UCOP staff are invited to join UC leaders in a town hall Q&A session on Friday, Oct. 29, regarding the changes to UC’s retirement benefits being recommended by the Post-Employment Benefits (PEB) Task Force.

This is your opportunity to share your views directly with leadership and ask questions about the proposed changes. Learn more about the recommendations President Yudof will make to the Regents at their November meeting.

The event, being hosted and co-sponsored by the OP Staff Assembly (OPSA) and the President’s Advisory Council on the Status of Women (PACSW), will feature Provost Larry Pitts, Academic Senate Chair Dan Simmons and Executive Director of Talent Management & Staff Development Randy Scott.

UCOP Post-Employment Benefits Town Hall

• Friday, October 29
• Noon-1:30 p.m.
• CSU East Bay – Oakland Professional Development and Conference Center
• 1000 Broadway, Suite 109, Room 2, Oakland – *use 11th Street entrance across from Franklin Building

• To participate via teleconference, dial 1-866-740-1260 and enter access code 9870155.

UC senior leaders have been holding similar meetings across the system to explain the recommended changes and answer questions from UC faculty and staff. The UC Regents are expected to discuss proposed changes at their November 16-18 meeting.

2011 Open Enrollment brings new medical plans and changes stemming from health care reform. UC is making significant changes this year. You have choices to make and actions to take.

Open Enrollment began at 8 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 25, and will end at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 23.

Learn about your 2011 Open Enrollment options at the Open Enrollment Benefits Fair on Thursday, Nov. 4, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. in the lobby of the Franklin Building.

Open Enrollment Benefits Fair

• Thursday, Nov. 4
• 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
• Franklin Building lobby

You can also learn more about your options on the Open Enrollment website: http://atyourservice.ucop.edu/open_enrollment/.

It’s like a puzzle that has millions of pieces. That’s how the California Breast Cancer Research Program (CBCRP) characterizes breast cancer.

Breast cancer is a varied and highly complex disease that can affect women of all ages and races. The CBCRP, which is administered by UC, is working to eliminate breast cancer by leading innovation in research, communication, and collaboration in the California scientific and lay communities.

The facts about breast cancer are startling:

• Nearly 200,000 California women are living with breast cancer, and today a woman has a 1 in 8 chance of developing the disease during her lifetime.
• Nearly 20,000 Californians will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year.
• Some 80 percent of women who develop breast cancer have no family history.
• Breast cancer risk increases with age and every woman is at risk. In fact, 77 percent of women with breast cancer are over age 50.
• On the average, every two hours a California woman dies of breast cancer. In California, nearly 4,200 women die of breast cancer every year—that’s more than 11 women who die from the disease every day.

Learn about “Breast Cancer Screening: Factors for Making Your Own Choices” from the Director of the California Breast Cancer Research Program, Dr. Mhel Kavanaugh-Lynch, in a noontime session on Wednesday, Oct. 27.

Attend in person at Franklin 5320 or by teleconference.

• Wednesday, Oct. 27
• Noon-1 p.m.
• Franklin Building, Room 5320
• Dial 866-740-1260 and enter access code 7226879.

The President’s Advisory Committee on the Status of Women (PACSW) is sponsoring this session.

More about Mhel Kavanaugh-Lynch

Dr. Mhel Kavanaugh-Lynch is the director of the California Breast Cancer Research Program, which is administered by UC. Her work includes setting priorities and developing strategies for the State of California’s research efforts designed to bring an end to breast cancer. She recently led a national panel that developed research strategies to explore disparities and the role of environmental contaminants in breast cancer.

She serves on the oversight group for the NIEHS/NCI Breast Cancer and Environment Research Centers and on the Scientific Guidance Panel for the California Environmental Contaminant Biomonitoring Program. She has served on peer review and advisory panels for the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the California Department of Public Health, as well as for The Breast Cancer Fund, the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association and the American Cancer Society.

She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Bryn Mawr College, a Master of Science in Pharmacology and a Doctorate of Medicine from New York University, and a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from the University of Washington. She trained in Internal Medicine at University Hospitals of Cleveland and in Oncology and Cancer Prevention at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Read more about the California Breast Cancer Research Program.

Women We Admire: UC Women Discuss Their Careers

This presentation is part of the series Women We Admire: UC Women Discuss Their Careers, sponsored by PACSW. PACSW focuses on the advancement of women at UCOP.

UC Berkeley professor Jay Keasling, Ph.D., a superstar in the scientific world, will discuss the blossoming field of synthetic biology, on Friday, Oct. 29, from noon to 1 p.m. in Franklin 5320.

• Friday, Oct. 29
• Noon-1 p.m.
• Franklin Building, Room 5320

Watch the talk live at http://www.ustream.tv/ucevents. This session will also be available afterward for online viewing at http://www.ustream.tv/ucevents. To view the live webcast, we recommend you have a high-speed (broadband) internet connection (1.5mbps/sec or greater) and speakers and/or headphones to listen to audio.

The talk is part of a UC systemwide speaker series, sponsored by the Office of Research and Graduate Studies (ORGS) at UCOP.

Keasling, who is also the CEO of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Joint Bioenergy Institute (JBEI), is a pioneer in synthetic biology, which turns microbes into tiny, chemical factories that can churn out valuable life- and earth-saving compounds.

He has received numerous honors for his work, including the first Biotech Humanitarian Award (2009) for developing a simple and much less expensive means of making artemisinin, today’s most powerful anti-malaria drug.

The technology behind the malaria drug breakthrough is now being used to help produce the next generation of biofuels.

In 2006, Discover magazine honored Keasling as its first ever Scientist of the Year. “Fighting malaria is just one part of Keasling’s larger agenda to explore the staggering potential of synthetic biology,” stated the magazine. “In his laboratory, students are engineering microbes to break down pesticides, make biodegradable plastics, and create ethanol and other fuels from plants.”

In addition to his leadership of the JBEI, Keasling is professor of chemical engineering and bioengineering at UC Berkeley, and he heads the Synthentic Biology Engineering Research Center.