March 11, 2025

Crimson bottlebrush glistens with raindrops along Ring Road. (Photo: Steve Zylius/UC Irvine)

UC IRVINE NEWS

Five years later: Lessons learned from the pandemic

Today is the fifth anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic. So far, more than 20 million lives have been lost around the world, including 1.2 million in the U.S. And at least 1,000 people still die from the illness each week, with 75% of those deaths occurring in the U.S., according to the World Health Organization. Bernadette Boden Albala, founding dean of the Joe C. Wen School of Population and Public Health, looks back at five important lessons we have learned since March 2020.

$1 million endowment will expand music department

The Jong Sup Kim Family Endowment has donated $1 million to the Department of Music at the Claire Trevor School of the Arts. The gift will help fund scholarships, stipends and collaborations with community organizations. “Music is more than just a powerful soundtrack for our lives. It’s a bridge that brings people together to do great things,” said Tiffany López, Claire Trevor Dean of the Arts, shown above with (above right, with music professor Michael Dessen and businessman and philanthropist Jong Sup Kim). “Mr. Kim’s generous gift fuels our vision at CTSA for students to be connected to a global community through music.”

Dr. Deepti Pandita has been recognized as a chief medical information officer to know by Becker’s Hospital Review. A national leader in the field, Pandita is also the vice president of clinical informatics at UCI Health. At Orange County’s only academic health system, she drives artificial intelligence governance, digital transformation and clinician efficiency initiatives.

UC NEWS

UCPath launches 24/7 access and more new phone services

UCPath has expanded its telephone service offerings to include 24/7 assistance for many common employee and staff transactions. Driven by AI, these new features improve UCPath’s responsiveness and availability, streamlining callers’ interactions and providing more options to meet their needs. To access UCPath, call (855) 982-7284, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. to chat with a live agent; call anytime to try the new 24/7 automated service; or visit ucpath.universityofcalifornia.edu.

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