Science First! aims to excite first-year students

Sep 5, 1996

Lee Gass is revving himself up for a lunch date with science students
this fall. The Zoology professor launches a lunch-time seminar series
called Science First! on Sept. 19. The series will have professors
talking candidly about their research, why they became scientists
and what science means to them. It is part of an effort to get students,
particularly those in first year, to rethink what it is about science
that excites them most.

  • Contact: Assoc. Dean Julyet Benbasat, Faculty of Science,
    604.822.9876

New directors named to Music, Human Kinetics

Two UBC schools have announced new directors. Music Prof. Jesse
Read has been appointed director of the School of Music. Read has
taught and played bassoon around the world and conducts research
into 18th-century performance, conducting and chamber music. Exercise
physiologist Michael Houston, formerly associate dean of Graduate
Affairs and Research in the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences at
the University of Waterloo, has been named director of the School
of Human Kinetics.

  • Contact: Prof. Jesse Read, School of Music, 604.822.2079;
    Michael Houston, School of Human Kinetics, 604.822.2767

Pregnancy drop-in clinic opens on campus

A new pregnancy drop-in clinic has been established at UBC to provide
support and information to women in the Vancouver area who are pregnant
or are contemplating pregnancy. Marion Clauson, a clinical assistant
professor of Nursing at UBC, said the free drop-in is aimed at the
residents of the Acadia and Fairview student housing developments
and surrounding community, but is open to anyone. The drop-in also
provides nursing students with experience in working with expectant
mothers.

  • Contact: Asst. Prof. Marion Clauson, School of Nursing,
    604.822.7470

Arthritis drugs may protect against Alzheimer’s

The prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease in arthritis patients receiving
non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug therapy is less than half that
in people not receiving such drug treatment, reports UBC neuroscientist
Dr. Patrick McGeer in the August issue of Neurology. His
analysis of international epidemiological studies, which examined
whether arthritis and anti-inflammatory drugs contributed to the
onset of Alzheimer’s disease, concludes that these drugs consistently
protect against the disorder.

  • Contact: Dr. Patrick McGeer, Psychiatry Dept., 604.822.7377

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