Health and Social Justice Pioneer, Dr. Vicki Alexander

Posted on February 21, 2020 by Charles Macquarie

Vicki Alexander at SFGH with group of patients. Perinatal Health Project. — Vicki Alexander at SFGH. Perinatal Health Project.

Vicki Alexander, MD, has dedicated her life to improving the social determinants of public health.

Alexander attended the UC San Francisco, where she completed her medical degree and residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1974. She went on to Columbia University, where she obtained her master’s degree in Public Health.

Dr. Alexander began as an Ob-Gyn Clinical Instructor at San Francisco General Hospital. She soon became the director of SFGH’s Perinatal Health Project, which served high-risk mothers and infants in the community. Alexander then relocated to New York, working as a clinical instructor and chief of obstetrics and gynecology at Harlem Hospital. Eventually, she returned to the west coast and became the Maternal Child Health Director and Health Officer for the City of Berkeley until she retired in 2006.

Vicki Alexander at SFGH with mother and child. Perinatal Health Project. — Vicki Alexander at SFGH. Perinatal Health Project.

Alexander has participated in many organizations to improve the living conditions for women and children, including: Rainbow Coalition, Center for Constitutional Rights, Reproductive Rights National Network, Planned Parenthood, City Material and Child Health.

In 1978, she established the Coalition to Fight Infant Mortality in Oakland, which helped women with medical care and social issues.

In 2000, Alexander began the Black Infant Health program in Berkeley, which grew from her coalition at Highland Hospital. This was the foundational step to the creation of the Alameda County Coalition to decrease infant mortality.

Alexander is also the current founder and board president of Healthy Black Families (HBF), Inc., which dovetails with the Black Infant Health program. It was founded as a non-profit organization in July 2013 to support the health, growth, development, and future of Black individuals and families.

For her devotion towards health and social justice, Dr. Vicki has won many awards, including: Women of the Year Award (2011); Martin Luther King, Lifetime Achievement Award (2014); National Jefferson Award for Community Service (2015); Alameda County African American Black History Month Award (2017); Madame CJ Walker Award for Black Women (2017); and 15th Assembly District Woman of the Year Award (2017).

To learn more about Dr. Vicki, check out these articles available in our digital collection on HathiTrust and Synapse Archive:

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31378005703288&view=plaintext&seq=173
https://synapse.library.ucsf.edu/?a=d&d=ucsf19791004-01.2.3&srpos=3&e=——-en–20–1–txt-%22vicki+alexander%22—–txIN–
https://synapse.library.ucsf.edu/?a=d&d=ucsf19800605-01.2.2&srpos=4&e=——-en–20–1–txt-%22vicki+alexander%22—–txIN–

*Authored by Jazmin Dew*

UCSF Cornerstone and Health Sciences Artifacts On Display Now

Posted on May 2, 2017 by Kelsi Evans

UCSF Archives recently showcased historical material at UCSF Alumni Weekend. We had a great time sharing yearbooks and artifacts from the collections and hearing wonderful stories of UCSF history from attendees.Selections from material that we shared at the event (and more!) are now on display on the 5^th floor of the UCSF Library, 530 Parnassus Ave. The exhibit is free and open to the public during library hours. Come check out unique and beautiful health sciences artifacts and discover how UCSF community members saved the clock and cornerstone of the original 19th-century School of Medicine building from demolition.

Halloween Costumes from the Archives

Posted on October 28, 2015 by Kelsi Evans

If you’re looking for some last minute costume inspiration this Halloween, the UCSF archives have you covered!

Students in the School of Nursing, 1951, illustrate the power of teamwork. If you want to dress up as a bunny rabbit, make sure you have a friend willing to wear the complementary carrot costume. It really brings the whole thing together.

UCSF School of Nursing students, 1951. From a scrapbook, AR 83-03, carton 1.

UCSF School of Nursing students, 1951. From scrapbook, AR 83-03, carton 1.

Or you can go with a timely pop culture reference like these two School of Dentistry students in 1987. Well, Maverick and Goose from Top Gun is more of a classic reference now, but you get the idea.

UCSF School of Dentistry students. From School of Dentistry yearbook, 1987, University Publications.

The UCSF Library staff, 1988, is full of ideas ranging from spooky to suave.

UCSF Library staff, 1988. Photograph collection, Library.

Finally, you can really just go for it, like these three characters visiting the Pediatrics Department in 1973. Not sure if Snoopy and his friends, Gorilla and Flower, are creepy or cute… let’s just say they are elaborate!

Characters visiting the UCSF Pediatrics Department, 1973. Photograph collection, Pediatrics Department.

Hope you feel inspired, Happy Halloween!

Celebrating Food Day: Recipes from the Archives

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Kelsi Evans

We’re joining UCSF’s Food Day celebration, October 22-24, by sharing some recipes from our collections! Definitions of healthy eating and proper nutrition have changed dramatically over the years. These examples provide just a taste of the history of food science and our changing understandings of diet and wellness. Recipe contributions from Kelsi Evans, David Uhlich, and David Krah.

This page of recipes, including sweet potato pie and peach shortcake, comes from a diet supplement created in 1961 by Dr. Mary Olney and Larry Carbine at the Bearskin Meadow Camp for children with diabetes.

Bear Facts Supplement (Known as Fare for Cub and BEAR), August 1961. Mary Olney papers, MSS 98-64, carton addition 3, folder 4.

In 1938, Olney founded the first wilderness camp in California for children with diabetes. The camp developed into Bearskin Meadow, a permanent campsite located near Kings Canyon National Park. Dr. Olney graduated from the UCSF School of Medicine in 1932. She completed her training in pediatrics at San Francisco General Hospital and was later appointed Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at UCSF. At the time of her death in 1993, Olney had served the UCSF community for over 50 years.

Dr. Mary Olney teaching a nutrition class for campers, circa 1965. Mary Olney papers, MSS 98-64, box 1, folder 6.

This page of recipes from Diet for the Sick: A Treatise on the Values of Foods, Their Application to Special Conditions of Health and Disease, and on the Best Methods of Their Preparation by Mary Newton (Foote) Henderson illustrates the vast differences in thought between what foods were considered healthy and nutritious–and even curative–in the 19th century in relation to how they are thought of today. Now frequently vilified and excluded from diets, gluten is the central ingredient in an entire section of recipes in the book, which was published in 1885. Gluten souffles anyone?

Diet for the Sick, page 130-131.

Just in case you were hoping to get a good recipe for chicken fricassee or clabbered milk, the entire book is available digitally through UCSF’s online catalog.

Diet for the Sick: A Treatise on the Values of Foods, Their Application to Special Conditions of Health and Disease, and on the Best Methods of Their Preparation by Mary Newton (Foote) Henderson, 1885.

The author of The Book of Star Ralstonism, Webster Edgerly, led a late 19th Century health and social well-being movement known as Ralstonism (Regime, Activity, Light, Strength, Temperation, Oxygen and Nature). Amongst many proscriptions contained in the book is the warning to “…not buy any food or any goods bearing the name ‘Ralston,’ contrary to our latest bulletins. We endorse everything that is pure, wholesome, honest and meritorious; but do not wish the word Ralston to be used in any connection apart from our Club, its literature and its educational interest.”

Edgerly began doing business with the Purina Food Company in 1900, and I’m sure many are familiar with Ralston-Purina products such as Chex breakfast cereal and a variety of pet foods. In the Book of Star Ralstonism, Edgerly includes this charming recommendation for sustenance for sedentary persons, which consists of two cups of roasted wheat coffee. If you “wish good blood”, go with a slice of toasted brown bread and butter along with your “coffee”. This recipe is similar to the Boston Brown Bread you can still buy in the can today.

Book of Star Ralstonism, page 168

The full text of the Book of Star Ralstonism is available online at Hathi Trust or through UCSF’s catalog.

Happy Food Day!

Latino Heritage Month Spotlight: Louis Perfecto Oviedo

Posted on October 5, 2015 by Kelsi Evans

In celebration of Latina/Latino Heritage Month, we’re recognizing one of UCSF’s early graduates of Mexican descent, Louis Perfecto Oviedo.

Louis Perfecto Oviedo graduated from the UCSF School of Medicine (then called the Medical Department of the University of California) in 1891. According to census records, Oviedo was born in San Francisco, California in 1871. His mother and father were both from Mexico.

Toland Medical Building, circa 1885. Oviedo would have attended courses in this building. UCSF Archives, Photograph collection

Oviedo attended St. Mary’s College in the Bay Area before completing his medical degree. He later worked at French Hospital in San Francisco and started his own private practice.

Oviedo and his wife, Alicia, participated in community and service organizations in the city. For instance, in 1896, they helped organize the Women’s Educational and Industrial Union’s Carnival of Nations, a fundraising event for the group’s building fund. Alicia and Louis manned the Mexican booth during the event.

The San Francisco Call, Wednesday, September 9, 1896

Oviedo died on May 30, 1898 in San Francisco. The young doctor was survived by his wife and son, Louis Jerome Oviedo. Records indicate that Alicia was pregnant at the time of Louis’s death; in July, 1898, she gave birth to another son, George Francis Oviedo.

The San Francisco Call, Tuesday, May 31, 1898.

Louis Jerome Oviedo and George Francis Oviedo both followed in their father’s footsteps. In 1923, Louis and George graduated from the UCSF School of Medicine!

UC Medical School (later UCSF) campus, 1921.

Parnassus campus, 1921. From UC Medical School course announcement, 1923-1924.

Please join us in the Library, Thursday, October 8, 2015, for the UCSF Latino Heritage Month Celebration, hosted by Diversity and Outreach and Alumni Relations. Learn more about the event and RSVP here.

Dental Department Buried Treasure

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Kelsi Evans

Last week we looked at the Dental Department “Earthquake Class” of 1906. This week we have another unique dentistry story. It involves feuding faculty, buried treasure, and a surprise discovery!

The Dental Department / College of Dentistry of the University of California was established in 1881. San Francisco practitioner Samuel W. Dennis, MD, DDS, was instrumental in its founding; he gathered support from Medical Department faculty, corresponded with other dental programs in the country to create a curriculum, and recruited dental instructors. He served as the first dean of the school from 1881-1882 and was later reappointed, serving from 1883-1885.

Samuel W. Dennis

Disagreements concerning curriculum and the school’s administration quickly developed between Dennis and his fellow dental faculty members. Tensions continued to mount for the next fifteen years until a disgruntled Dennis left the college in 1896.

First faculty of the Dental Department, 1882. AR 2015-4 SOD records, box 1

When Dennis left, he took with him a number of the school’s early records, including receipts, announcements, lecture notes, and examples of course requirements and examinations. Apparently, he then buried the material in a lead box under a grove of eucalyptus trees in South San Francisco. When Dennis died in 1906 (some accounts say 1907) he had never revealed the exact location of the records.

From the “Treasure Chest” contents: Anatomy test, 1891. AR 2015-4 SOD records, box 1

In 1929, as workers were excavating an area on which the Bayshore Highway was to be constructed, they uncovered a heavy box. Inside they found old documents labeled “Dental Department of the University of California.” Luckily, one of the workers recognized the potential value of the discovery and returned the material to the university. Dean Guy S. Millberry began investigating the papers and came to the conclusion that they had to be the missing Dennis material.

From the “Treasure Chest” contents: Freshman student course requirements, undated. AR 2015-4 SOD records, box 1

The box came to be known as the “Treasure Chest.” Today, the box and its surviving contents are housed in the UCSF Archives and Special Collections as part of the School of Dentistry records, AR 2015-4.

– Sources for this post include a 1997 School of Dentistry history booklet titled “The Early Days,” published by the University of California. The booklet is available to researchers in the School of Dentistry records, AR 2015-4.

Dentistry “Earthquake Class” of 1906

Posted on July 28, 2015 by Kelsi Evans

On April 18, 1906, a massive earthquake struck San Francisco. UC facilities in the city sustained serious damage, including the destruction of the clinical teaching lab of the School of Dentistry (then called the College of Dentistry / Dental Department). As the college began to reestablish teaching activities following the disaster, dentistry faculty considered how best to manage the would-be graduating class of 1906.

College of Dentistry class of 1906. AR 2015-4 SOD records

Though further instruction immediately following the earthquake was not possible and many of the department’s student records were destroyed, the faculty ultimately decided to recommend the class of 1906 for graduation. As Dentistry Dean and Professor Guy S. Millberry noted in his key to the class photograph, the students “graduated after the Earthquake April 18 without examination.”

Guy Millberry key to the "earthquake class" photo, 1906. AR 2015-4 SOD records

Guy Millberry key to the 1906 “earthquake class” photo. AR 2015-4 SOD records

Look closely at the class photograph above and you’ll notice a surprising detail: a skull in the second row (click on the image to enlarge). Millberry even includes a sketch of the skull in his key, noting its identity is unknown.

Click here to learn more about how the Affiliated Colleges (later UCSF) responded to the earthquake. The School of Dentistry records, AR 2015-4, include a number of early dentistry photographs and historical documents. Please contact us if you would like to view the material.

Recent donation: 1929 School of Pharmacy class photograph

Posted on July 21, 2015 by Kelsi Evans

We recently received a great image of the School of Pharmacy (then called the California College of Pharmacy) class of 1929. It was donated by Carol J. Matteson, daughter of alumna May Elizabeth Jennings. Jennings is pictured in the third row from the top; click on the image to enlarge.

California College of Pharmacy class of 1929

We are so thankful for the wonderful UCSF alumni community and its continued support. Donations like this help build the archives and preserve the history of UCSF.

To learn more about the School of Pharmacy in the 1920s, check out material in our digital collections:

New Exhibit: Many Faces, One UCSF

Posted on June 11, 2015 by Kelsi Evans

Visit the 3^rd floor of the UCSF Library and view our new exhibit, Many Faces, One UCSF: Celebrating 150 Years of Innovation, Education, and Care.

The exhibit is free and open to the public now through May 31, 2016. View rare medical artifacts and unique photographs from our collections and learn how UCSF has pioneered health science education, research, and patient care for over 150 years.

School of Pharmacy case. The exhibit includes cases dedicated to each of the four schools: School of Pharmacy, School of Nursing, School of Medicine, and School of Dentistry

UCSF Educates case. The exhibit includes cases dedicated to the UCSF mission of education, innovation, service, and care.

UCSF Educates case. The exhibit includes cases dedicated to the university’s missions of education, innovation, service, and care.

Visit the companion online exhibit here: Many Faces, One UCSF

We’re excited to share our collections with the public and proud to be a part of UCSF.

May Video Capsule at Bay Area Video Coalition

Posted on May 11, 2015 by Maggie Hughes

This is the second year we’ll be participating in this event to celebrate local audiovisual treasures. The breadth of last year’s showing was immense– so many facets of Bay Area history were represented. This year we’re contributing a couple of clips from the UCSF School of Pharmacy of the 1960s.

Join Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC) Preservation program staff for an evening of audiovisual preservation revelry. Anchored by recent selections from BAVC’s Preservation Access Program* (PAP), tonight’s program includes archivist favorites, unexpected gems, and rarely seen treats from artist-and arts organization-participants in PAP, as well as from other Bay Area preservation organizations— including Stanford Media Preservation Lab, Internet Archive, Oddball Films, UCSF Archives, the GLBT Historical Society and California Audiovisual Preservation Project. We look forward to sharing recent and prized preservation work for what is sure to be a congenial celebration of archival craft and our media legacy.

When: May 14, 2015 | 7PM |

Where: BAVC | 2727 Mariposa St., 2nd Flr. San Francisco, CA 94110

Admission: $10 suggested donation. Let us know you’re coming. RSVP here!

We hope to see you there! And if you’d like to see what we screened last year, click over to the Internet Archive to see UCSF’s moving memento films from the 1930s.

Brought to Light

Stories from UCSF Archives & Special Collections

Tag Archives: alumni