February 2022 | University of Portland

News - February 2022

Tommy Pham ’09, MBA ’11 and his son Raiden

Meet Raiden

Portland Magazine

February 21, 2022

The inspiration behind one UP alum’s pitch for more research into a rare genetic disease and potential gene therapies.

Working in the lab

Hope Through a Microscope

Portland Magazine

February 21, 2022

For the span of her career Ami Ahern-Rindell has been working to understand—and eventually contribute to a cure for—a particular fatal genetic disease. Advances in science and technology are bringing her research closer to her goal. But the technology—CRISPR gene editing, specifically—raises a whole host of ethical questions.

Librarian on roller skates.

Librarian on Wheels

Portland Magazine

February 21, 2022

When we were first put under quarantine in early 2020, Tori Ward ’16 was afraid to go outside for a long time. A quick trip to the grocery store was anxiety inducing, and seeing people outside en masse without their masks on made her feel unsafe. She hated the feeling and wanted to find a way to still stay healthy and active while also being able to stay socially distanced. That's when she found a pair of skates, and has been skating since early May 2020 and loving it. 

Adam Guggenheim

Partners in Story

Portland Magazine

February 21, 2022

The photographer and I stood outside the church with the pastor and his wife, hoping to get the best light for a portrait. The pastor was somewhat new in the rapidly changing neighborhood, and we’d been talking to him for a story in part about gentrification in North Portland and his role and response to the changes affecting his parishioners.

5 Reasons You Don't Want to Get COVID

Pilots Prevent

February 8, 2022

After Omicron caused a meteoric surge in COVID-19 this winter, cases are finally tapering off. And most of us are vaccinated, and boosted, offering loads of protection against COVID’s worst effects (at least for the current variants). The Oregon Health Authority even announced plans to lift the indoor mask mandate by the end of March, letting businesses and communities set their own mandates as they see fit. So it seems things might soon look a lot more normal.

Back on Campus and Building Community

Pilots Prevent

February 8, 2022

For the second year in a row, the start of Spring semester didn’t exactly look like it usually does. This year, classes were remote for the first two weeks to minimize the transmission of COVID as students returned to campus after winter break. But now case numbers are falling dramatically, and fun events are in full swing, bringing a sense of normalcy to campus.