Names and Faces

Marsha Kmec, director of library services at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, has been named 2007 Librarian of the Year by the Librarians Association of the University of California, Los Angeles. She has been recognized for her innovation and leadership in developing and implementing a bilingual health education video network in the medical center's emergency room waiting area.

The National Institutes of Health renewed a five-year, $5.77-million Specialized Center of Excellence grant, under the leadership of Emeran Mayer, director of the UCLA Center for Neurovisceral Sciences and Women's Health. Researchers are studying the interaction of stress, pain, emotion and sex-related differences underlying two pelvic pain disorders that affect mostly women: irritable bowel disease and interstitial cystitis.

Associate University Librarian Terry Ryan has received the 2007 Frank Cofrancesco Excellence in Technology Award from UCLA's Administrative Information Systems and the UCLA technical community. Ryan was honored for her work with the Common Collaboration and Learning Environment Initiative and for her ability to guide campuswide IT projects to resolution. The Cofrancesco award is given annually to a premier employee in the technology field.

Jennie Ching-I Tsao, associate professor of pediatrics in the Pediatric Pain Program at Mattel Children's Hospital, has been selected as one of six winners of the 2007-08 Mayday Pain & Society Fellowship. The fellowship provides leaders in the pain-management field with the tools and skills to advocate for better treatment for pain. Tsao serves as research director of the UCLA Pediatric Pain Program.