UCLA in the News lists selected mentions of UCLA in the world’s news media. Some articles may require registration or a subscription. See more UCLA in the News.

Gift to UCLA pushes program aimed at curbing student loans | EdSource

The UCLA Affordability Initiative was unveiled thanks to the gift of real estate investor and UCLA graduate Peter Merlone, according to the newspaper. “UCLA was founded on the notion that access to a top-tier education should be available to talented individuals of all backgrounds and financial means,” Chancellor Gene Block said in a statement.

A five-year fight for the ‘bubble boy disease’ treatment | KCAL-TV

Five-year-old Seersha Sulack loves costumes but she doesn't go trick-or-treating like other children do since any germ, even a common cold could kill her. Luckily, she's been given a glimmer of hope thanks to gene therapy developed at UCLA. (UCLA’s Dr. Donald Kohn was interviewed – approx. 1:20 mark.)

Many veterans at risk of suicide have unlocked guns | HealthDay News

The study from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research found that about 1 in 7 veterans with a firearm at home in California had thought about suicide. "Suicide by firearm is the leading cause of suicide death among veterans," said the center's director, Ninez Ponce, principal investigator of the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS). "Creating programs that would facilitate the secure storage of guns is a critical first step ... [.]

Who gets on a kidney waitlist? | Los Angeles Times

If a 70-year-old does not have a living donor to help them, “there’s really not much point in putting them on the transplant list, because he’s going to have to wait ... and the truth is they may not live that long,” said Dr. Gabriel Danovitch, medical director for the Southern California organ procurement agency OneLegacy as well as for the UCLA kidney and pancreas transplant program. Danovitch instead urged more attention to the need for living donors.

Why is strep so bad lately? | Wall Street Journal

Wearing masks and social distancing at the start of the pandemic reduced strep- transmission risks, according to doctors. Those who weren’t exposed in the past few years might be coming in contact with the infection now, said Daniel Beswick, an otolaryngologist, or ear, nose and throat physician, with the University of California, Los Angeles.

Posthumous biopsies shed light on treatment failures | Medical Xpress

In a new translational study from UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, researchers analyzed genetic changes in the organs of recently deceased patients to understand how metastatic cutaneous melanoma spreads in those who had initially benefited from precision therapies. (UCLA’s Dr. Roger Lo and Sixue Liu were quoted.)

What the snowpack means for fire season | San Francisco Chronicle

This year’s Sierra snowpack is among the largest on record, registering at 236% of average on April 1, when California’s snowpack typically peaks. As a result, higher-elevation regions are likely to face low fire risk in the coming months, said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA and the Nature Conservancy, during an online presentation this week. “The first half of the fire season there might still be snow on the ground,” Swain said. “And the second half of fire season we’re still going to see residual soil moisture at higher-than-usual levels when the snow does melt.”

Dwyane Wade and the toll of anti-trans rhetoric | Washington Post

In January, the UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute and Clark University published the results of a survey of LGBTQ parents in Florida. While the sample size was small, a majority indicated that they had considered moving out of the state given the recent spate of legislation targeting gay and transgender people. One in six said they’d begun making plans to do so.