As a child, Sika Zheng, PhD, founding director of the Center for RNA Biology and Medicine and a professor of biomedical sciences at the UC Riverside School of Medicine, was fascinated by the cycle of life and death. While he initially planned to become a physician, his curiosity about the...

The UCR School of Medicine class of 2024 began their medical school journey online during the COVID-19 pandemic, but finished it on Friday surrounded by cheering family and friends. 66 students received their degrees in the ceremony, which was held on May 31, 2024 in the Student Recreation Center on...

Growing up as an undocumented immigrant, Violeta Covarrubias feared going to the doctor with her family in case the visit led to deportation. After obtaining her American permanent residency as a teenager, Covarrubias enrolled at UCLA as an undergraduate, where she volunteered in hospitals and noticed patients in similar situations...

When Keziyah Yisrael, biomedical sciences class of 2024 began working on PhD research focused on the Salton Sea, she had no idea that the project would become an enduring passion and the likely basis for her career. Yisrael majored in microbiology at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia with...

Growing up in Riverside with two psychotherapist parents, Seiberling knew as a child that she wanted to become a doctor. “I think at a young age, I was just really enamored with the idea of having the knowledge and the ability to bring calm to hectic situations,” she recalled. “There...

As a high school student, Pedro Villa, PhD, began dreaming of a career in medicine after his grandfather was diagnosed with cancer. Yet just as he was set to receive his bachelor’s degree from UC Riverside in 2012, financial and caregiving challenges blocked his path toward medical school. Villa spent...

In 2003, Monica J. Carson, PhD, believed she’d work at the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego forever. When friends encouraged her to look at other jobs to be sure she wasn’t missing a better opportunity, she happened upon a job posting at UC Riverside that seemed to describe her...

On Saturday, the UC Riverside School of Medicine hosted Open House 2024, an annual event that helps attendees learn more about the school and the path to entering the health professions. More than 600 people attended the event, including prospective students, medical school applicants, high school students, and their families...

In high school, Mario Sims, PhD, read a book that would have a profound impact on his life and career: The Philadelphia Negro, by W. E. B. Du Bois. Du Bois, a sociologist and civil rights activist in the early 1900s, linked social conditions, environment, segregation, and other factors to...

On Monday, the UCR School of Medicine hosted an event to recognize the J.W. Vines Medical Society’s efforts to increase diversity among medical students as well as the organization's influence on the SOM and its community-based mission. Watch a recording of the event See a gallery of photos from the...

Everything in your life may be going well, but sometimes, it can still all fall apart. One patient with eye pain recently visited the UCR Health Community Clinic , a clinic intended to serve the local unhoused population. During the appointment, he shared his experience with Moazzum Bajwa, MD, MPH...

All eight residency and fellowship programs at the UCR School of Medicine that are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) have received continued accreditation with commendation. The ACGME reviews graduate medical education programs annually in the U.S. to ensure that they adhere to all program requirements...

On Friday, the UCR SOM class of 2024 learned where they will spend the next few years of their medical career during Match Day. The annual event brings together fourth-year medical students and their families to celebrate their next steps toward becoming doctors. At 9 am exactly, students across the...

Recently, Brenda Ross, MD, a maternal fetal medicine specialist at UCR Health, suggested that a patient with underlying health conditions have her pregnancy managed at a larger hospital with more in-house specialists. When the patient refused, Ross agreed to work with her. Ross recalled the patient being consistent with her...

As a child in Botswana, Esther Caroline McGowan, MD, still remembers the love that her mother, a nurse, had for her patients. “That was one of the reasons that I wanted to get into medicine,” recalled McGowan, who is now a pediatrician at UCR Health. “In my mind, everyone deserved...

The UCR School of Medicine will add a new master of public health (MPH) degree program in fall 2024, adding to its efforts to improve health among the people of Inland Southern California. The two-year program integrates public health expertise from across UCR’s campus, resulting in an in-depth focus on...

Many parents teared up at the UCR School of Medicine’s second White Coat Ceremony in 2014, but one in particular stood out to Meera Nair, PhD, an associate professor of biomedical sciences. Her first lab technician, Josiah Chung, MD, had come to work with her to gain more experience before...

At a neurology conference a few years ago, Iryna Ethell, PhD, the associate dean of academic affairs and a professor of biomedical sciences at the UCR Riverside School of Medicine, noticed that children with autism would sit quietly for hours, scream suddenly, then sit quietly again. When she asked the...

Recently, someone pulled aside Cynthia Carolina, the UCR School of Medicine’s director of facilities and operations, to let her know that cars weren’t stopping at a stop sign in the parking lot. “At first I was thinking, that's totally not me,” Carolina recalled, laughing. “But then I started thinking, you...

For Jason Hasegawa, class of 2025, being the first on the scene of a medical crisis or inserting an emergency chest tube was just another day in his roles as a first responder and, later, an army medic. Completing his first UC Davis undergraduate course, algebra 1, however, terrified him...