Alumni of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA working on campus and elsewhere offer their perspectives on the COVID-19 pandemic.
Associate Clinical Professor of Infectious Diseases and Director of UCLA’s Global Health Program
“This pandemic has really highlighted health disparities both locally and globally. Many of our global-health partnerships are in places with extremely limited resources where they are having large outbreaks. It has magnified the importance of strengthening health systems as part of the work that we do in global health. It is sobering that many of the difficulties we see when sending clinicians to places like rural Africa – making choices between who lives and dies, who gets medication, how to deal with the shortage of personal protective equipment – have been mirrored here in the United States. I think this has highlighted the need for us to make the connection between our local context and the global context in which we provide opportunities. We need to advocate for health equity right here at home as much as we need to help in other places, and empower our students to address health disparities in their own communities. It is a critical time for this work, and the silver lining is our heightened awareness of what we need to do locally, right here in Southern California.”
Dr. Risa HoffmanPhoto: UCLA Health
Internal Medicine Physician, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School and Medical Fellow to the Massachusetts Commissioner of Public Health
“As a practicing doctor, I can see where public policies may have loopholes. And understanding the political and sociological nature of the epidemic has been very important to me; as a holistic doctor, that matters to me now more than ever. At the beginning of the pandemic, we probably underestimated the level of home-based transmission and how difficult it was for people to isolate. The vast majority of patients I cared for in the ER were infected by a family member, and I was able to bring that perspective to the State Department of Public Health. I have learned not to take chances with this pandemic. The spread is exponential, not linear, so every day that you lose on the pandemic is worse than the day before. We live in a world of pandemics that are going to be more common with globalization and travel. The expansion of livestock industries will lead to more zoonotic transmission of previously unknown viruses and diseases, so being able to quickly transition to an emergency response is very important moving forward.”
Dr. Abraar Karan
Photo: Courtesy of Dr. Abraar Karan
Radiation Oncologist, City of Hope
“I’m not on the frontlines, but interactions with patients have changed a lot during this time, and we are adapting to an unpredictable schedule. Currently, patients aren’t allowed to bring family members with them for their treatment. It is difficult for all parties, as families usually have a lot of additional information to share and a lot of support to provide. Family members are often involved in an individual’s care, especially when it is long term. So we are working through that new challenge. I think we’re always trying to make it more convenient for patients to come in for treatment. There has been a push to shorten treatment courses, and I think that the pandemic may act as a catalyst for that work. We do have to be cautious; however, there are still treatment areas where we do not know what the long-term consequences would be with a change like this. The pandemic is also changing our approach to our own health. As doctors, we are used to working through a seasonal cold, and before, a sore throat would not stop me from coming to work, but now, every little symptom requires a careful response.”
Dr. Caitlin Gomez
Photo: Courtesy of Dr. Caitlin Gomez
Professor of Medicine and Chief Medical Officer for Clinical Research
“Before the pandemic hit, UCLA had a portfolio of important clinical research, and it was challenging to make changes for that research as we ramped down. We had to be flexible to keep things moving, while the majority of people moved to working remote. With fewer people permitted to be on campus, we have had to be very mindful of our clinical staff and not place additional burdens on them. With everything moving at warp speed, it has provided some interesting challenges, but it also has demonstrated how we can get together as a community and work on a common goal. UCLA Health is closely aligned with the main campus, so many of the concerns we have had to address — obtaining personal protective equipment, maintaining supplies — have been addressed by leveraging our sister schools on campus, such as engineering. For a period of time, all of the 3D printers in the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering were buzzing, making as many plastic face shields as possible. UCLA has always allowed people to be innovative and entrepreneurial, encouraging out-of-the-box thinking. These are very important characteristics in general, but even more so in a time of emergency, when you need people to find answers when traditional options are unavailable. It is also very important that we focus on the psychological impact of this pandemic. There are important avenues that everyone is focused on, such as treatment and vaccines, but, we also need to look at long-term mental effects on children and pandemic-related depression. These are really important areas that are going to require attention as time goes on.”
Dr. Arash Naeim
Photo: UCLA Health
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