS has temporarily waived the requirements that physicians and non-physician practitioners be licensed in the state where they are providing services. Read more →
As enunciated in Chancellor Gene Block and EVCP Emily Carter’s April 1 “Campus Update” on protecting our remote learning environments, UCLA students and faculty who experiences a bias incident should report it by completing a UCLA Incident of Bias Reporting Form. Additional security measures, including enhanced Zoom guidelines, have also been implemented.
If you are required to work on campus and you notice any suspicious activity, please alert the appropriate security or law enforcement personnel.
As a reminder, perimeter doors of DGSOM buildings require badge entry until further notice.
Health care workers required to perform essential functions onsite can access child and senior care resources contracted through UCLA Health and Bright Horizons.
DGSOM will be hosting its next all-student virtual town hall on Tuesday, April 7, at 5 pm. Please share your questions with us via Qualtrics and click here tomorrow to join.
Summer programs: UCLA has transitioned all campus summer learning activities to remote formats. This decision includes medical school pipeline and pre-matriculation programs, as well as short-term training (STTP) and related programs. We will have more detailed updates in the coming weeks.
Clerkship activities will remain remote. We are continuing to meet with the Clerkship Chairs regularly to check in and discuss best practices and modifications to the remote learning environment. In addition, we are liaising with our clinical affiliate hospital leadership to assess the state of COVID-19 at those hospitals and health systems.
Celebrating the graduation of the Class of 2020 is a top priority and we are actively discussing and planning for this event. We will provide you with an update soon.
For additional information on exams, clerkships, volunteer teaching and more, click here. Regular communications from Curricular, Educational and Student Affairs, as well as other information pertaining to students, are updated daily at medschool.ucla.edu/coronavirus-information/md-students. Students should also stay informed by reading any curriculum-update emails distributed by Ashley Siemer, director of curricular affairs.
At this point, there are no planned changes to the 2020-2021 academic calendar.
Contacts: For curriculum questions, please contact Ashley Siemer. For event questions, please contact Brandon Susselman. For support and other questions, please contact your Assistant Dean. For additional support, please reach out to the Behavioral Wellness Center.
View GME’s March 31 virtual town hall → (scroll to bottom-right of page; mednet access required).
Redeployment: Surge planning is ongoing in GME, with the front line teams in Internal Medicine, Critical Care and Emergency Medicine nearing the final planning stages. There are currently no plans to redeploy residents and fellows to services outside their typical assignments. We anticipate opportunities for each program to assist the most highly impacted areas through prompt consultation and creative off-loading of some functions.
Telemedicine: Residents and fellows may be supervised remotely (i.e., telephonically) by faculty for telemedicine visits. We are working out the details with faculty and will provide them to you as soon as possible.
PPE: There are updated PPE guidelines for cath labs and image-guided procedures here. Please stay up to date with the latest self-care and PPE information and protocols and reach out to GME with any concerns or suggestions.
Affiliate sites: In alignment with UCLA practice, N95s are now required for all intubations in the operating rooms at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center and Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.
CMS has temporarily waived the requirements that physicians and non-physician practitioners be licensed in the state where they are providing services, effective immediately and for the duration of the emergency declaration. This may facilitate the granting of med staff privileges for recent graduates of our residency programs and for current fellows who seek privileges in their “first board” specialties. Individual programs and departments will be in touch with more details on this as we develop surge plans. This will not adversely impact your board eligibility. More details here →
Child and senior care: Residents required to perform essential functions onsite should use the following link to access child and senior care resources contracted through UCLA Health: brighthorizons.com/ucmed
Resources for mental health and well-being (available virtually): medschool.ucla.edu/coronavirus-information/wellness-resources
To view the latest information pertinent to you, visit medschool.ucla.edu/coronavirus-information/graduate-medical-education.
To stay up to date with information pertinent to you – including working remotely, virtual town halls, new clinical research policies, our ramp down of research activities, minimized time in communal lab facilities, and more – visit medschool.ucla.edu/coronavirus-information/phd-trainees and the Graduate Programs for Bioscience website.
Contacts: If you have specific concerns or questions related to your training situation or program requirements, please reach out to your Program/Home Area Director or Greg Payne, GPB Director.
Access wellness resources virtually through the Behavioral Wellness Center and/or UCLA Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS).
Contacts: If you have specific concerns or questions related to your training situation or work requirements, please reach out to your mentor.?If your mentor is out of reach or you need to escalate a concern above your mentor, please contact Greg Payne or Lynn Talton. If you have further concerns or if issues arise, contact Graduate Division at postdoc@grad.ucla.eduor 310-825-3819 and you will be connected with the appropriate resource.
To stay up to date with information pertinent to you, visit the research lab and educational areasections of the website.
Access wellness resources virtually through the Staff and Faculty Counseling Center.
New COVID-19 Research Governance Structure: As part of an academic medical center, our strengths in basic, translational and clinical research position us to make a transformative and enduring impact on the COVID-19 pandemic. To do this, we must take a targeted and prioritized approach to developing and scaling our COVID-19 research programs. To this end, DGSOM has implemented a new COVID-19 Research Governance Structure to facilitate strategic, prioritized allocation of financial resources, biospecimens, PPE and research facilities. This infrastructure will be led by a central Oversight COVID-19 Research Committee (OCRC), chaired by Dr. Owen Witte, Director of the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center. There are five task forces with deep expertise in specific domains – 1) clinical research, 2) basic science research, 3) biospecimen use, 4) high-containment use, and 5) health data oversight – that will report up to the OCRC for research related to COVID-19. Learn more →
New COVID-19 research inbox: A dedicated inbox (COVID19Research@mednet.ucla.edu) has been created for all queries and requests related to COVID-19 research at DGSOM. This will be managed and monitored by the Oversight COVID-19 Research Committee (OCRC) mentioned above. Please direct all emails and requests concerning COVID-19 research to that inbox. You are also encouraged to cc the chair of the most relevant Task Force.
COVID-19 clinical trials update: Under the guidance of the DGSOM-CTSI COVID-19 Clinical Research Task Force, the UCLA health system, CTSI and the DGSOM are mobilizing a systemwide strategy to understand pathogenesis, infection, transmission, containment and mitigation of COVID-19. We now have four clinical trials open, including a tocilizumab study that opened over the weekend. There are 10 more in the pipeline, including two (and possibly more) outpatient randomized trials, one for post-exposure prophylaxis and one for treatment of mild disease. UCLA also will be kicking off its convalescent serum program this week, starting by creating an online registry of COVID+ recovered patients who no longer have symptoms.
To stay up to date with information pertinent to you, visit medschool.ucla.edu/coronavirus-information/researchers.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) donations: See details →
Individual concerns or questions: Route to your PIs, program/home area directors, division chiefs, department chairs, and then CAOs; they can then provide responses and/or escalate questions to the Dean’s Office.
Additional resources:
DGSOM will be hosting a virtual town hall for faculty on Friday, April 10 at noon. Dean Kelsey Martin will be joining, along with Vice Chancellor for Academic Personnel Michael Levine, Chief Medical and Quality Officer Robert Cherry, and other leaders from the Dean’s Office. More information will be coming soon.
UCLA has updated its guidance for all faculty and staff members who are hosting classes or meetings on Zoom. Please refer to the new guidance posted at Zoom Security Settings for UCLA prior to conducting any further Zoom classes or meetings. Please note that these guidelines are specific to the UCLA campus and that further guidance for UCLA Health Zoom instances will be coming shortly. Additionally, you'll need to update your Zoom client to ensure you are running its latest version. If you have questions about how to implement these measures, please visit IT Connect or email DGIT at DGITSupport@mednet.ucla.edu.
To stay up to date with information pertinent to you – including planning, technological and data-protection resources for remote teaching – visit medschool.ucla.edu/coronavirus-information/faculty.
Contacts: Individual concerns or questions should be routed to your division chiefs/department chairs/CAOs; they can provide responses and/or escalate questions to the Dean’s Office. Academic personnel matters that cannot be answered in departments should be sent to DGSOM Academic Affair
UCLA Health providers can find information and resources on the UCLA Health COVID-19 website. Please stay up to date with the latest self-care and PPE information and protocols.
On April 2, UC President Janet Napolitano and the Chancellors issued a memo to all UC employees. The memo reiterates UC’s commitment and announces that there will be no COVID-19-related layoffs for all career employees through the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2020. The memo states: “To UC employees on our campuses, administrative offices, and clinical settings who are unable to work because of facility closures, curtailed operations, or other distributions due to COVID-19, we are committed to supporting you as long as we are able.” Additionally, the memo notes that we cannot predict exactly how the situation will evolve, or what future measures we may need to take to uphold our mission. At this time, the UCLA health system and the DGSOM will continue to work under current guidance as local HR departments will be working in real-time to address questions from employees. We thank each of you for your continued vigilance, commitment and perseverance through these challenging times.
Child and senior care: Health care workers required to perform essential functions onsite should use the following link to access child and senior care resources contracted through UCLA Health: brighthorizons.com/uclahealth
To review the latest information pertaining to you, visit medschool.ucla.edu/coronavirus-information/staff and the “Support Services” section of our COVID-19 website.
Health care workers required to perform essential functions onsite can access child and senior care resources contracted through UCLA Health and Bright Horizons.
To ensure your and your families’ safety, we are providing overnight accommodations to those caring for patients on our designated COVID-19 units. Contact the Command Center at (310) 267-7115 for accommodations.
Virtual wellness services are available for staff, faculty, trainees and students. A new COVID-19 Mental Health Workgroup also offers facilitated group and individual check-ins, grief support, training, and materials for trauma-informed peer support for those on the COVID-19 frontlines. Learn more →
UCLA Health has created two new funds to support our mission: the COVID-19 Coronavirus Patient Care Fund and the COVID-19 Coronavirus Research and Education Fund. Details on each are available online, as are additional opportunities to support UCLA Health’s COVID-19 response efforts.
Information and resources, including how you can address bias and prejudice, are available online. Contact DGSOMEDI@mednet.ucla.edu with any questions or concerns.
See more information about this and other initiatives to help unite us →
DGIT offers a virtual helpdesk via zoom Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5 pm. Learn more →
Perimeter doors of DGSOM buildings require badge entry until further notice. Learn more →
Please check DGSOM’s COVID-19 website and the UCLA Health Coronavirus Information website frequently to make sure you have the latest information
