The UC Riverside School of Medicine

Experimental therapy reduces disease-causing cells, inflammatory molecules, and kidney damage while sparing healthy immune cells

UC researchers identify viral processes key to broader coronavirus treatments

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the United States, affecting around 1 in 8 women according to the American Cancer Society. With incidence rates continuing to increase by around 1% per year, Breast Cancer Awareness Month each October promotes awareness and early detection of the disease.

During a routine doctor’s appointment, Kay Monteith was chatting with her physician about her job. Monteith, who had recently joined the UC Riverside School of Medicine’s Office of Faculty Development at the time, described her new role as an instructional designer. “I said I take the doctors’ PowerPoints and make them a little bit easier to learn or enjoyable to look at,” Monteith recalled. Her physician’s reply was simple yet heartfelt: “Thank you.”

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers shifted their focus towards preventing the next possible pandemic by developing the next generation of vaccines to provide protection against a broad base of coronaviruses. On Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, Pamela Bjorkman, PhD, of the California Institute of Technology shared some of the recent breakthroughs in vaccine development at the Thomas and Salma Haider Biomedical Breakthrough Lecture at the UC Riverside School of Medicine.

Riverside welcomed 31 new permanent faculty members from a variety of disciplines for the 2026-27 academic year.

In a Grand Rounds presentation at the UC Riverside School of Medicine titled “Five Years Later: Progress, Partnerships, and Possibilities in Child Mental Health,” psychiatrist Tami Benton, MD, said that American youth are showing the first drop in emotional distress in more than a decade, but that there is still more work to be done in ensuring young people have access to proper mental health care.

UC Riverside’s Center for Community Solutions will survey 1,000 adults in Riverside and San Bernardino counties to inform strategies to improve life in the Inland Empire, thanks to a grant from the IEHP Foundation, an Inland Empire health advocacy nonprofit.  Residents will be asked about their experiences with nutrition, housing, health care, transportation, employment, education, access to recreation, the environment, and other factors that shape their well-being.