As part of profiles for Women's History Month in 1994, News 8's Gina Lew profiled Dr. Elizabeth Barrett-Connor. The only female department head at UCSD Medical School at the time, Dr. Barrett-Connor spoke about her study of aging women and attitudes towards them. The profile noted that when she graduated from medical school 5% of her classmates were women; in 1994 medical school graduates were then 40-50% female. She started the Rancho Bernardo Study in 1972. Under Barrett-Connor’s guidance, UCSD convinced almost 70 percent of Rancho Bernardo’s 10,000 residents to participate in the study, which is still going nearly 50 years later. She went door-to-door, helping to recruit participants who were soon being asked about more than lipids. “We studied how everyday characteristics — body size and fat distribution, good and bad cholesterol, blood pressure, blood glucose, physical activity, alcohol intake, cigarette smoking, diet and family medical history were related to common chronic diseases,” Barrett-Connor told the Union-Tribune in 2011. She retired in 2018 and passed away from cerebral vascular disease at age of 84 in June 2019.

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