Laura López Gonzalez

San Francisco, United States

Writer and Editor at Freelance

Health & science writer ✍🏼 Al Jazeera, Guardian, The New Republic, El Pais et al. | Posting on @llopezgonzalez.bsky.social

Articles

Your Fitness Tracker Could Help Doctors Spot Health Risks Early

3 weeks ago | ucsf.edu | Laura López Gonzalez |Laura González

From hydration to ovulation, health trackers keep tabs on nearly 1 in 4 Americans. But wearable devices like these are just one piece of the ever-expanding medical “internet of things” — a universe of internet-enabled devices, applications, wearables, and more that collect, share, and analyze our data.
The Fight Against TB Was Frozen in Time, Until Now. See Its Future

Mar 2, 2025 | ucsf.edu | Laura López Gonzalez |Laura González

Consumption, phthisis, the white plague – a killer by any other name, tuberculosis (TB) has stalked humanity since at least the ice age. Today, the disease – passed from those who are actively sick to others through airborne droplets – is the leading infectious disease killer globally. Still, for decades, the fight against TB has been frozen in time, even as the bacteria that causes it has become more resistant.
How Artificial Intelligence is Fostering Human Connection in Health Care

Feb 11, 2025 | ucsf.edu | Laura López Gonzalez |Laura González

You’re reaching for your keys in the parking lot after a doctor’s visit when it hits you, “What did my physician say I wasn’t supposed to take with this new medication?”Visits can feel like a slalom for patients and providers. Patients can struggle to take in what feels like a mountain of medical information. Health care providers face their own challenges, from patient loads to paperwork.
Mission Bay Hospitals Celebrate 10 Years of Impact and Care

Feb 4, 2025 | ucsf.edu | Laura López Gonzalez |Laura González

Adecade ago, 131 patients became the first to set foot in the new $1.5 billion, state-of-the-art UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay. Welcomed by balloons, party horns and smiling UCSF Health staff and clinicians, the arrival of both adults and children at the hospitals’ opening marked a new chapter for UCSF, the city and the tens of thousands of patients who have followed in their footsteps. When it opened in early 2015, the complex represented San Francisco’s first new hospitals in 30 years.
How a UCSF Scientist Helped Ban a Chemical Connected to Parkinson’s

Jan 29, 2025 | ucsf.edu | Laura López Gonzalez |Laura González

The U.S. will ban nearly all uses of the common industrial cleaning agent, trichloroethylene (TCE), this year – more than 50 years after it led to one of the country’s worst cases of contaminated drinking water. It has been found in up to a third of sampled U.S. drinking water, including near Modesto, Fresno and Santa Rosa.
Four Ways Artificial Intelligence is Poised to Transform Medicine

Dec 6, 2024 | ucsf.edu | Laura López Gonzalez |Laura González

The radiologist was dead. Or at least that’s what artificial intelligence (AI) experts prophesized in 2016 when they said AI would outperform radiologists within the decade. Today, AI isn’t replacing imaging specialists, but its use is leading health care providers to reimagine the field. That’s why UC San Francisco was among the first U.S. universities to combine AI and machine learning with medical imaging in research and education by opening its Center for Intelligent Imaging.
Why Breathing Reduces Anxiety and Boosts Our Mood

Sep 18, 2024 | ucsf.edu | Laura López Gonzalez |Laura González

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Reddit Print this article With hundreds watching, a nervous Alexandra Klein, PhD, stepped into the spotlight and, pausing, took a deep, cleansing breath. “I already feel much calmer,” the UC San Francisco postdoctoral scholar told an audience at UCSF’s Mission Bay campus last week as part of the university’s Postdoc Slam, hosted annually by the Office for Postdoctoral Scholars and the Graduate Division.
83% of Students go into Science, Thanks to This Diversity Initiative

Aug 30, 2024 | ucsf.edu | Laura López Gonzalez |Laura González

Corey Harwell climbs a flight of stairs to the UC San Francisco’s Medical Science Building entrance on Parnassus Avenue. From there, the city seems to unfurl to meet the Pacific Ocean. It’s 1998, and the Tennessee State undergraduate has arrived for UCSF’s Summer Research Training Program. He takes the elevator to the 14th floor where he follows the signs to room 1471, the lab of then-UCSF professor and neuroscientist Cori Bargmann. He wonders if there has been a mix-up.
What to Know About Long COVID and How to Reduce Your Risk

Jul 24, 2024 | ucsf.edu | Laura López Gonzalez |Laura González

UC San Francisco scientists have found that SARS-CoV-2 can linger in the body for years and could be driving a global epidemic in long COVID. They’re also exploring the surprising long-term risks of getting COVID in pregnancy. Remove this text and use the embed button to add an image.
A cure for multiple sclerosis? Scientists say within our lifetime

Jun 13, 2024 | universityofcalifornia.edu | Stephen L. Hauser |Laura López Gonzalez |Laura González

But the breakthrough almost didn’t happen. “Biologically implausible,” is what the National Institutes of Health’s rejection letter said. It was the late ’90s and UCSF Neurology Professor Stephen Hauser, M.D., and team had applied for federal funding for the first clinical trial of the new medicine, rituximab, as a potential MS treatment. The study wouldn’t just test a new drug, but a revolutionary new theory about MS’ inner workings.