News Briefs

UCLA doctor to head state board

Dr. Gary Gitnick, professor of medicine and chief of UCLA
Division of Digestive Diseases, has been elected president of the
Medical Board of California.

Governor. Gray Davis initially appointed Gitnick to be a member
of the medical board in April 2000 ““ only 12 physicians
statewide sit on the board.

With a mission to protect patients, the board licenses
physicians, investigates complaints, conducts physician
evaluations, disciplines those who violate the law and advises
legislators.

Gitnick, who received his bachelor of science and doctor of
medicine degrees at the University of Chicago, joined the UCLA
faculty in 1969.He was previously chief of staff at UCLA Medical
Center and was medical director of the UCLA Health Care Programs.
Gitnick was previously vice president of the Medical Board of
California.

Hawkins to direct education center

John N. Hawkins, UCLA professor of education, has been appointed
director of the Center for International and Development Education
in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at
UCLA.

The center, created in April 2002, houses research projects
related to the broad issues of education and development.

Composed of faculty, staff, current students and graduates, the
center provides a learning community combining the study of theory
with practical management of educational programs.

Professor receives social justice award

UCLA Education Professor Peter McLaren became the inaugural
recipient of the Paulo Freire Social Justice Award during a
ceremony at Chapman University.

McLaren specializes in critical pedagogy, multicultural
education, critical ethnography and critical theory.

The award recognizes educators whose scholarship and activism
best exemplify the principles and practices of the work of Freire,
who fought for social reform in Chile and worldwide.

“Peter encourages students to become educated not simply
to adjust to the norms of society but to actively reshape society
in the interests of social justice for all,” said Suzanne
SooHoo of the Paulo Freire Democratic Project.

Cloudy atmosphere observed in space

For the first time, researchers have observed planet-like
weather acting as a major influence on objects outside our solar
system, scientists from UCLA and NASA reported last week.

The UCLA-NASA team has found cloudy, stormy atmospheres on brown
dwarfs, the celestial bodies that are less massive than stars but
have more mass than giant planets like Jupiter.

The discovery will give scientists better tools for interpreting
atmospheres and weather on brown dwarfs or on planets around other
stars.

Adam Burgasser, astronomer at UCLA and lead author of the study,
teamed up with planetary scientist Mark Marley, meteorologist
Andrew Ackerman of NASA Ames Research Center in California’s
Silicon Valley and other collaborators.

The UCLA-NASA findings will be reported in the June 1 issue of
the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Park worker killed by rider’s feet

AUSTELL, Ga. “”mdash; An amusement park worker was killed when he
wandered into the path of an upside-down roller coaster and was
struck in the head by a passenger’s dangling legs.

Officials at Six Flags Over Georgia were unsure how or exactly
why the 58-year-old foreman walked into the locked, no-access area
on “˜”˜Batman, The Ride” on Sunday.

He was not immediately identified.

A better way to stay hard

INDIANAPOLIS “”mdash; A yet-to-be-approved impotence drug
developed by Eli Lilly and Co. and Icos Corp. appears to be
longer-lasting than Viagra, the companies said, citing a study
being released at a medical conference.

Patients in the study reported success in achieving erections
over a period of 24 to 36 hours after taking a 20-milligram pill of
Cialis, said Indianapolis-based Lilly and Bothell, Wash.-based Icos
on Saturday.

The study did not compare Cialis’ effects directly with
those of Viagra, the $1.2 billion-a-year drug for erectile
dysfunction that Pfizer Inc. introduced in 1998.

Compiled from Daily Bruin wire services.

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