May 06, 2008 Issue | Updated May 8 2:18pm 
Aug 13, 2007 12:30 PM
In Memoriam
The Rev. James Putney, a staff chaplain at UCLA Medical Center who ministered to the spiritual and emotional needs of countless cancer sufferers, has died. He was 55.
The popular and beloved Putney, who died Aug. 14, had served as a chaplain at UCLA's Oncology Center since 1998. He was also a faculty member at the David Geffen School of Medicine and mentored medical students in the school's doctoring program, which teaches students how spirituality can improve patient care.
"When one encountered Rev. James Putney, you first received his smile, which emanated light, joy and acceptance," said the Rev. Sandee Yarlott, director of the spiritual care department at UCLA Medical Center. "With James, you felt met, deeply listened to and embraced by a special attentiveness. It was like you had been in the presence of divine love and compassion."
Putney's calling to spiritual care did not come easily. Standing just less than four feet tall due to Morquio's syndrome, a form of dwarfism that influences how bone develops, he endured 12 painful corrective surgeries by age 21, leaving him with a profound aversion to hospitals.
When his older brother was killed in an accident when Putney was 18, he bottled up his feelings of grief, unable to deal with the family tragedy.
More than 26 years passed before Putney could bring himself to confront his brother's death. He then experienced a religious epiphany that brought him newfound inner strength. It wasn't long before Putney had completed theology training and started working in the ministry, helping to start several new churches.
But Putney wanted more. Additional training in clinical psychology, along with a growing interest in the mind-body connection, brought him back into the hospital environment, at UCLA Medical Center.
He was known for using a technique known as "guided imagery" to help transport ill patients away from their pain and for writing poems about those he helped. In May 2007, Putney was named Healthcare Team Member of the Year at UCLA's annual nursing awards event.
"What I viewed as a deficit, I now see as a bridge to connecting with patients on a spiritual level," Putney said in an interview with UCLA Today in 1999. His compelling story was also the focus of several newspaper and magazine articles, as well as network and documentary programs.
Born in Portland, Maine, in 1951, Putney moved to Los Angeles in the early 1970s. He received his bachelor's degree in biblical studies from LIFE Bible College in Los Angeles and his master's degree in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena.
He assisted in the building of three nondenominational Christian churches on Los Angeles' Westside between 1986 and 1992 and was ordained at Ocean View Community Church, where he served five years as assistant pastor. Putney did his clinical pastoral education internship at Santa Monica–UCLA Medical Center from 1997 to 1998 and completed his residency at UCLA Medical Center in Westwood, with a focus on oncology. He was also a board-certified chaplain with the Association of Professional Chaplains.
Putney is survived by his wife of eight years, Lin Morel; his parents, Marie and Elbert Putney; his brother Richard David; his sister Ann Marie and her husband, Ross Saunders; two nieces; a nephew; several aunts; and numerous cousins.
"James will live on in the hearts of those he touched," his wife said. "He was truly a spiritual giant and an incredible example of a man who lived life to the fullest."
Putney's family and friends have created a multimedia Web site dedicated to his life and work. The site includes information about donations.
Howard Judd
Memorial services will be held Saturday, Aug. 25, at 12:30 p.m. at Vineyard Christian Fellowship, 3838 S. Centinela Ave., Los Angeles 90066 and on Monday, Aug. 27, at 5:15 p.m. in the auditorium of the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA, Room C8-183, 760 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles 90095.
Howard Judd, 71, a medical researcher who specialized in women's health issues, died of congestive heart failure July 19 at his Santa Monica home. A former vice chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UCLA, he served as a principal investigator of the Women's Health Initiative, a groundbreaking nationwide study launched in the 1990s on women's health.
When preliminary results of the study appeared to show that hormone-replacement therapy increased women's risk for heart attack and stroke, researchers ended the study three years early in 2002. Judd disagreed. Recently, researchers announced findings that now reflect his viewpoint -- that estrogen is beneficial to many.
"He was a dissenting voice, and it turns out he was right," Gautam Chaudhuri, executive chairman of the obstetrics department, told the L.A. Times of his mentor's decision. "Dr. Judd was one of the foremost contributors to women's health research. He was a brilliant scientist who could look at a basic science development and see how it fit clinically." Judd was internationally recognized for his research in menopause, endometriosis and polycystic ovarian disease.
Among his innovations was a transdermal patch delivery system for hormones that mimics the natural delivery of estrogen. Judd said the system could cut the risks of stroke, blood clots and heart attacks. He also devised a system for assessing the severity of hot flashes.
A native of Los Angeles, Judd was born Dec. 28, 1935. His father, George E. Judd, was an obstetrician. After attending Brigham Young University and earning an M.D. from George Washington University in 1963, he interned at Los Angeles County General Hospital and did his residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Boston Lying-In Hospital at Harvard Medical School, followed by a two-year fellowship in endocrinology at Massachusetts General Hospital.
In 1970, Judd became a founding faculty member of the UC San Diego Medical School's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Seven years later, he joined UCLA as chief of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility. He served as vice chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology from 1994 to 2003. He was named executive director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at UCLA and Cedars-Sinai medical centers in 1998. He later became chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center. He retired from UCLA in 2005. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Aug. 18 at the UCLA Faculty Center.
Medha Yodh
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donating to the Obstetrics and Gynecology Research Fund, UCLA Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 10833 Le Conte Ave., Box 951740, Los Angeles, CA 90095. Checks should be made payable to the Regents of UC.
Medha Yodh, an expert on the theory and practice of the Indian Bharata Natyam dance form and a former adjunct faculty member at the UCLA Department of Dance, died July 11. She was 79 and had been in failing health for several years.
Yodh was a renowned classical Indian dancer and a progressive force in the dance community. Born in Ahmedabad, in the Indian state of Gujarat, in 1927, she began to dance before age 5 and in later years studied with several dance masters, training in Manipuri under Nabhakumar Singh and in Bharata Natyam under Kumar Jaykar in Mumbai.
Her formal academic education was in science, and, after receiving a B.S. degree from the University of Bombay, Yodh came to the U.S., where she earned her master's in chemistry from Stanford University. In America, she continued her dance studies, which included effort-shaped movement analysis with Irmgard Bartenieff and modern and Indonesian dance.
In 1962, Yodh met and became a disciple of Tanjore Balasaraswati, one of the most revered Indian dancers of her generation. Yodh chose to concentrate on the teaching and performance of one of the best-known forms of classical Indian dance, Bharata Natyam.
"We had to practice for hours..., basic dance steps within a square...drawn with a chalk stick on the floor," Yodh remarked of her training. "We had to study the music...and work hard. Her discipline was strict. Those who survived received the best they could from such a great dancer."
UCLA's dance program became a model for programs across the country during the tenure of Allegra Fuller Snyder, UCLA professor emerita of dance ethnology and chair of the College of Fine Arts' first autonomous dance department from 1974 to 1980. Yodh joined the UCLA faculty in 1976. She retired in 1994.
"Medha was a significant artist and a teacher," Snyder said. "There is a tradition within dance forms of a master–pupil relationship which goes beyond just the form itself and includes the philosophy. Many students found her to be a master they could learn from. She had great inner sensitivity that came through her performance and relationship with students."
"In the 1960s [when the department was established as part of the College of Fine Arts], interest in the revival of classical dance flourished," said Emma Thomas Lewis, dance historian and a UCLA professor emerita. "Colleagues, friends and students of Medha Yodh mourn the loss of an inspired and inspiring teacher. By opening the UCLA curriculum to the study of all classical dance forms from all parts of the globe, her teaching touched the lives of hundreds of students, whom she continued to mentor after they left the university."
During her career, Yodh worked with numerous dance companies and dance organizations in Los Angeles, including the Pacific Motion Dance Studios. She also gave many lecture-demonstrations at the universities of Iowa and Pennsylvania; at the Kerkala Kala Mandalam in Kerkala, India; and at the Asia Society in New York.
She also appeared at public programs, academic conferences and demonstrations at various public libraries in the Los Angeles area. In addition, her documentary film "Garba-Ras: A Glimpse Into Gujarati Culture" (1987), was funded by the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department as part of its folk arts program and was highly regarded in academic circles.
Following her retirement from UCLA, Yodh continued to guide and influence dancers and choreographers, advise arts organizations and dance at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica and at the Los Angeles Dance Kaleidoscope showcase series, among many others.
Yodh is survived by her two daughters, Kamal Mullenburg and Neila von Essen, and two granddaughters. Her son, Eric von Essen, a well-known jazz musician, died in 1997. A memorial service is being planned for the end of September.
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