Do masks provide a just-right amount of COVID‑19? By Allison Bond, MD UCSF Magazine Winter 2021 Infectious diseases expert Monica Gandhi, MD, MPH , explores the idea that one of the benefits of masks may be that they provide exposure...
What We Believe In
We believe in women and are working to transform their health and lives.
We believe women deserve healthcare and health policy that is based upon rigorous research inclusive of sex and gender variables, designed with community, and provided compassionately by clinicians who respect individual values and choices.
UCSF Center of Excellence
Education
Educating the next generation of women’s health providers, scientists and policy makers
Research
Pioneering discovery and innovation in women’s health through sex and gender inquiry
Director’s Spotlight
Black Lives Matter
We at the UCSF Black Women’s Health & Livelihood Initiative are deeply saddened, hurt, and angered as we have witnessed the deaths of Black people at the hands of the police. George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Tony McDade have now been added to the list of names of those we know whose lives have been cut short by police violence. The reality is that racism and systemic violence kill Black folks every day. We don’t have to look any further than pregnancy and maternal outcomes in the United States; we feel outrage on a daily basis. The cause of these deaths-white supremacy and racism-are embedded in the fabric of our country, including healthcare.
Important News in Women's Health
Leadership
Mays to be honored for contributions to the practice of infant and early childhood mental health
Clinical social worker Markita Mays, LCSW , has been selected as the 2020 recipient of ZERO TO THREE's Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH) Emerging Leadership Award for Practice . She will receive her award on October 6, during...
Community
The Open Hand: A Conversation with the Descendants of Biddy Mason
By Nicholas Weiler Bridget "Biddy" Mason is shown treating a soldier suffering from malaria in a detail from the “History of Medicine in California” murals. She is depicted as a medical practitioner on equal footing with John S. Griffin (center)...
Community
UCSF Partners With Community Groups to Bring COVID-19 Testing to Oakland
By Laura Kurtzman A UCSF partnership brought COVID-19 testing to the Akoma Farmer’s Market next to Eastmont Mall in Oakland on Sept. 9. The testing in the Oakland community is scheduled to return Sept. 26 and 27 to the La...
Research
Most Infants Are Well Even When Moms are Infected by COVID-19
UCSF Study Shows Reassuring Initial Findings for Infant Health By Elizabeth Fernandez Infants born to women with COVID-19 showed few adverse outcomes, according to the first report in the country of infant outcomes through eight weeks of age. The study,...
Research
UCSF’s Covidseeker to Track the Coronavirus with Cellphone Data
Participants Can Donate Their Google Location History to Promote a Safer Reopening By Laura Kurtzman Scientists at UC San Francisco are inviting the public to contribute the location data that Google collects from their mobile devices to a new study...
Research
Maternal Stress During Pregnancy Linked to Infant Illness
By Steve Tokar Greater maternal stress during pregnancy is linked with significant increases in the number and variety of infant illness during the first year of life, independent of the level of stress after birth, according to a study led...
Healthcare
Why COVID-19 Means You Need a Flu Shot This Year
By Nina Bai As the flu season approaches in the United States, health experts are warning that the addition of another respiratory illness on top of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic could overburden the health care system, strain testing capacity, and...
Healthcare
COVID-19 Testing at Transit Hub Finds Ongoing High Transmission in Latinx Essential Workers
Study Highlights Urgent Need for Access to Rapid Testing to Shorten Delays Between Infection, Test Results and Isolation, Researchers Say By Nicholas Weiler Nurse Elia Moreno administers a COVID-19 test at the 24th Street Mission BART Plaza transit hub...