UC Santa Cruz developed a computational tool known as UShER that enables real-time SARS-CoV-2 tracking and helps researchers identify new lineages of the virus. The easy-to-use tool and online server creates an evolutionary tree that helps scientists understand genomic mutations by creating new branches, showing the relationships between virus samples and the order in which mutations happened along various lineages as the virus evolves. Series: "UC Santa Cruz News" [Public Affairs] [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 39241]

Since the mid 1970s, California policy makers have attempted to address the ever-growing problem of homelessness and incarceration of people with serious mental illness. Despite these efforts, the numbers of people who are homeless and incarcerated with mental illness have reached unprecedented highs. In this program, Dr. Joel Braslow, professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and History at UCLA, lays out why this historically informed perspective is crucial to understanding why we have failed to solve the fundamental problems of caring for our most vulnerable citizens. This program is a presentation of UC Center Sacramentro. Series: "UC Center Sacramento" [Public Affairs] [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 38662]

What's California doing to address the issue of chronic homelessness? Some say nothing while others point to many efforts at the local and state levels. In this discussion, Dr. Margot Kushel, State Senator John Laird, and Dr. Toby Ewing explore the ways in which California is addressing the problem of the chronically unsheltered, what barriers remain, and how innovative solutions might restore some of the sheen to the state's golden reputation. Series: "UC Center Sacramento" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 38782]

There is increasing awareness that health disparities are largely a result of the socioeconomic position in which you are born, the housing and neighborhood where you reside, and the accessibility of educational and job opportunities. These are known as the social and structural determinants of health. By the time a person arrives at a hospital, their health outcome or their chance of survival may have already been pre-determined. Can technological advances in health devices and health-care delivery mitigate the social and structural determinants of health and eliminate disparities? Series: "Design at Large" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 38222]

For San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher, public office is about the opportunity to improve the lives of the people he serves. Fletcher's road to public service is grounded in a difficult upbringing where he and his mother endured domestic violence and poverty in the South. He worked during high school to support his family, went to college on a football scholarship and served a decade in the Marine Corps. Fletcher says looking forward and a commitment to community is important. As the leading face of San Diego's COVID-19 response plan, Fletcher acknowledges how difficult the pandemic has been on people, from health care workers to parents to small business owners. He says many challenges - homelessness, poverty, mental illness and high cost of housing - remain, and he is committed to continue to fight forward. Series: "Triton Talks" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 38069]