Why many advanced lung cancer patients never receive treatment — and more UCLA media

The New York Times reported on a new study finding that more than half of Medicare patients with metastatic lung cancer never receive life-extending therapies such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy or targeted drugs. UCLA Health’s Dr. Drew Moghanaki, chief of thoracic oncology, said lingering fatalism around advanced lung cancer may discourage some patients from pursuing treatment, despite major advances that can extend survival and improve quality of life. Read more about UCLA in today’s Washington Post, CNN International and others.

More highlights from UCLA in the News: May 7, 2026

What we know about the hantavirus outbreak aboard MV Hondius | KTLA-TV

Anne Rimoin, director of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health’s Center for Global Health Security, called the situation “highly unusual.” “Cases of hantavirus have occurred in the United States before, including in the Four Corners area, with Gene Hackman’s wife in New Mexico, and Yosemite National Park,” Rimoin told KTLA. “While the virus is rare, it is not entirely unusual to see isolated cases. However, hantavirus is not typically associated with cruise ships.” (Rimoin was also interviewed by MS NOW and CNN International.)

Trees that survived LA’s wildfires are dying at alarming rate | Los Angeles Times

Edith de Guzman, a climate change, water and urban forestry researcher with UCLA, has been studying the burn area trees with her team. The researchers did their first assessment in the months following the fire, and donned orange vests to do it again this past month. (De Guzmam was quoted.)

Why it took 65 years for LA to build its most important rail line | Los Angeles Times

“This is the most important corridor for rail service in LA,” said [UCLA’s] Ethan Elkind, author of “Railtown: The Fight for the Los Angeles Metro Rail and the Future of the City”, noting Wilshire is the most densely populated corridor west of the Mississippi River. “It’s been 65 years, but it’s finally opening, and it will be a high ridership, high capacity line.” (UCLA’s Zev Yaroslavsky and Jacob Wasserman were also quoted.)  

Latinos contributed 4.4 trillion dollars to the U.S. economy | EFE

Latinos generated 4.4 trillion dollars for the U.S. economy in 2024, positioning this community as the world’s fourth-largest economy, according to a report released Tuesday by the University of California, Los Angeles. The annual analysis on Latino GDP, prepared by researchers from UCLA and California Lutheran University, revealed that the economic contribution of Latinos in the United States exceeded in 2024 that of Japan and was positioned as the fastest growing among the major economies of the world. (UCLA’s David Hayes-Bautista was quoted. Translated from Spanish.)

California under pressure as partisan redistricting wars escalate | Los Angeles Times

“A purely partisan map is actually more defensible now than one drawn with racial considerations,” said Rick Hasen, an election law professor at UCLA. “It turns the world on its head.” The ruling now puts at risk any district drawn at any level of government that relied on the Voting Rights Act to justify its boundaries, Hasen said. (Hasen was also quoted by AL.com.)  

Study shows how a potato-based diet changed the genetics of Andean people | Reuters

New genomic research ‌documents how these descendants — speakers of the Quechua language of the once-great Inca Empire — underwent fortification involving a gene called AMY1 that is involved in starch digestion, a function useful for people with a potato-centric diet … “This highlights the importance of dietary adaptation in human evolutionary history, with implications for metabolism, health and ​the impact of domestication events on human biology,” said UCLA anthropological geneticist Abigail Bigham, also one of the study’s senior authors.

Lost weight using a GLP-1? People judge you more harshly, study finds | USA Today

Though GLP-1s have often been described as a boon to managing obesity rate in the U.S., the idea that they are an “easy way out” persists, said Standen and fellow study authors Sean Phelan, professor of health services research at the Mayo Clinic, and Janet Tomiyama, professor of psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Common cooking oils are now being linked to cancer in recent studies | Earth.com

Dr. William Aronson, a urology professor at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, tested whether modifying dietary fat intake could slow cancer growth. “This is an important step toward understanding how diet can potentially influence prostate cancer outcomes,” said Aronson.  

A promising new depression therapy focuses on finding paths to joy | Washington Post

Michelle Craske is a distinguished professor in UCLA’s Department of Psychology and another researcher on the series of trials. She and Meuret developed positive affect treatment together and wrote workbooks for clinicians and patients. In her lab and others, there have been promising signs that people who go through PAT actually do change the neural pathways in their brains. (Craske was quoted.)

Missing the river through the trees | Santa Monica Daily Press

As we ricochet from headline to headline, we may miss the threats not screaming for attention. It’s easy to spot a cracked window after a storm, but it’s harder to catch the slow trickle of a leaking pipe. And speaking of perilous trickles, at a recent Santa Monica Sustainability Commission meeting, [UCLA’s] Mark Gold, was sounding Cassandra-like warnings about the Colorado River. (Gold was quoted.)