Names and Faces

Rabbi Pearl Barlev has become the new full-time Jewish chaplain at the UCLA Medical Center after serving on an interim basis since June. Before that, she served as a Kalsman rabbinic intern in the Department of Spiritual Care. She provides for specific Jewish needs of patients, families and staff, and supervises rabbinic interns as well as members of the Jewish volunteer program.

Vay Liang W. Go, professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine and editor-in-chief of "Pancreas," has received a five-year, $6-million grant from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine to expand the UCLA Center of Excellence in Pancreatic Diseases. The center studies the effects of plant compounds on pancreatic cancer and pancreatitis.

Kuo-Nan Liou, distinguished professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences and founding director of the Joint Institute for Regional Earth System Science and Engineering has been elected vice chair of the "Special Fields and Interdisciplinary Engineering" section in the National Academy of Engineering. He is scheduled to become chair on July 1, 2008.