La Jolla News Nuggets: La Jolla Parkway landscaping; job fair; UCSD grant; ‘women of distinction’; more

Residents meet with S.D. reps to discuss landscaping on La Jolla Parkway

Could some sprucing of “The Throat” be coming to La Jolla? A group of residents met with San Diego city representatives last week to discuss cleaning up existing vegetation and landscaping the area when the city repaves La Jolla Parkway.

The city is slated to resurface the street as part of Mayor Todd Gloria’s “Sexy Streets” initiative, but a timeline was not given.

Area resident and urbanist Trace Wilson said he and community leaders met March 15 with Steve Hadley, representing the office of City Councilman Joe LaCava (whose District 1 includes La Jolla) where La Jolla Parkway becomes Torrey Pines Road (the area known as The Throat) to point out some problems.

“This is our only landscaped right of way in La Jolla proper and it hasn’t been maintained,” Wilson said. “The median and the parkway are weedy and overgrown and people want it cleaned up.”

Before reaching out to the private sector, Wilson said, he wanted to meet with the city about possible options to add landscaping or to care for the vegetation currently there.

“We would be happy to come up with a plan to develop the area, but it would be great if it could get done while the city is redoing La Jolla Parkway,” Wilson said.

City to hold job fair for young people March 24

To help young San Diegans find employment and get their careers started, the city of San Diego is teaming with local nonprofits to offer a series of career and employment opportunities.

A virtual job fair will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, March 24, during which nearly 30 employers will offer full- and part-time jobs as well as internships. Register at sandiego.gov/jobfair.

UC San Diego is awarded $38 million for international self-advocacy research

UC San Diego’s Center on Gender Equity and Health will receive its largest-ever grant from the federal agency that then-President John F. Kennedy created in 1961 to promote humanitarian efforts worldwide.

The $38 million award from the U.S. Agency for International Development supports a five-year effort to refine the characteristics of “agency,” or self-advocacy, in Africa and South Asia. The center will coordinate an Agency for All effort to “develop and foster social and behavioral research resulting in a better understanding of how to promote the voices of local people within their own communities.”

UCSD anthropologist Rebecka Lundgren will serve as project director. Research partners will include the Centre for Catalyzing Change and Sambodhi in India; Evidence for Sustainable Human Development Systems in Africa in Cameroon; Makerere University in Uganda; Matchboxology and the University of Witwatersrandin in South Africa; Shujaaz Inc. in Kenya; and CORE Group, International Planned Parenthood Federation, Promundo-US, Save the Children and Viamo. — The San Diego Union-Tribune

Two with UCSD connections are among ‘women of distinction’

San Diego city officials recognized 10 area women in honor of Women’s History Month, including two connected to UC San Diego.

Mayor Todd Gloria and each City Council member honored a “woman of distinction” on March 15.

“Their leadership is overcoming challenges and moving our city forward amid some of the most important issues we face — environmental sustainability, human rights, growth and development, equity, public health and more,” Gloria said. “I am grateful for the incredible, selfless service they provide to our community.”

Fonna Forman, a political science professor and founding director of UCSD’s Center on Global Justice, was honored for working as an advisor on civic and urban initiatives and human-rights and sustainability policies for various organizations.

Amina Sheik Mohamed helped start multiple programs intended to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 services, housing, health and employment. She helped launch the UCSD Youth Advisory Council, the Interfaith Wellness Program and the Advancing Health Literacy Program, and established the San Diego Refugee Communities Coalition. — The San Diego Union-Tribune

Scripps Oceanography discovery could open door for cancer drug development

Scientists at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography have made a discovery about how a deep-sea marine bacterium makes an anti-cancer molecule. A medicine called Marizomib, which comes from a deep-sea microbe, is in Phase 3 clinical trials to treat glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer.

Researchers at Scripps Oceanography found that an enzyme called SalC assembles what the team calls the salinosporamide anti-cancer “warhead.” The work solves a nearly 20-year riddle about how the marine bacterium makes the warhead that is unique to the salinosporamide molecule and opens the door to manufacturing new anti-cancer agents, scientists said.

Scripps graduate student Katherine Bauman was the lead author of a paper explaining the assembly process in the March 21 issue of Nature Chemical Biology.

Eligible UCSD Health patients can get antibody cocktail Evusheld

UC San Diego Health is now offering eligible patients AstraZeneca’s Evusheld, an antibody cocktail intended to prevent COVID-19 in people with compromised immune systems.

The treatment is available under an emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The first patient to receive the treatment at UCSD Health was a kidney transplant patient who reportedly is doing well and has had no side effects.

The authorization of Evusheld requires that people either have moderate to severely compromised immune systems due to a medical condition or as a result of receiving immunosuppressive medications or treatments, may not have an adequate immune response to the COVID-19 vaccination.

Evusheld is administered via two injections given during the same office visit. Conferred immunity can last three to six months. The treatment is not meant for those already sick or as a preventive measure for those already exposed to the coronavirus.

Data has indicated Evusheld is 83 percent effective in preventing serious illness and death from COVID-19.

UCSD Health patients who qualify for the treatment can receive it by appointment at the La Jolla drive-up site from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays.

UCSD collecting athletic wear for students

Prana Yoga Center in La Jolla is partnering with UC San Diego for a clothing drive to collect gently used athletic wear to give to UCSD students.

“We all believe that good health is paramount to living well,” Prana said in an email. “The truth is that for many students of the UCSD community, fitness apparel is a barrier to being active, taking yoga classes and exercising. To help lower this barrier, UCSD Recreation has reached out to the local community and asked us to support students in need with a donation drive for gently used athletic wear.”

Athletic wear (such as leggings, shorts, tops and T-shirts) and shoes are being accepted through Wednesday, March 30, at the Prana studio, 1041 Silverado St.

Food festival returns to The Lodge at Torrey Pines

The Lodge at Torrey Pines will present its annual “Celebrate the Craft” food festival at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, April 3, at 11480 N. Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla. The event will showcase regionally grown ingredients and local wine and craft beer.

Tickets are $195. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Slow Food Urban San Diego.

A.R. Valentien restaurant at The Lodge at Torrey Pines will host the Artisan Table Signature Wine Dinner Series beginning Thursday, April 21.

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The Lodge also is bringing its Artisan Table Signature Wine Dinner Series to the A.R. Valentien restaurant at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 21, with Foxen Vineyard & Winery.

Each monthly event through September will feature communal meals paired with California wines.

For reservations and more information, visit lodgetorreypines.com/events-calendar.

— Compiled by La Jolla Light staff ◆