UCLA doctor earns president’s award
Melissa J. Spencer, an assistant professor in the department of
pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine, received the
Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers at a
White House ceremony July 12.
Spencer, a muscle cell biologist and researcher in the Duchenne
Muscular dystrophy Research Center, was nominated by the National
Institutes of Health, which funds her research on calpain proteins
and on the potential role of the immune system in Duchenne muscular
dystrophy.
She is also a grant recipient of the Muscular Dystrophy
Association, where she studies a protein called calpain 3, which is
involved in limb-girdle muscular dystrophy and a clinical trail of
the drug albuterol in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Spencer is one of 60 recipients of the award this year, which
was created by President Bill Clinton in 1996 as a way to honor
achievements of young professionals starting independent research
careers in science and technology.
UCLA Med Center “Best in West”
U.S. News & World Report recently ranked the UCLA Medical
Center the “best in the west,” giving it the number one
spot on its annual report for the thirteenth year in a row, with a
national ranking of fifth in the nation.
UCLA also soared high on the lists in specialty categories,
including a number one ranking in geriatrics. UCLA Neuropsychiatric
Hospital ranked sixth in the country, and UCLA’s Jonsson
Comprehensive Cancer Center and Jules Stein Eye Institute also were
named the best in the western United States, respectively securing
the eighth and fifth rankings in the nation.
Rounding off the top ten in the nation were Johns Hopkins in
Baltimore, Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, Massachusetts
General Hospital in Boston and Cleveland Clinic, Duke University
Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, UC San Francisco Medical
Center, University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor,
Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, and Brigham and Women’s
Hospital in Boston.
New director for Chicano/a studies
Chon Noriega was named director of UCL”s Chicano
Studies Research Center on July 1.
Noriega, a professor in the Department of Film, Television and
Digital Media, had served as the center’s associate director
since July 2001.
As, director, he plans to expand the center’s current
research on public policy and social sciences.
“I feel the present moment is an exciting time for the
field, especially given the increasing political, economic,
demographic and cultural influence of the Latino community in Los
Angeles and nationwide,” Noriega said in a statement.
Noriega has been editor of Aztlan: A Journal of Chicano Studies,
the leading journal in the field of Chicano Studies, since
1996.
He was named one of the Top 100 Most Influential Hispanics by
Hispanic Business magazine in 1999 for his involvement with media
policy and efforts to promote Latino media.
Guillermo Hernandez, the center’s past director, will
return to full-time teaching in the department of Spanish and
Portuguese.
Former Police Chief looking to rebound
Former Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard Parks has already raised
over $150,000 in his run for the Los Angeles City Council.
“I look forward to running an aggressive, grassroots
campaign for the 8th City Council district seat,” said Parks
in a statement.
Park’s campaign will report this amount to the City Ethics
Commission as funds raised before June 30. His campaign committee
was formed on May 29.
The 8th City Council district includes neighborhoods in South
Central, Crenshaw, and Baldwin Hills.