News Briefs

Med Center offers free lectures for
anniversary

In celebration of the UCLA School of Medicine’s 50th
anniversary, leading doctors and surgeons are offering a series of
free public lectures, which kicked off Saturday with
“Re-engineering of Surgical Technology in the 21st
Century.”

Speakers at the lecture focused on the benefits of minimally
invasive procedures in neuro, cardiac and breast cancer surgeries
and the need to expand its use. Tissue regeneration using stem
cells was also discussed.

Hillel Laks, chief of cardiothoracic surgery who implanted one
of the first artificial hearts into a 74-year-old patient in
September, discussed the possibility of performing heart surgery
without opening up a patient’s chest.

Endoscopic visualization ““ surgery that involves making a
small incision and using a small camera to view internal organs
““ was one of the methods Laks suggested.

The three remaining lectures will cover topics such as dealing
with diseases in the 21st century, cancer and how to prevent it and
treatments in neurology. For further information, call (310)
794-1958.

UCLA wins Kraft Foods marketing contest

The UCLA MBA marketing team is the sixth annual winner of the
Kraft Foods marketing competition.

The four-student team was one of eight teams in the nation
selected to participate.

In their honor, a $15,000 donation from Kraft Foods will be
given to the National Society of Hispanic MBAs/Hispanic
Scholarship.

Each member also received pocket personal computers and the
opportunity to interview with Kraft Foods for an internship or
full-time positions.

“These four students from UCLA exhibited exceptional
marketing skills and really impressed us with their depth of
knowledge and experience in this “˜real-life’ business
environment,” said Carlos Abrams-Rivera, category business
director of cheese and a judge for the event.

High schoolers gather for model U.N. event

Over the weekend, 25 California high school groups gathered at
UCLA’s model U.N. conference to try to solve global
problems.

In the ninth annual UCLA session sponsored by UCLA’s
International and Overseas Program, high school students addressed
topics with a focus on international security and the crisis
between the United States and Afghanistan.

For three days, they broke into conference groups in which two
students represented one country. Christan Tsan, a junior from
Laguna Hills High School, said she analyzed and researched AIDS and
malnutrition in Africa. In the end, she presented a position paper
to other committee members with background information and
solutions to the problem.

Keynote speakers at the conference included Barbara K. Bodine,
former U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Yemen, and Colin
Robertson, the consul general of Canada.

Reports from Daily Bruin staff and wire services.