Glenn Langer

A year ago, it seemed as if the helping hand Glenn Langer was extending to students in one of Los Angeles' poorest neighborhoods had finally reached too far. The retired UCLA medical professor had created a series of unusual scholarships for junior high school pupils to help pave the way for them to get into college. Langer was dipping into his pension to pay for books, calculators, mentoring expenses and field trips for 29 Lennox Middle School pupils.

The framed photograph nearly said it all -- a beaming young woman wearing her cap and gown, bedecked with a lei and proudly clutching her university diploma. But there was more that Milagro Romero wanted to convey as she wrote a note accompanying the picture she presented to the man who had sent her to college. "Dear Dr. Langer," she began. "Words are simply not enough to show my sincere gratitude. You have been a miracle in my life."

The framed photograph nearly said it all -- a beaming young woman wearing her cap and gown, bedecked with a lei and proudly clutching her university diploma. But there was more that Milagro Romero wanted to convey as she wrote a note accompanying the picture she presented to the man who had sent her to college. "Dear Dr. Langer," she began. "Words are simply not enough to show my sincere gratitude. You have been a miracle in my life."

A year ago, it seemed as if the helping hand Glenn Langer was extending to students in one of Los Angeles' poorest neighborhoods had finally reached too far. The retired UCLA medical professor had created a series of unusual scholarships for junior high school pupils to help pave the way for them to get into college. Langer was dipping into his pension to pay for books, calculators, mentoring expenses and field trips for 29 Lennox Middle School pupils.

I applaud the news that "UC Proposes Push to Ready Disadvantaged for College" (May 21) and the expansion of outreach programs that would result. The problem is that these programs will not begin to fill the gap produced by the abolition of affirmative action programs this year. The 83% decrease in minority admissions at the law school in Berkeley is only the beginning--it will be many years before the outreach programs develop to the point where they will be able to significantly counteract the demise of affirmative action.

It was supposed to have been a one-time raid on his pension. UCLA professor of medicine Glenn Langer dipped into his savings in 1996 to create scholarships for junior high school students in one of Los Angeles' poorest neighborhoods. His idea was simple. Lennox Middle School would pick half a dozen of its brightest seventh-graders.

I want to commend you on your clearly stated and forthright editorial. You go to the core of the problem which is the ethical and moral obligations that we, as research scientists, have to the human race. If we can benefit our fellow humans by research on animals and in the process commit ourselves to minimizing discomfort, pain or stress in the animals, our path is clear. Our responsibility to our fellow humans is to pursue research under currently operative rigorous guidelines and do the best we can to reduce disease-related morbidity and mortality (1.8 million Americans die each year from diseases)

I applaud your editorial "It's Crazy" (Dec. 19) referring to President Reagan's idea to "privatize" the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH is unique among the world's institutions for support of health-related research. It is the primary reason why the United States has led the world in this research since World War II. The public has benefitted immensely from the relatively small proportion of its tax dollar used to support the NIH and its programs. If we are to expect further inroads to be made in the prevention and cure of the diseases that still cause 2 million deaths in our country each year, it is mandatory that the NIH and its support be maintained in its present form.

In the true spirit of Thanksgiving Day, many will sit down to dinner this evening with gratitude for the good things that have happened among friends and family. But all around us in Southern California are those who deserve the region's collective thanks. Some, like Nina Varkel of Irvine, responded to a single emergency. Others, like Inglewood resident Cecilia Freeman, saw a continuing need and decided to dedicate their lives to it.

Chris DeRose, an animal rights leader who along with two other activists conducted a hunger strike while jailed on a trespassing charge, was released from Los Angeles County Jail early Friday. DeRose, president of Last Chance for Animals, had been sentenced to 45 days on a conviction stemming from a protest against animal experiments at UCLA. He was released after serving eight days.

Cardiologist Glenn Langer has a lot of heart. Only weeks away from ending his career as a medical researcher, he has tapped his retirement nest egg to buy books, calculators and museum tickets for strangers who live in one of Los Angeles' poorest neighborhoods. Langer has created personal scholarships for seventh-graders at Lennox Middle School in the hope of getting them into college six years from now.

Things have come full circle in Lennox where an unusual junior high scholarship program was hatched a dozen years ago. It was 1997, and the retiring head of UCLA's cardiovascular research lab had decided to dip into his retirement savings to buy books, calculators and museum tickets for six disadvantaged students at Lennox Middle School. He would also pay stipends to personal mentors who would help steer each youngster through high school and, eventually, into college.