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Dear colleagues,
So far, this year has proven to be the most unprecedented and trying time for our entire UCI community, not to mention the world at large. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, I want to take a moment to express how proud I am of each and every one of you for the commitment and dedication you have displayed throughout this crisis. To our dedicated staff on the front-lines, our tireless researchers, our student volunteers, and those of you who continue to support our mission by working from home or at off-site locations, you have my complete admiration. Together, we have demonstrated how teamwork, and how all of us contributing to a common goal, can lead to new discoveries and new solutions for diagnosing, treating and monitoring, and caring for people as we battle this deadly disease.
As the fight wages on, a silver lining has begun to unfold. Through a campus and community collaboration, we have launched the UCI Joint Research Fund to support our researchers in finding ways to slow and stop the spread of COVID-19 and minimize its negative impacts. More than 40 proposals were submitted for review and several projects have already been approved.
Despite being pulled off of clinical rotations, our medical students have stepped up to help their colleagues and mentors working on the front lines by staffing our UCI Health commissary, playing music in the lobby for our patients, translating important COVID-19 healthcare information into Spanish, helping clinical physicians with household chores like dog walking and grocery shopping, making face shields, and holding PPE drives. To date, the PPE collection totaled over 25,000 pieces of equipment which will help our clinicians as they work to keep our day-to-day supplies fully stocked.
Our healthcare workers on the front-lines have worked tirelessly to care for members of our community and their efforts have not gone unnoticed. Over the weekend more than 150 families participated in a drive by salute to healthcare workers at UCI Medical Center in Orange. On Tuesday, dozens of emergency vehicles from local police, fire and ambulance agencies came to UCI Medical Center to salute our caregivers for keeping patients and the community safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.
All of us have had our lives interrupted and we’ve each had to make adjustment to how we live and work. But, we continue to thrive. On campus in Irvine, one of the many postponed or changed events was our annual Match Day. This year's medical students held a virtual event and spectacularly conveyed the spirit of the occasion. And, as we near the end of the academic year, plans for a socially distant commencement ceremony are underway for what promises to be the virtual event of a lifetime.
Even with all of the disruption, we remain committed to Discover. Teach. Heal. Innovative research continues to take place, faculty and staff continue to win awards and new team members have joined our UCI community. I encourage you to read this edition of the UCI School of Medicine News & Events and remember to share your ideas and stories with us at SOMNews@uci.edu.
Sincerely,
Michael J. Stamos, MD Dean, UCI School of Medicine
Discover. Teach. Heal.
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