Ucla School

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using the supplement nitric oxide? Richard Sunland Nitric oxide is a gas naturally found in the body; its function is conveying information between cells. One of its main jobs is increasing blood flow by dilating blood vessels, and that's why it's sometimes given in supplement form to heart patients, orally and intravenously. In at least one study it's been shown to be effective for lowering blood pressure.

Herbalife International says it's all about helping people "pursue healthy, active lives. " UCLA's Geffen School of Medicine likes to think of itself as being in the forefront of medical research and modern healthcare. But the curious relationship between these two supposed champions of healthful living should turn your stomach. Herbalife is the Los Angeles nutritional supplement firm that has become the centerpiece of a ferocious Wall Street tug of war. The major player is hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who contends that Herbalife is a scam to sell overpriced products by fooling people into becoming Herbalife "distributors" by implying the business will make them rich.

I would like to address the issue of the proposed closures of the UCLA School of Nursing at the bachelor of science level and the severe curtailment of the graduate program. The School of Nursing has been ranked in the top 10 in the nation and fulfills a critical need in California for registered nurses prepared at the bachelor's level and nurse practitioners prepared at the master's level. California is a debtor state in this need for nurses. This issue has received scant attention from both the print and electronic news media.

When Tony Tolbert turned 50 last year, he marked the occasion by moving in with his mother. The decision wasn't about money. He's a Harvard-educated attorney, on the staff of UCLA's law school. And it wasn't because his mother wanted or needed him home. It was Tolbert's response to the sort of midlife milestone that prompts us to take stock. Instead of buying a sports car, he decided to turn his home - rent free - over to strangers. He'd been inspired by a magazine article about a family that sold their house, squeezed into a tiny replacement and donated to charity the $800,000 proceeds from the sale.

The mission of the University of California is to serve the people of California through relevant academic programs. Chancellor Charles Young and Vice Chancellor Andrea Rich seem to have forgotten this mission when they ordered the disestablishment of the Schools of Public Health, Social Welfare, and Urban Planning and Architecture, each among the finest in the country (June 4). Though these schools generate relatively little endowments by the very nature of their programs, missions and graduates, they provide the most direct service to the people of Los Angeles, especially to minority groups and the most vulnerable in society.

I was delighted to learn of David Geffen's generous gift to the UCLA School of Medicine (May 7-8). While I was the undergraduate counselor in the department of biology at UCLA, 90% of my students wanted to attend medical school, and the majority hoped to be accepted at UCLA. I know that some of my former students are now on the faculty at the School of Medicine, the School of Dentistry and the Jules Stein Eye Institute and are employed at the UCLA hospital. This brings to mind the new UCLA hospital, currently under construction.

Murray L. Schwartz, 87, dean of the UCLA School of Law from 1969 to 1975 and a longtime professor there, died of heart failure Feb. 15 at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, said UCLA spokeswoman Sara Wolosky. A specialist in criminal law and legal ethics, Schwartz joined the UCLA faculty in 1958 and was the first to hold the David G. Price and Dallas P. Price Chair in Law. He also served as UCLA's vice chancellor from 1988 until 1991, when he was granted emeritus status. Known for his teaching skills, Schwartz won the law school's Rutter Award for Excellence in Teaching and was named professor of the year by the graduating class of 1986.

A postscript on Gov. Pete Wilson's dismissal of Paul Torrens of the UCLA School of Public Health and two other distinguished public health leaders from the state's Tobacco Education and Research Oversight Committee: The same day Wilson dumped Torrens, he (Torrens) was notified of receiving the Harvard School of Public Health's Alumni Award of Merit--one of three people to be recognized during the school's 75th anniversary. Seems like people who are up to Harvard's high standards aren't good enough to satisfy the governor.

A $2-million grant to establish a molecular genetics program has been awarded the UCLA School of Medicine by the Weingart Foundation. The grant will be issued over a period of five years.

Dean Susan Westerberg Prager of the UCLA School of Law has been elected president of the Assn. of American Law Schools. Her term starts in January, 1986.

A controversial researcher on air pollution and secondhand cigarette smoke is suing UCLA to get his position back, claiming that his firing was an illegal effort to quash academic dissent and protect politically correct views. James Enstrom, a nontenured researcher in the UCLA School of Public Health, has been involved in a series of administrative appeals in trying to keep the position he held for about 35 years. With those UC avenues exhausted, he filed a lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Los Angeles against the university and its administrators.

The man who made his political bones handling Boston's blizzard of 1978 has spent the last 17 winters in the sunshine glow of UCLA. Michael Dukakis, the former Massachusetts governor and the 1988 Democratic presidential candidate for president, is a visiting professor at UCLA's Luskin School of Public Affairs, launching young people into the public service careers he endorses so passionately. UCLA is where he staged his last fervent campaign rally the day before he lost toGeorge H.W. Bush; the day after the election, he was back at his governor's desk.

Jamaa Fanaka, who emerged as a dynamic black filmmaker with his gritty independent 1979 film "Penitentiary" and later made headlines with his legal battles alleging widespread discrimination against women and ethnic minorities in the film and television industry, has died. He was 69. Fanaka was found dead in his apartment in South Los Angeles on Sunday, said his daughter Tracey L. Gordon. The cause of death has not been determined, but she said it probably was the result of complications of diabetes.

Jonathan Fielding works 70-hour weeks in a relatively obscure and overwhelming job: He is Los Angeles County's top public health doctor. Friends and colleagues have long praised his professional contributions to the field. But to their surprise, Fielding and his wife are now making another huge contribution: $50 million to the UCLA School of Public Health. The gift, which was to be announced Thursday morning, is the largest single donation the school has received since its creation 50 years ago and will give it a new name: the UCLA Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health.

The student's admissions essay for Boston University's MBA program was about persevering in the business world. "I have worked for organizations in which the culture has been open and nurturing, and for others that have been elitist. In the latter case, arrogance becomes pervasive, straining external partnerships. " Another applicant's essay for UCLA's Anderson School of Management was about his father. He "worked for organizations in which the culture has been open and nurturing, and for others that have been elitist.

If all philanthropists were required to be morally upright, hospitals would be low on new wings and colleges would be starved for buildings. We'd also be missing a few beloved institutions outright — Stanford and Carnegie Mellon universities are cases in point. Charity is a virtue that should not be off-limits to scoundrels — if, in fact, they are truly giving to an institution rather than tethering their donations with strings that benefit them. Lowell Milken would probably be counted among the less pristine philanthropists, though not among the most scurrilous.

The UCLA School of Nursing has launched a campaign to establish the school's first endowed chair, which will be named after the school's founding dean, Lulu Wolf Hassenplug. A goal of $500,000 has been set. The money will be invested, with interest going to support research and other activities of the faculty member who will be named later to hold the position. Hassenplug was dean of the UCLA School of Nursing from 1948 to 1968. She instituted bachelor's and master's degree programs for nurses and participated in state and federal groups to encourage reform in nursing education and service.

Ada M. Lindsey, professor and chairwoman of the department of physiological nursing at the University of California, San Francisco, has been named dean of the UCLA School of Nursing effective July 1, UCLA Chancellor Charles E. Young announced.

The gig: Judy Olian is dean of the UCLA Anderson School of Management. With nearly 2,000 students in full-time and executive MBA programs, as well as PhD candidates, Anderson is ranked the 14th-best business school in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. A native Australian, Olian, 59, is one of the few female business school deans in the country. Two tough women: Olian attributes her tenacity to her mother, Rachel, a teacher who was separated from her husband in Poland during the Holocaust, only to be reunited with him seven years later in Australia.

The Anderson School of Management's proposal to move toward financial independence from the state is not a giant leap from public to private. For years, the UCLA business school, like many other UC professional schools, has been forced to find increasing sums of private money to maintain its operations. Tuition for California residents already is $41,000, and for nonresidents, $49,000. More than 80% of the school's budget already comes from private sources, and when other factors are accounted for, it's closer to 94%. Numbers are similar at several other UC schools, such as in dentistry, law and business.