This post was updated Aug. 25 at 11:27 p.m.

The UC Board of Regents Health Services Committee met Aug. 14 to hear public comments, consider preliminary funding plans and discuss state retention rates for California medical students.

The meeting began with public comment from members of the UC community. Following public comment, Committee members discussed funding plans for the expansion of UC San Diego Health and discussed ways to increase the population of California medical school students who remain in the state to practice.

Dr. Michael Harris, a pediatrics doctor at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Medical Center, said during public comment that he read that anti-Zionist imagery had been used to intimidate Jewish patients and staff members. The Daily Bruin was unable to verify the claims.

Javier Nuñez-Verdugo, external vice president for the Undergraduate Students Association Council, said the regents should prioritize having culturally sensitive therapists in light of the violent occurrences on campus, including what they termed violent repression of pro-Palestine protests.

“Black and brown students, including myself, feel irresponsibly left behind and disregarded in our struggle to continue as students in the very system that feeds into our joint oppression,” they said.

After public comment, the UC Board of Regents Health Services Committee motioned to acknowledge the appointment of Dr. Michael Ong as an advisory member of the committee.

The committee also voted to approve the San Diego campus’ proposal to request a recommendation by the Finance and Capital Strategies Committee to the UC Board of Regents at its future meetings for preliminary funding plans for the expansion of UC San Diego Health buildings, citing patient capacity issues. This expansion includes building a second La Jolla Medical Center Tower and a La Jolla Outpatient Pavilion to alleviate capacity constraints.

Patty Maysent, the chief executive officer for UC San Diego Health, said she supported the expansion because she believes there is a need to address long-term ambulatory clinical needs in the La Jolla region.

“Imaging is running 24 hours a day,” she said. “It’s not unusual to be given a time for an MRI of 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning.”

Dr. Deena Shin McRae, associate vice president for Academic Health Sciences, brought attention to the importance of California medical school students receiving training and continuing their practice in California, preferably in underserved areas such as San Joaquin Valley and the Inland Empire.

“California needs more medical school graduates who then remain in our state to train as residents and fellows and ultimately become fully licensed physicians proportionately dispersed throughout the state to adequately address the needs of our communities,” she said. “One of the key challenges is competition for training sites and clinical rotations.”

Dr. Catherine Lucey, executive vice chancellor and provost at UC San Francisco, also presented about San Joaquin Valley Prime Plus, an 8-year dual degree program in which UCSF, UCSF Fresno and UC Merced facilitate students continuing their practice in underserved California regions. The students in the dual-degree program receive their bachelor’s and medical degrees while committing to practice within SJV communities.

Lucey added that there is a need for greater stability of clinical training sites in SJV. McRae said a possible solution for this is having more UC-operated clinical sites in these areas of shortage, as there is more control over the quality of teaching and direct patient care than what is typically available at non-UC-operated clinical sites.

To close the meeting, many of the doctors in attendance shared insights regarding a novel approach to health care known as integrative health. The approach aims to holistically improve one’s health by not only focusing on presenting symptoms but also emphasizing lifestyle and self-care concepts.

“This comprehensive approach not only alleviates the pain but prevents the pain from coming back,” said Dr. Katie Hu, associate clinical professor in the Department of Medicine and the associate director of the UCLA Health Center for East-West Medicine. “It’s one thing to guide patients on what to do but another to teach them exactly how to do it and to give them these lifelong skills in taking care of themselves.”