UC Riverside School of Medicine Biomedical Sciences Professors Meera Nair and Erica Heinrich are hosting a COVID-19 Community Chat on Saturday, April 15, 2023 at the Multidisciplinary Research Building on the campus of UCR.

The chat is free and open to the public, but space is limited to the first 100 guests and RSVPs are required. Breakfast and lunch will be provided to attendees. Parking in Lot 24 will be free for the event.

Dr. Rich Carpiano of the UCR School of Public Policy is also one of the PIs for the project.

Event organizers hope to provide an open platform for informative and insightful discussions, and help us better understand the impact of COVID-19 on our community.  This event will cover a range of topics, including the latest findings of our scientific research, public health policy, and community response to the pandemic. 

The schedule of events, subject to change, is listed below.

8:30-9:15: Registration, Grab-and-go Breakfast, and poster set-up

9:15-9:30: Opening Remarks: Dr. Rodolfo Torres, Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development, Distinguished Professor of Mathematics 

9:30-10:30: Morning session

Each speaker will briefly discuss their work and then open the floor to attendees for comments and questions    

• Community impacts of COVID in Riverside. Edward Coronado, Office of Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson (9:30-10:00)
• How COVID impacts immune and lung health, Dr. Nair and Dr. Heinrich, UCR School of Medicine (10:00-10:30)

10:30-10:50: Coffee Break

10:50-11:50: Late Morning session

• Treating COVID, what we have learned, the physician’s perspective, Dr. Merill and Dr. Ulrich  (10:50-11:20)
• Addressing Health misinformation from a public policy approach—Dr. Carpiano, UCR School of Public Policy (11:20-11:50)

11:50-12:10: Lunch

12:10-2:00: Roundtables and poster session

Open discussion with morning speakers and poster viewing

Round Table topics:

• Community Perspective and feedback on COVID impact in Riverside.
  
  Dr. Susan Hackwood, Troy Alaama 
• Public Policy Perspective on the impact of COVID in our community.
  
  Dr. Rich Carpiano, Sarah Bobardt
• Ongoing Scientific Research at UCR on long COVID
  
  Dr. Erica Heinrich, Dr. Meera Nair
• Physicians treating COVID in Riverside and health outcomes
  
  Dr. Michael Ulrich, Dr. Patrick Merrill

2:00-2:30 Closing: “What have we learned and where do we go from here”  

Raffle prizes and awards for posters