THREAT WORLDWIDE

• 1/3 or 2 billion world people has been infected with HBV (WHO)
• 400 million people have chronic Hep-B, that is 10 x more than HIV/AIDS (40 millions) (WHO)
• HBV can survive outside of body for 7 days, as opposed to few hours in HIV (So) 100x more infectious than HIV (WHO)
• Most people do not have any symptoms until it’s too late
• 1 in 4 will die from liver cancer and liver scaring if not treated
• Over 1 million people die every year or 1 person die every 30 seconds
• 5 year rate survival rate is about 5%-7% (SEER)
• Over 50% of all liver cancer is caused by chronic HBV (Global Health Epidemiologist)
• Liver cancer is the top five leading cause of death by cancer worldwide (WHO)

So, now, I'm going to explore why we have meetings.

Meetings allow simultaneous collaboration, which accelerates and improves decision making, while providing a forum to hear all inputs, debate over (an) issue(s), and then decide on what course of action to take or make a decision.

Meetings also provide a place for group reviews and these group reviews create focus and direction to help align the organization and create communication within the organization

However, at the same time, it's also important to ask yourself before you go to a meeting, what exactly is the purpose of this meeting and if I need to go to this meeting, what do I need to do to prepare for the meeting.

Preparation before a meeting is one of the most important aspects of a meeting as

essentially more work outside the meeting means less person hours in meetings and less total person hours spent.

 And thus, making the meeting more streamlined and efficient.

By Tara Raffi
Contributing Writer, The Daily Cal
Tuesday, November 24, 2009

As I walked through campus on Friday and saw masses of students assembled in front of Wheeler, police cordoning off crowds and the overpowering assortment of noises-chants, fire alarms, bullhorns-I came away with an overpowering sentiment: this school has become nothing more than a parade and a circus show. This strike stems from a blinding, illogical sense of entitlement, fueled by ignorance. Friday only gave me an intense sense of disappointment with my fellow students, who are supposed to be among the smartest and most inquisitive in the nation.

However convenient it may be for students to miss class and chant hypnotically outside of Wheeler, other than creating a scene of Orwellian mass mindlessness, what does this accomplish? I had not heard one viable solution posed, nor talked to many students in the crowd whose reasoning didn't ultimately come to: "well, I'm actually not that educated on this issue."

The type of literature published by the Solidarity Alliance is simply an unfocused and unsubstantiated diatribe against "the institution", designed to make students read it and scream "Yeah! I'm against this unbelievable abuse! Down with the oppressors who are purposefully destroying my education!"

The shameful facade that is the ucstrike.com homepage blatantly and irresponsibly takes advantage of student trust. I simply don't understand how their demands are viable when the State of California is facing a budget gap of billions. This strike has all the markings of groupthink and religious fervor aimed at a ridiculously romantic ideal-qualities that I did not think defined UC Berkeley until now.

My question to the strikers is what solution are you proposing? How do you expect the regents to compensate for budget cuts? Should they halt current construction projects, causing hundreds of construction workers to lose their jobs? Or maybe they should deprive the medical facility of its reserve kept in case of natural disasters so they can treat wounded people. Or better yet, they should carry torches and spears to drive out all of the administrators from their offices and install a cooperative consensus-based democracy where all 35,000 students on this campus vote for every decision that needs to be made!

I have heard only one logical argument, which is to protest the state for their mis-prioritization of funding for our country's number one public university system. The state has cut UC funding by $813 million this year, much less than the cuts to prisons. Between 1990 and now, state funds have fallen by approximately $7,200 per student. This is irresponsibility that needs to be focused on, but instead it is tucked away on the corners of Strike websites and excluded from picket signs.

Yudof can lobby legislators for increased funding, but is ultimately at the mercy of a dysfunctional and bankrupt state. We are facing fee increases because the state has cut our funding, not because the regents have some sinister intent to charge us extra money or buy diamond-encrusted bobble heads for their desks. It is easy to cite "lack of transparency" when you don't like what the regents are doing, but how many people have actually tried to research this before assuming Yudof would use our money to the detriment of the university?

But we ignore these questions and march out to Sproul to demand that Yudof be fired. Why is Yudof being interviewed by The New York Times instead of the governor? Because of us! Because we are framing this protest against the regents, we are targeting media attention for this issue to the intermediary, and we are wasting an invaluable opportunity to target the people that have most power to improve our situation.

Instead of facts, answers, and change, the only thing that I see happening is that our limited academic resources are being squandered. The university was forced to spend funds on police forces to contain the protests, in addition to the money already paid for teaching, classrooms and other services that Friday were so forcefully deprived of us. Isn't this a budget crisis? It costs $30,000 to open the Moffitt and Doe libraries during finals for the next two semesters, ironically the subject of an earlier Solidarity Alliance protest. Instead money was wasted on students screaming at a misconceived aggressor for an imaginary solution.

I know fee increases make it difficult for students to attend Berkeley-this makes me sad and angry. But the regents cannot simply conjure the money it takes to continue operations. As long as there is no increase in state funding, Yudof could sell his house, all of his possessions and forego all pay but the university would still have to implement fee increases in order to maintain the academic quality of the UC system.

As UC Berkeley students, we must learn about this crisis and its causes. At the recent ASUC-sponsored Townhall with the Chancellor, I was horrified to see people directing angry and accusatory words toward the Chancellor, not to mention the hundreds of self-righteously angry students that scoffed at the idea of even attending the event, which was an unparalleled opportunity to learn.

So where is the real irresponsibility of the UC Berkeley Budget Crisis? It is in the students inspired by mob-mentality to throw trash at California Hall instead of writing to state legislators. The students that caused libraries to be closed all day on Friday. The students that got a thrill from engaging in dull-eyed chants outside of Wheeler while causing 3,800 of their peers to miss class.

Press
• Daily Cal: Reach a large student population by placing an ad in the Daily Cal. This option can be costly but if done well and timed well, it can be highly effective. Details and prices can be found at: http://dailycal.org/advertising.php
• KALX Radio: Make a Public Service Announcement on the campus radio station. It announces campus events every day at 1:15pm and 8:15pm. Submit who/what/where/when/why sound byte about your event to campus@kalx.berkeley.edu.
• Berkeley Daily Planet: A free Berkeley city-wide newspaper allows events to be added to their paper and online calendar for free. Email a 2-sentence description with details to: calendar@berkeleydailyplanet.com. Items must be submitted at least a week in advance of the event.

Tabling
• Student Groups currently registered with the Office of Student Life may maintain a table or other display materials at the Upper Sproul Plaza area between Bancroft Avenue and Sather Gate (not including Mario Savio Steps or the brick area of the plaza); Lower Sproul Plaza; North Gate;
Tolman Hall breezeway; and the area between Kroeber Hall and Boalt Law School buildings. Organizations must provide their own table and chair. The areas listed above are available on a daily first-come, first-served basis.
• Calapalooza: A resource fair extravaganza for Cal students is held every year on Thursday during Welcome Week. To table at the fair, you must be a registered student group or department on campus and reserve your table through New Student Services. Contact: 642-4970 or looza@berkeley.edu.

Presentations/Classroom Announcements
• Giving short presentations to classes on campus offers more information than a flyer and introduces your group to a large audience. A good way to target a specific audience is to make presentations in specific clubs or classes. A listing of all the registered student groups is available online http://students.berkeley.edu/osl/. Existing group members may pass the word on to other groups they belong to. To present to a class, get the professor’s permission before class begins.

Internet
• Post announcements on newsgroups and department listservs by email the department advisors.
• Keep in touch with present and past participants and quickly distribute information on any upcoming events or announcements.
• Send out messages to individual students, student group leaders, and campus contacts

Word of Mouth!
• Never underestimate the power of spreading the word one-on-one.
Marketing Strategies

Cal Corps Public Service Center
Education for Justice
Marketing Strategies

Getting the word out on campus may seem daunting, but with these specific guidelines you will know the ins and out’s of reaching a vast population of students.

Calendars
• Post your event on the UC Berkeley Campus Events Calendar! This calendar is printed online at UC Berkeley’s main website and also in The Berkeleyan, a campus newspaper. To add your event, go to: http://www.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/events.pl/POWERSTART

Email Blasts
• Cal Corps E-News: Cal Corps sends a weekly E-newsletter to over 4800 students, staff, and alumni every Friday. Send a 4-5 sentence blurb about your service or leadership related event, program, or volunteer opportunity to ccorps@berkeley.edu by Wed @ noon, to be included. If you have an event between Mon and Wed, you should submit your blurb on Wednesday of the week prior to your event.
• OSL E-News: The Office of Student Life sends a monthly newsletter to all student groups. Send a 4-5-sentence blurb about your event, program, or volunteer opportunity to dosl@berkeley.edu. This newsletter is also posted on: http://students.berkeley.edu/osl/studentorganizations.asp?id=1953

Flyers
• Dorms: You can request to have full page flyers posted on each dorm floor bulletin board and/or in dorm residents’ mailboxes. Email Margie Williams (tray@berkeley.edu) a copy of your flyer for preapproval. If your flyer is approved for the Residence Hall bulletin boards, you will need to
make 278 copies and deliver them to Margie in the Residential Student Services Building at 2610 Channing Way, right next to Crossroads Dining
Commons. Please separate the flyers into the following stacks to ensure that the flyers will be delivered properly:
*Please keep in mind that all flyers must be in accordance with policies outlined by the OSL http://students.berkeley.edu/files/osl/Student_Groups/Student%20Group%20Handbook.pdf

http://calcorps.berkeley.edu | 505 Eshleman | (510) 642-3916 | ccorps@berkeley.edu

Number of Flyers for Residence
Halls
Unit 1 Jackson/Manville/Channing 10
Cheney/Deutsch/Slottman 16
Christian/Freeborn/Putnam 16
Unit 2 Cunningham/Ehrman/Wada 23
Davidson/Griffiths/Towle 28
Unit 3 Priestley/Ida/Cleary 23
Norton/Spens Black 18
Unit 4 Hillside North/South 45
La Loma North/South 45
Bowles/Stern 20
Unit 5 Clark Kerr North/West 16
Clark Kerr South/East 18
TOTAL # OF FLYERS 278

• Dining Commons: Request to have your ¼ page flyer placed in napkin holders in the Dining Commons. Get Table Tent form at: www.housing.berkeley.edu/dining/TableTentForm1.pdf and follow the instructions laid out on the form. All table tents will be kept up for one week
• Bulletin Boards: Flyers can be posted on any public bulletin boards across campus. DO NOT post on Departmental bulletin boards inside buildings. Flyers cannot be placed on or against, attached to, or written on any structure or natural feature of the campus. These include (but are not limited to) the backs of chairs, sides of doors or buildings, windows, surface of walkways or roads, Sather Gate, fountains, posts, waste receptacles, trees, stakes, or the backs of chairs. Make sure you hit parts of campus that tend to be ignored, such as North Gate, Haas Business School, Tolman,
Etchevery, etc!)

Here are the answers to the 6 question survey about Hepatitis B knowledge.

Keep in mind that even though you may have surveyed a person, it is very important to go over the answers and explain the reasons for the answers to the surveyee as this will help them better understand Hepatitis B and they will then be more powerful in their quest for knowledge and be better able to spread Hepatitis B knowledge exponentially. =]

Also, if you are having your chapter do this, make sure that your members are familiar with the survey and the answers.

Outreach Survey Answers

1. What is the most common cause of liver cancer worldwide?

Answer: D. Chronic hepatitis B

60-80% of all liver cancer cases are caused by HBV infection. Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver and can lead to premature death caused by liver cancer or liver failure. 

2. About how many Asian and Pacific Islander individuals are living with chronic Hepatitis B?

Answer: A. 1 in 10 people

1 out of 10 Vietnamese individuals are chronically infected with hepatitis B compared to the 1 out of 1000 white Americans. There is no clear answer to the origins of why HBV is so common in Asia, but its lack of symptoms, silent transmission and lack of awareness contribute to it being passed from generation to generation, which is why it is so important to get screened and protected with vaccination!

3. How can you get hepatitis B?

Answer: D. All of the above: A,B,C. from infected mother to child at birth, contact with open wounds, and unprotected sex.

HBV is transmitted in modes through BBS: birth, blood and unprotected sex. Emphasize that for Asians it is transmitted primarily from mother to child at birth when their bloods mix. Also mention that hep B is not transmitted through casual contact such as sharing utensils, shaking hands, kissing- this is a very common misconception.

4. If you look and feel perfectly healthy, could you have chronic hepatitis B?

Answer: A. YES

Hepatitis B is a silent killer, many who are infected show no symptoms until the very end stages of the disease. So testing and vaccination are VERY important to catch the disease early if you have it, and to protect yourself if you don’t. The screening is a simple one-time blood test.

5. Is there a vaccine for hepatitis B?

Answer: A. YES

Vaccination is a simple 3 shots taken over 6 months. The vaccine is so effective in preventing liver cancer that the WHO (World Health Organization) calls it the first anti-cancer vaccine.

6. Is there a cure for hepatitis B?

Answer: B. NO

There is no cure for hepatitis B, which is why it is SO important for you and your loved ones to get screened and vaccinated as soon as possible.  Although there is no cure for hepatitis B, appropriate screening can determine if you need treatment which can reduce the risk of liver damage and cancer.

For those who yet have it, here is the 6 question survey that Team HBV uses to test people's knowledge of Hepatitis B. I will attach the answers in a separate blog.

1. What is the most common cause of liver cancer worldwide?

a.   Eating contaminated food

b.   Alcohol

c.   Smoking

d.   Chronic hepatitis B

2. About how many Asian and Pacific Islander individuals are living with chronic Hepatitis B?

a. 1 in 10

b. 1 in 100

      c. 1 in 1000

3. How can you get hepatitis B?

a. from infected mother to child

b. direct contact with open wounds

c. unprotected sex

d. a, b, & c

e. sharing food

4. If you look and feel perfectly healthy, could you have chronic hepatitis B?

a.Yes

b.No

5.  Is there a vaccine for hepatitis B?

a.Yes

b.No

6.  Is there a cure for hepatitis B?

a. Yes

b. No

So, this past summer, I interned at a startup technology company and one of my supervisors gave a talk on effective meetings and I thought that I should share what I learned with EV.

Self Evaluation:

First of all, when thinking about effective meetings it's important to consider how many hours do YOU spend in meetings? Do you spend an hour a week, a couple of hours a week, more hours than you really should be spending in meetings a week? Evaluate yourself and the time you spend in meetings. You'd be surprised at how many hours you spend in meetings.

Next, ask yourself are those meetings really necessary. Is it that important for you to attend the meeting? Or could you be doing something better with your time? Why must you attend this meeting?

Meetings are expensive, take a lot of time, and people also don't like going to meetings. Meetings take up time, a valuable resource that many of us don't often view as a resource. Additionally, sometimes we should be doing more important things than going to a meeting, but we put off those things and go to meetings instead because we feel this pressure to attend. Also, people don't like going to meetings. They much prefer doing other things with their time.

1. Taking the first step to enter the registry is very simple. All you do to join the registry is fill in a form, and do a cheek swab. Nothing will actually be taken from you at this first step.

2. The test is a genetic (DNA) test, and the only time you will donate is if 10 genetic factors match a patient in need.

3. You will be in this registry until you are age 61. During this time, hopefully you will match someone, but you might not. 

4. If you are a match for a patient in need, 70% of the time, a procedure is done to extract a certain amount of circulating stem cells from your system.  This procedure is very similar to a blood donation, only it takes longer, about 4 hours. It is called PBSC, for Peripheral Blood Stem Cells.

5. The 2^nd procedure that is done only 30% of the time is a marrow extraction from the top of your hip bone, NOT YOUR BACK OR SPINE, and you have anesthesia, so this is not a painful procedure. It is done with a needle, so there are no incisions or stitches. It only takes about one hour.

6. Most people have some misconceptions about being a marrow donor, it is really very simple, and is not a painful procedure as a lot of people think.

7. Minorities are critically needed in the registry, because there just are not enough in the registry to help all of the patients in need, so sometimes those patients do not get a marrow transplant.

8.  Educate yourself!  Go to www.bethematch.org to get more information! 

There are currently two ways to donate marrow once you registered, have been notified by the National Marrow Donor Program that you have matched up with someone, and are trying to figure out if you would like to become a donor.

PBSC (Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Collection) (done about 70 % of the time)
The donor receives a filgrastim(synthetic growth hormone) injection each day for 4 or 5 days before the donation procedure to increase the number of blood-forming cells in his or her blood.  After the series of injections, the blood-forming cells are collected from the donor during one or two apheresis sessions. During apheresis, blood is drawn from a donor's arm and circulated through a machine that removes blood-forming cells. The rest of the blood is returned to the donor in the other arm. The donor must sit quietly during the four to six hours needed to collect the cells.


Marrow Collection  (done about 30% of the time)
The donor is given anesthesia to prevent the feeling of any pain during the procedure.  While the patient lies on their stomach a needed is inserted into the hip bone and 600cc-1200cc of marrow is extracted.  Since the insertion is small, only a band-aid is required and the donor is free to go home (and in some cases have gone back to work afterward).  A common myth is that this procedure is very painful, but people who have donated before say that  pain medication was not required,  and most are  able to return to work after the procedure (similar to a dentist appointment).

So remember, that donating marrow is not painful and usually surgery does not happen if you do happen to match up as a potential donor for someone in need of a marrow transplant.

To be a potential donor, you must be between the ages of 18 and 60 years old and meet general health guidelines. 

Registering is super easy and only requires a small cheek cell sample to be taken taken (no more blood sample used for this initial testing) and tested to determine the donor's genetic tissue type.  Potential donors then also complete a brief health questionnaire and sign a consent form to have their tissue type listed on the Registry. 

And that's it for most people.  Since the chance to find a match is nearly 1 in 300,000, most people will never be contacted again.  However, it's important to register as thousands of people daily are searching for a potential marrow match and by registering, you're helping to increase the chances that they actually find a match.

So, register to save a life. =]

I originally became involved with this marrow registration drive as Tu Tran, the current Executive VP in the ASUC (Cal's student government) mentioned to me that Susan Haber was interested in having a drive on the UC Berkeley campus. He knew that I had been involved with the Cal Hep B Free program (a movement to screen Cal students for Hepatitis B) and this program along with Project Michelle and AAA (Asian American Association) had sponsored a drive together. Tu was looking for information on how to sponsor a drive. Unfortunately, I was unable to help him out as I had not participated in the drive and knew nothing about a marrow registration drive.

However, a couple of weeks later, the founder of the club that I am currently president of, Team HBV, forwarded me an email from Jiro Okochi, who was also interested in sponsoring a drive. And I figured that I could connect Susan and Jiro together since they had the same plan and also connect them to the ASUC (Cal's student government) as I am also currently one of the ASUC's Health Services Directors, so that all these people and organizations could come together to hold a drive. I actually did not intend to coordinate the drive and was trying to find a friend to coordinate it, but those plans didn't quite work out as I became more and more involved with the project.

In general, one reason I was able to make this drive a success is that I do happen to know of many resources that Cal offers as a result of my various involvements with different organizations and my experiences on the Cal campus. If you are a college student and attempting to coordinate a marrow drive, find a way to become more knowledgeable about the resources on your campus such as the website of the office in charge of student organizations or in charge of reserving rooms/locations or be affiliated with a group that can help them find those resources. In my case, I had my past involvement with student organization and I am also affiliated with the ASUC (Cal's student government) that could help me find resources that I am unaware of.

Additionally, I would suggest that it is important to have a team behind them and then work closely and delegate duties and responsibilities to them as well as making sure that there are assigned deadlines just to ensure that everything is done on time. For duties, I would suggest having someone in charge of fundraising/finances, volunteers (recruiting them, organizing the schedule, training them), and publicity (getting word about the drive out). It is VERY difficult to try and attempt to coordinate everything on your own and one of the biggest reasons why Cal's drive was a success was because I was able to work with a wonderful team of people from those in the ASUC, Jiro and his family, Susan, my boyfriend, etc...

2) Be positive

Volunteering becomes so much mor enjoyable when you're positive and everyone feels that charge of super positive energy emitting from you. As a result, usually those around you tend to feel a little more positive.

And even if you don't feel happy, fake it. Somehow, faking it will eventually help you to actually feel happy.

So, pretty much, be happy to feel happy.

So, I don't profess to be an expert on anything, but here is the first in a series of blogs about a couple of lessons and tips that I have learned from my experiences volunteering.

1) While it's great that you think of a great event to put on, it's important to remember that as great as your event may be, at the same time, to make life easier on yourself, it's really helpful to have a great team behind you, supporting you throughout the entire way.

As much as we would all love to be our own individual superman or superwoman or super being, things are so much easier to do when you don't have to do everything and you can work on things with other people. Additionally, working on events helps create more bonding between you and your team. And when you look back and reflect on your event, that bonding time will be really what stands out to you as well as probably one of the highlights or funniest things/experiences about that event.

Additionally, it's important to utilize your team for their skills and knowledge. You wouldn't ask someone who speaks only Mandarin and English to translate for someone, who speaks only Spanish and French and the same goes for skills and knowledge.

I'm tired now, so to be continued...

Just wanted to say thanks to all Team HBV National, Asian Liver Center, everyone involved in the Jade Ribbon Campaign, Team HBV China Chapters, the Team HBV US Chapters, East Villagers, the Jade Ribbon Youth Council, SF Hep B Free, the Ping and Amy Chao Family Foundation, and the Hep B Project. 

It was so great to meet everyone after hearing their voices online via Skype and knowing that we’re all working together to eradicate HBV and that maybe someday, as a result of our efforts and other Hep B warriors around the world, that the next generation and the generations after that won’t have to deal with the negative physical and social effects of Hepatitis B.

United in solidarity,

Rebecca

After hearing all about Lei Chuang and his famous exploits back in China working to promote Hepatitis B awareness, I also did a little further research on my own.

Check out http://hi.baidu.com/%D3%EA%CC%EF%C3%C5%C2%ED/album/%D5%E3%B4%F3%D2%D2%B8%CE%D1%A7%D7%D3%D6%C2%D0%C5523%C3%FB%D4%BA%CA%BF%C7%F3%D6%FA

At this site, there's a whole photo album about Lei Chuang and how he sent out a ton of letters about Hepatitis B awareness to many Chinese officials and policymakers.

Not only is it impressive about how many letters he sent out, but also the fact that he's been voicing these concerns about Hepatitis B awareness and HBV discrimination to the Chinese government.

The Chinese government does not take criticism lightly and Lei has been quite brave in voicing his concerns against them.

Lei Chuang. The guy's amazing, hilarious, and super passionate about spreading Hepatitis B awareness and making sure that people get screened and educated about Hepatitis B. He definitely takes extreme steps to really get people to notice the problems of Hepatitis B from doing performance art, where one tries to attract attention by turning themselves into an art piece to having a campaign called "Hug a Hep B carrier" day, where Hep B carriers would ask people to give them hugs and overall, they were able to get 80+ hugs out of 100+ people. That's fantastic especially the amount of social stigmatization and misconceptions there are in China regarding those with chronic Hepatitis B.

His next project will be biking and spreading Hepatitis B awareness. I wish I could join him on his journey.

But anyhow, I totally understand how he is so famous in China.

Props to Lei Chuang

One of the best things about the Team HBV National Conference is having the opportunity to meet and mingle with the Team HBV China Chapters. It's so interesting hearing about their different experiences as between the US and China, there is most definitely a difference in focus and yet, we all share the common goal of eradicating Hepatitis B.

And upon hearing that the China Chapter Team HBV volunteers were known as the sunshine volunteers most definitely put a smile on my face. Maybe, it was the fact that they weren't just a part of Team HBV, but were more specifically, sunshine volunteers. Maybe, it was that it reminded me of the song that kids sing called "You are my sunshine" or maybe, it was the whole idea that as a sunshine volunteer, you definitely bring some sunshine or positivity into the lives of others.

Whatever the reason, I applaud these chapters on their efforts and love the name!

Right now, it's Day 2 of the Inaugural Team HBV National Conference and Jonathan Chen just gave a presentation about the Qinghai Project and it really made me think about how in just one province, 50,000+ people were vaccinated and in particular, how those 50,000 were comprised only of grade school and kindergarteners.

That's super impressive and how through their efforts, Hepatitis B is being even further eradicated and one generation will now be free of Hepatitis B. Additionally, those children were also educated about Hepatitis B and taught a song to the melody of Frere Jacques. But just think, because an entire generation has been vaccinated and educated, how much more empowered the province of Qinghai now is. This collaboration of education and screening has never been done before and how in the US, this is something that Team HBV, the Asian Liver Center, and the Jade Ribbon Campaign advocate on a daily basis.

Right now, I can't help but feel so impressed and excited about what the future for the Jade Ribbon Campaign holds for all us.

Team HBV <3!

I saw this video at the conference and thought it was a super cute commercial advocating moms to get screened for Hep B to protect their babies.

www.hepbmoms.org: There are 370 million people worldwide chronically infected with hepatitis B, the leading cause of liver cancer. The majority acquired it from mother-to-child transmission at birth. A million people die of this disease every year, but it is entirely preventable through vaccinations and protective shots given at birth.

Today was the first day of the conference. And I must say that I was a little nervous and very excited about meeting a lot of new people with lots of Team HBV spirit. However, my butterflies were totally unnecessary as everything's been pretty amazing thus far.

The worst part was probably getting carsick on the way over and realizing that all of us forgot to print out directions and then trying to find our way from the hotel to Tressidor Union for the dinner in the dark, especially when we were at this Dorkelstein Auditorium and couldn't figure out exactly where the place was when it was just the next parking lot over. LOL

However, everything after that totally made up for getting lost. Dinner was yummy Thai food. And then mingling and getting to know everybody else was really cool. Everyone's been super chill and pretty relaxed and LOADS of fun. And then, it was super funny playing the icebreakers with the China people because they decided to say the questions in Mandarin, which meant that the English-only speaking folks were relying on the Mandarin speakers for help. And just working together was really fun and after a while, each table got their competitive Team HBV spirit on.

We then went back to the hotel and let me just say the hotel is really nice and it's cool being able to relax and enjoy yourself although I'm probably going to start watching Bio webcasts soon and my life will get even better. LOL

The pool was also nice and super warm and Jen and my roomie, Katrina is really nice and it's really interesting talking to her as well. We've been getting lots of cute roomie pics. Anyhow, time to shower.

I can't wait to see what exciting events await us tomorrow!

Today, Jen, David, and I were practicing our presentation for the Team HBV National Conference. I'm super excited because practicing with all them was awesome and I know that we're going to be amazing this weekend.

And especially now that my Physics midterm is over with,  I know that the Team HBV National Conference is going to rock all of our socks off!

PS - Just think, everyone attending this conference in spirit or in person will have more Team HBV buddies. Yay for Team HBV awesomeness and promotion of Hepatitis B awareness!

It's almost Tuesday and you know what that means here in Berktown, almost time for Team HBV at UC Berkeley's general meeting.

In particular, I'm super stoked about this upcoming meeting tomorrow because Amanda (one of the coolest/nicest people in the world/one of Team HBV's founders) is giving us a presentation on outreaching and WE'LL ALL BE DRESSING UP AS HEP B NINJAS!!!!

I'm definitely excited to be hearing what are some other things our team needs to take into consideration about outreaching and better reaching out to the Berkeley campus and community and spreading Hep B awareness. Did you know that Hep B is one of the most preventable diseases in the world and yet 400 million people in the world are infected with chronic Hep B or 1 million in the US alone?

At the same time, I also can't wait to see everyone dressed up as a Hep B ninja!

Happy Halloween!

After trying to find a location and date for Hoops for Hep B, Team HBV at UC Berkeley finally did it!

We are pleased to announce that Hoops for Hep, a basketball tournament to spread Hepatitis B awareness will be happening at the RSF in the Gold Gym on Saturday, 12/5 from 11:30-6:30PM.

If your team is interested in playing, please contact teamhbv@gmail.com.