The Shenkin Family Fund For Humanistic Medicine

 

Shenkin Family Fund For Humanistic Medicine

In Memory of Ann Shenkin

Medicine has always been about both curing and caring. In our lifetimes, research and development have produced enormous advances in curing that have transformed our lives. But medical care still requires that people be cared for. Every single person needs to have someone who knows them, who cares about them, who cares for them. No computer will replace the doctor or nurse who looks into your eyes and who knows who you are, or the aide who turns you, feeds you, cleans you up, strokes you. Caring cannot be lost.

Everyone in the medical professions, at every level, needs to be taught about caring, needs to know that this age-old function of medicine is still vital, even as they learn the ever-more complex science behind curing and prevention. There is so much science to learn, but caring cannot be pushed out of the curriculum and the practice of medical care.

As a diabetic and as an Alzheimer's Disease patient, Ann experienced in depth both the curing and the caring functions of medicine. She was fortunate. Especially since she lived in a medical family, she found excellent people to give her both caring and curing, from her first diabetes doctor and nurse practitioner, to her primary care doctors, to her neurologist for Alzheimer's, and to the marvelous aides who provided round the clock care at home when she could no longer care for herself. She counted herself among the lucky minority who had the resources and social connections to access this care. Yet, she knew that the care she got was the care that not everyone gets, even if they have the means.

The Shenkin Family Fund For Humanistic Medicine has been set up to promote education and research in the caring function in medicine. The Fund will be placed at the University of California at San Francisco, and will be directed through the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Adolescent Medicine, where Ann's daughter Sara is Professor of Pediatrics. It will seek to be a catalyst to promote humanistic medicine, the caring function, by organizing and funding lectures, sponsoring research, funding efforts within UCSF or elsewhere that meet the goals of promoting humanistic medicine.

Donations in memory of Ann Shenkin can be addressed to the UCSF Foundation and sent to:

Attn: Allison Mitchell

UCSF Foundation

PO Box 45339

San Francisco, CA 94145-0339

In the memo line, please write “Shenkin Family Fund for Humanistic Medicine”. Donations can also be made online at makeagift.ucsf.edu. Please designate the gift in memory of Ann Shenkin to the Shenkin Family Fund for Humanistic Medicine.

Any questions can be answered by Allison Mitchell, cell: 202-494-3101, email: allison.mitchell@ucsf.edu

Ann Morrisroe Shenkin 1945-2022

Ann Morrisroe Shenkin

1945 - 2022

BORN

1945

DIED

2022

Ann Morrisroe Shenkin
September 1, 1945 - January 15, 2022
Ann was born in Berkeley, the first daughter and second child of Barbara Lane and John Morrisroe, both originally of New York. John came from Hell's Kitchen and was educated as a chemical engineer at Columbia, thanks to a Pulitzer Newsboy's scholarship. Not long after her birth, the family moved to Southern California when her father founded his chemical engineering firm, Pilot Chemical Company. Ann was raised in San Marino and attended San Marino High, where she was miserable. According to her school counselor, this was because she was the smartest girl in the class. When she went to Cal, however, she thrived, majored in English, graduated and got a job as editorial assistant at Harcourt-Brace, and managed to pass on Primal Scream.

She married Cal classmate Bruce Buckelew, settled down in the East Bay, and had a daughter and a son, whom she loved as deeply as any mother loved her children. As happened to many marriages during the 1970's, it ended in divorce. Her second husband was Budd Shenkin, to whom she was married over 40 years. They had a son, whom she loved deeply as well. Ann successfully went back to work, becoming executive assistant to the Chancellor at UCSF, where she was trusted with sensitive relationships that led to strong expansion of the campus. She then returned to school, excelling at University of San Francisco School of Law. She pursued a career in family law for seven years, and then decided that she would be happier with a job closer to her passion in life, which was books. She worked happily as an associate at Avenue Books on College Avenue in Berkeley for many years. She devoured several books a week, primarily fiction, but also true crime. She was a loyal contributor to Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, various liberal candidates, the University of California Goldman School of Public Policy, the Alameda County Food Bank, and the University of California, San Francisco Adolescent Medicine/Eating Disorders Program.

Ann also became an avid traveler, visiting five continents with her husband Budd, often on cruises. She spent much vacation time, especially in later years, at their vacation home in Maui. Then, after a long illness, in the same house where she had lived for almost 50 years in the Claremont district of Berkeley, surrounded by her family, she died peacefully.

Ann is survived by her husband Budd Shenkin; her daughter Sara Buckelew (Eric Bottino); her son Brian Buckelew (Talia); her son Peter Shenkin; her grand-daughter Lola Buckelew-Bottino and a grandson on the way (Lane Buckelew due in May 2022-who she would have loved dearly and spoiled greatly), her stepsons Alexander and Nicholas Shenkin and their families, her sister Nancy Lynn; her brother Paul Morrisroe, and many cousins, nieces, and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, Ann's family would be very grateful for donations in Ann's memory to the UCSF Shenkin Family Fund for Humanistic Medicine, online at makeagift.ucsf.edu, designating the gift in memory of Ann Shenkin. Or checks can be sent to Attn: Allison Mitchell, UCSF Foundation, PO Box 45339, San Francisco, CA 94145-0339, writing in the memo line "Shenkin Family Fund for Humanistic Medicine." Memorial service arrangements are pending.

Published by San Francisco Chronicle from Jan. 21 to Jan. 24, 2022.

©2022 Legacy.com All rights reserved.

A COVID Revelation: The FDA and CDC Suck

 

In the New York Times, Professor Aaron Carroll, Chief Medical Officer of Indiana University, reflects on the deficiencies of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and finds the problem to be that they are thinking of perfection in treating individual patients, rather than doing “good enough” for the whole population, and thus saving many more lives. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/14/opinion/covid-america.html.

Let me translate – these top health organizations have tremendous histories and reputations. The CDC wiped out smallpox in the entire world. The FDA forbade usage of thalidomide in the United States, and thus avoided the epidemic of limbless babies experienced in Europe (and also making a national hero of https://cfmedicine.nlm.nih.gov/physicians/biography_182.html.) But now these august organizations have fallen on bad times. The FDA has impeded proper COVID testing that all the European countries have succeeded in developing and distributing. The CDC has serially given confusing and confused directives on COVID-avoiding procedures. Aaron (a med school classmate and friend of my pediatrician stepdaughter) assigns blame to poor thinking, a conceptual confusion that he details.

He is not wrong. But, why? Why are they stuck in the mud, not thinking nor communicating well? If they have suddenly become stupid, why?

I have addressed the problem of organizational decline previously, and also discussed what to do about it. For the benefit of reading public, I reprised that argument in very condensed form in a letter to the editor of the New York Times that will no doubt remain unpublished, but I kind of like it.

To the Editor of the New York Times:

Aaron Carroll's argument that the CDC and FDA have made policy mistakes in always striving for the best for the individual but not for society has great merit. It leads one to ask, however, why?

Organizations are often birthed by idealistic, imaginative and charismatic leaders bent on achievement, and willing to make some mistakes and be criticized as they forge a new way forward. As the organizations age, they can become stolid bureaucracies with the major but unstated goal of not being blamed, and for individuals not to make mistakes and not to be fired. “Doing what we always do” can be a powerful defense, even when conditions change. The inability of both of these formerly-excellent but now myopic organizations to adapt to new emergency conditions with imagination and verve and focusing on the general good, would certainly seem to qualify them as blame-avoiders.

In fixing organizations as with fixing ailing physical bodies, arriving at a proper diagnosis is key. With the CDC and FDA, organizational sclerosis might be the proper diagnosis, and treatment might require a reimagining of the goals, procedures, organization and personnel of the bureaucracies in question.

Budd N. Shenkin

Why Do Players Thrive When They Are Warriors?

What I left out of my last post on the Warriors was the “deeper explanation.” But renowned DC attorney Eric Bernthal evoked the need for explanation when he commented:

At our stage of the game, forgiveness is as important to extend as it is vital to receive, so I can let the gratuitous snipe at Cousy go. (Like Elizabeth Holmes, you just can’t help yourself, Budd.) But I confirm on behalf of the few of us on this string who are not residents of the Bay Area (and not hopeless homers for the Warriors) that you might well be right about this team. I don’t get to watch them play very often – most games are way past my East Coast bedtime – but when I do, I’m just floored at the level of Steph’s play. I think he might even be today’s Cousy.

I grudgingly concede that Kerr is probably right about Draymond, whom no one outside the Bay Area likes because of his thuggishness. And the return of Klay (whom everyone outside the Bay Area likes and admires tremendously) is mighty exciting to contemplate. Who gets the credit for turning Andrew Wiggins into a stellar basketball player, when he was an overrated and underachieving malcontent before he got to SF? Kerr? Curry? Team chemistry? Jordan Poole is another example of someone playing at an altogether different level from where he started (and in just a couple of years). That’s really impressive.

As for your bench, how has Kuminga advanced so quickly? And I always loved Otto Porter, who started in DC and is just a fine kid and super-solid player. But I can’t love anyone on this bench as much as I did Shaun Livingston (he had a couple of stints in DC), a medical miracle who managed to salvage a really good career when he had no prospect of even playing again. Maybe Andre Iguodala, who has to be beloved by all us old guys.

And Rick left out the immense progress of Juan Toscano-Anderson and Gary Payton II, both of whom had years of hard work in obscurity before they have become valuable members on A Contender. It is so remarkable.

So, his reply moved me to add this note in replying to him:
To use the now-awful cliché, what is the Warriors' "special sauce?" I thought about going into this, but deleted it for this post. It's the "team spirit," which if you get past the cliché, contains the word "spirit." It's deep, and it's joyful, and they all remember, b-ball might be consuming, but at heart, it's just a game.

The difference between Michael Jordan and Curry (and Kerr) is that Michael played with anger, and Steph plays with joy. The whole team is suffused with joy. To me, it's so important what happens when someone on the floor does something great. The bench erupts! They literally jump up and down, they yell, they bow elaborately, they pound each other, they make as if they are flying low, they pound the perpetrator when he comes off the floor – hell, sometimes they invade the floor to pound him. The sauce bubbles over. They make themselves as tasty as it gets.

And then at the end of the game, the opposing teams hug each other, since they know they are all in this together, that they are the very top of the pole they have been climbing for so long, which is the best of sports, which you also see in the NFL. We're all in this together, and as they say, can you believe they pay us all this money so we can play?

It's the joy that extracts the best and puts it on display.

And I would add two things to that response. One, ownership in sports is ultra-important. The 49ers alumni still speak reverently about Eddie DeBartolo. He loved and admired the players, he didn't think he was doing anything except helping them be as great as they could be, he spent money for the purpose of getting them what they needed – as opposed to owners who hold making money as the top priority. The Warriors ownership of Joe Lacob (and Peter Guber) are cut from the same cloth. Attitude flows from the top. They hire excellence of skill, person, and attitude.

Second, the pleasure of being a Warrior and of watching the Warriors is very similar to the joy one derives from creating and observing great art. 

Budd Shenkin

You've Gotta Love Somebody, Why Not The Warriors?

 

The Current Warrior Team Might Be Better than Their First Championship Team, 2015-16

I'm not a basketball geek, one of those guys who can figure out exactly what exact thing is exactly missing on a team, who can throw around stats, can figure out what trade would be crucial, etc. I do have strong opinions and a pretty good memory. I am famous among my b-ball email thread comrades, for instance, for my disdain of Bob Cousy, as well as for the worst announcer of all time, Boston's Johnny Most (and my friend Bob has the tape to prove it.) What a homer, what a font of misjudgment! To me, Wilt is the best of all time and would continue to dominate today, Guy Rodgers is sorely underestimated by history (if only his shot hadn't been so flat,) Philadelphia basketball was the best in the early days of the league, and the all-time best 5 could still be Chamberlain, Big O, West, Michael (moving to small forward), and (probably wrongly here) Bird. So, as I say, my preferences are perhaps idiosyncratic. I now think, actually, that b-ball has made so much progress and has changed so much, with modern players on average so much better than the older guys, that all these discussions should be done by tranches in time, by decade. But, as I say, my claim not to be a b-ball genius is widely accepted among my friends.

But I do love a good game of basketball, and I love our modern Warriors. I started rooting for the Warriors shortly after they were founded in 1945, imitated in our back yard a shot I imagined Joe Fulks had, and we migrated together to the Bay Area. I got us season tickets starting in 1988 with the Don Nelson years, the Run TMC years, when our seats about 14 rows behind the basket cost $14 apiece – and they remain our family's team. You know how that goes. When the most modern era started with new ownership and Myers and Kerr and the gang, we didn't have to start paying attention. It had been our team for a very long time.

So, while I'm modest about my analytical capabilities, I count myself a dedicated fan, and thus entitled to opine. I felt that the Warriors of two years ago were unwatchable, but last year watchable again, and now this year, wow! It's time to make sure there are no conflicts with Warrior games! The Warriors have the best record in basketball, even before the return of Klay and Wiseman. That's amazing. This could actually be another championship team. What is the team like? To me, it feels the same as the 2014-15 Warriors.

Steph is undiminished and wiser, and Draymond is now at his peak, and I think Kerr is right when he says, Hall of Fame Draymond. The small forward position was filled in 2014-5 by my bête noire, Mr. Miss-Every-Important-Shot, Harrison Barnes. Instead, we have Andrew Wiggins, great defender, newly energized on offense, possible All Star, huge improvement. Missing, however, is center Andrew Bogut, excellent true center, Looney is excellent, but doesn't have the size to face Milwaukee (Greek Freak), Philly (Embiid), or even Phoenix (Ayton.) The Klay spot is filled temporarily by Jordan Poole, who used the last two years to learn, and is now excellent – he can really shoot, and he can really play.

When Klay gets back, the big 3's excellence is unabated. The three spot is improved. Looney is almost as good as Bogut was, better in some respects – he can score more, is more mobile, can't pass as well or pick as well, but does OK – it's just with opposing big men where the deficit is most felt. When Wiseman gets back, even though he's not as physically solid nor as experienced as Bogut was, he's a much better athlete and can protect the rim well. Comparing the starting 5 today with 2014-15; I'd say they are better. Comparing HB to Wigs, a lot better.

In 2014-15, I remember being astounded by the quality of the bench. Iguadala was the key to the second unit, knowing how to play, defense, one of best sixth men in history, Finals MVP. Who didn't love Mo Buckets, coming off the bench at 6'11” and hitting unerringly from about 18 feet? Barbosa playing five years younger, so effective and energetic, offense. Livingston, medical miracle, deadly in his turn-arounds at one or two special spots, also knows how to play, mature and smart. Smart team, experienced. Wonderful to watch.

But today's bench is amazingly strong, and interestingly, as in 2014-15, many of them come from years of neglect by other teams. The former Iguadala is better than today's, instead of having ten years in the league, has 17, amazingly effective even if past his sell-by date, but diminished and available only in spots. But Poole is better than anyone else in 2014-15 including Barbosa, GPII better than Livingston defensively and probably as good offensively and on the boards, Bjelica and Porter both at least as good as Mo Buckets defensively and on the boards and each can score at least as well, and they are better all around players. JTA (Oakland native whom I love) had no equivalence back then, and Damien Lee doesn't seem to have had an equivalence, either. Both can play 10-15 minutes with great energy, score, and defend. And, we haven't even mentioned the 19 year old Congo sensation, Jonathan Kuminga, who when he gets in a game seems capable of being a starter very soon. You just don't know how soon this flower will bloom – his talent is immense.

So, put together all the bench players and rate them, and maybe the old Iguadala would be the best of all of them, but the list of those who come next would probably be from today's bench.

So, in conclusion, I'm thinking that the 2014-15 Warriors were a championship team. It seems that this team today, capable of having the league's best record to date even before the return of Klay and Wiseman, even with Kuminga being so very young, has the better roster. And they are at least as good to watch. Injuries, illness, unexplained changes in effectiveness, sudden aging, and just plain luck will all have a say in the end result. But for now, I'm rating them better than 2014-15, and so, amazingly given the past two futile and lost years, they could go all the way.

2014-2015 Warriors

o.	Player	Pos	Ht	Wt	Birth Date		Exp	College
19	Leandro Barbosa	SG	6-3	194	November 28, 1982	br	11
40	Harrison Barnes	SF	6-8	225	May 30, 1992	us	2	UNC
12	Andrew Bogut	C	7-0	260	November 28, 1984	au	9	Utah
30	Stephen Curry	PG	6-2	185	March 14, 1988	us	5	Davidson
31	Festus Ezeli	C	6-11	255	October 21, 1989	ng	1	Vanderbilt
23	Draymond Green	PF	6-6	230	March 4, 1990	us	2	Michigan State
7	Justin Holiday	SG	6-6	180	April 5, 1989	us	1	Washington
9	Andre Iguodala	SF	6-6	215	January 28, 1984	us	10	Arizona
1	Ognjen Kuzmić	C	7-1	251	May 16, 1990	ba	1
10	David Lee	PF	6-9	245	April 29, 1983	us	9	Florida
34	Shaun Livingston	PG	6-7	192	September 11, 1985	us	9
20	James Michael McAdoo	PF	6-9	230	January 4, 1993	us	R	UNC
4	Brandon Rush	SG	6-6	220	July 7, 1985	us	6	Kansas
5	Marreese Speights	C	6-10	255	August 4, 1987	us	6	Florida
11	Klay Thompson	SG	6-6	215	February 8, 1990	us	3	Washington State

Current Warriors Roster

No.	Player	Pos	Ht	Wt	Birth Date		Exp	College
8	Nemanja Bjelica	C	6-10	234	May 9, 1988	rs	6
5	Kevon Looney	C	6-9	222	February 6, 1996	us	6	UCLA
0	Gary Payton II	PG	6-3	190	December 1, 1992	us	5	Oregon State
95	Juan Toscano-Anderson	SF	6-6	209	April 10, 1993	us	2	Marquette
30	Stephen Curry	PG	6-2	185	March 14, 1988	us	12	Davidson
22	Andrew Wiggins	SF	6-7	197	February 23, 1995	ca	7	Kansas
23	Draymond Green	PF	6-6	230	March 4, 1990	us	9	Michigan State
32	Otto Porter Jr.	PF	6-8	198	June 3, 1993	us	8	Georgetown
3	Jordan Poole	SG	6-4	194	June 19, 1999	us	2	Michigan
1	Damion Lee	SG	6-5	210	October 21, 1992	us	4	Drexel, Louisville
00	Jonathan Kuminga	SF	6-8	210	October 6, 2002	cd	R
4	Moses Moody	SG	6-6	205	May 31, 2002	us	R	Arkansas
9	Andre Iguodala	SF	6-6	215	January 28, 1984	us	17	Arizona
2	Chris Chiozza  (TW)	PG	5-11	175	November 21, 1995	us	3	Florida
21	Jeff Dowtin  (TW)	PG	6-3	185	May 10, 1997	us	R	Rhode Island
12	Quinndary Weatherspoon	SG	6-3	205	September 10, 1996	us	2	Mississippi State
	James Wiseman	C	7-0	240	March 31, 2001	us	1	Memphis
	Klay Thompson	SG	6-6	215	February 8, 1990	us	8	Washington State

Golden State Warriors Depth Chart

PG
SG
SF
PF
C

Starter	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
Stephen Curry	Gary Payton II	Chris Chiozza	Damion Lee	Jordan Poole
Jordan Poole	Damion Lee	Gary Payton II	Andrew Wiggins	Moses Moody
Andrew Wiggins	Andre Iguodala	Otto Porter Jr.	Damion Lee	Jordan Poole
Draymond Green	Otto Porter Jr.	Juan Toscano-Anderson	Jonathan Kuminga	Nemanja Bjelica
Kevon Looney	James Wiseman	Draymond Green	Nemanja Bjelica	Juan Toscano-Anderson

Budd Shenkin