May 31, 2006

UCSD Health Sciences Students Play Important Role
in City Heights International Village Celebration, June 3

By Adele Wilson and Michael Dabney

Students from UCSD’s Healthcare Opportunities, Preparation and Empowerment (HOPE) Program will join other community outreach partners to take part in this Saturday’s 14th Annual International Village Celebration in San Diego’s City Heights area.

Sponsored by the City Heights Community Development Corporation, this free annual event is intended to celebrate the diversity and cultures of City Heights -- a community of more than 90,00 residents representing more than 30 languages and dialects – through music and dance, while educating and informing the public on health concerns affecting ethnic populations, employment opportunities, college/career preparation and other topics.

The UCSD HOPE Team Coordinators for the Event (left to right from the rear): Jack Yacoo, Francois Webster, Kathleen Antolin, Adele Wilson (HOPE Program coordinator), and Chuong Dang.

“HOPE is especially proud to participate in this year’s celebration due to the fact that our pre-health sciences students, in collaboration with the Church of Nazarene Free Clinic, have arranged for health screenings to be offered for the first time at the event,” says Adele Wilson, coordinator of UCSD’s Health and Medical Professions Preparation Program, which administers HOPE. Blood pressure and diabetes screenings will be provided by registered nurses and nursing students from Point Loma Nazarene University, she says.

At the all-day event, HOPE students will also educate youngsters and other visitors on human anatomy through interactive, hands-on games and other visuals. In addition, HOPE will inform college-bound students on academic preparation needed for careers in medicine and the sciences, and disseminate literature on cancer, diabetes, heart
disease and other conditions affecting ethnic minority communities.

“Participation in an event such as this gives us a chance to speak and interact directly with the community on health concerns, and inform other students on how they can enter related careers to help the community,”
says Francois Webster, a HOPE and pre-med student at UCSD majoring in Biochemistry and Cell Biology. At the event he will be joined by other key HOPE students who organized and coordinated HOPE’s presence at the festival, including Kathleen Antolin, a pre-med student majoring in Human Biology; Chuong Dang, a pre-M.D./Ph.D. student majoring in General Biology, and Jack Yacoo, a pre-med student majoring in Biochemistry and Cell Biology.

“All of us at HOPE are looking forward to future opportunities to serve the community through events like this,” says Antolin.

City Heights is known as one of San Diego's most ethnically diverse neighborhoods.

The international mix of residents is approximately comprised of:

• 12% White
• 12% African-American
• 15% Asian
• 57% Hispanic

This year’s festival, to be held on University Avenue from Fairmount to Euclid, is expected to draw more than 75,000.

HOPE, with a membership of approximately 120 UCSD pre-health science students, is part of UCSD’s Academic Enrichment Programs under Student Educational Advancement (in Student Affairs).

For more information on HOPE, contact Adele Wilson at (858) 534-7579. For more information on the International Village Celebration, call (619) 584-1535, or visit http://www.cityheightscdc.org/fastfacts.html

Media Contacts:
Adele Wilson, (858) 534-7579
Michael Dabney, (858) 822-0566