UC President Janet Napolitano spent two days at UC Davis last week, a routine campus visit during which she received research updates, met with students, and explored the university’s work in veterinary and human medicine on either side of the causeway.
Chancellor Gary S. May accompanied the president in Davis and Sacramento, April 5 and 6. Napolitano spent the first day on the Davis campus, where she addressed the university’s first session of Envision UC Davis, a program for potential graduate students; toured the School of Veterinary Medicine; met over lunch with the chancellor and the Council of Deans and Vice Chancellors; and closed her day by sitting down with undergraduate and graduate student leaders.
On the Sacramento campus the next day, she toured the medical center and heard presentations on the Umbilical Cord Blood Collection Program (Professor Jan Nolta) and Alzheimer’s disease research (Professor Charles DeCarli).
Napolitano met last with students of the School of Medicine and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, and one medical resident, for a group discussion on various programs benefitting community health.
Soon after she arrived on the Davis campus April 5, President Napolitano joined Chancellor May at Envision UC Davis — a new program for juniors and seniors from other California colleges and universities, to apprise the students of the opportunities that UC Davis offers in graduate studies. Envision UC Davis aims to boost the diversity of the university’s grad student population.
At the School of Veterinary Medicine, Dean Michael Lairmore and President Napolitano listened to a presentation by students Nicole Gilmore, Class of 2020, left, and Katrina Larkin, Class of 2021. Their school is No. 1 in the world for veterinary science, according to QS World University Rankings.
President Napolitano and Dean Lairmore, far right, observed a horse on a treadmill in the Claire Giannini Hoffman Equine Athletic Performance Laboratory. Heather Knych, associate clinical professor, standing with Napolitano and Lairmore, explained the treadmill’s use in clinical evaluations as well as for pulmonary research and exercise physiology and other studies.
Read more about President Napolitano’s visit to the School of Veterinary Medicine.
After lunch, President Napolitano stopped in at the UC Davis Research Expo, where she chatted with Professor Rick Grosberg, among others. Also pictured: Psychology professor Cameron Carter, interim vice chancellor of the Office of Research, which presents the expo annually. Grosberg is a professor of evolution and ecology and is also affiliated with the Center for Population Biology, while also serving as the director of the Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute.
A discussion with student leaders — undergraduate and graduate — closed out President Napolitano’s day on the Davis campus.
Ann Madden Rice, left, chief executive officer of the UC Davis Medical Center, escorted Chancellor May and President Napolitano through the hospital, April 6, as the UC president began her day on the Sacramento campus.
Professor Diana Farmer, left, chair of the Department of Surgery, welcomed President Napolitano to the new Children’s Surgery Center, scheduled to open soon in the medical center. Standing to the president’s left are Chancellor May, CEO Rice and Assemblyman Kevin McCarty of Sacramento, who serves on the Assembly’s Health and Education committees.
Napolitano and Rice took a walk through the colorful waiting room for the Children’s Surgery Center.
Joel Swift, chief of Facilities, Design and Construction, gave a presentation on seismic upgrades and other projects underway on the Sacramento campus.
School of Medicine and Betty Irene More School of Nursing students, and one medical resident, posed for a selfie after their meeting with President Napolitano.
Photos by Karin Higgins and Gregory Urquiaga/UC Davis