Health and science in brief July 18, 2009

| The New Mexican

7/17/2009 - 7/11/09

White House honors LANL physicist

The White House has awarded Ivan Vitev, a Los Alamos National Laboratory physicist, the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

The honor is the highest bestowed by the federal government to outstanding scientists early in their careers.

Vitev joined the lab in 2004 as a J. Robert Oppenheimer postdoctoral fellow. He is an expert in quantum chromodynamics, the theory of string interactions and in energy loss of high-energy particles in hot, dense matter.

His work has been used to determine properties of quark-gluon plasma, a new state of matter discovered in 2000 that is similar to what many scientists think conditions of the universe were like immediately after the Big Bang.

As a recipient of the award, Vitev will get up to five years funding from the Office of Science to advance his research.

Acupuncture clinic moves

We the People Community Acupuncture clinic has moved down the street from its former location to 1406 Second St.

The six-month-old clinic provides treatments on a sliding scale from $20 to $40, and lets patients decide how much they can afford.

It is part of a growing trend that has spawned 80 community clinics around the country.

Visit www.weacupuncture.com for more information.

Las Cumbres gets interim director

Las Cumbres Community Services has named Rita Seeds as interim executive director while the agency searches for a permanent leader.

Seeds has served on the executive management team that has overseen agency operations since Azul La Luz resigned in March. She also served as director of Los Cumbres early childhood and family infant toddler program.

Las Cumbres provides a range of child, family and adult services for people with developmental disabilities and delays and behavioral health issues, among other problems. It works with more than 8,000 people each year in Northern New Mexico.

UNM Hospital on most-wired list

University of New Mexico Hospital has been named one of the 100 most-wired hospitals and health systems in the United States for the sixth consecutive year.

The American Hospital Association has given the award to UNMH seven times overall. It is the only New Mexico hospital to make this year's list.

The association picks hospitals that use a wide array of information technology tools such as computerized physician order entry, bedside electronic medication matching, automated alerts and reminders, physician portals, electronic patient monitoring and computerized lifetime medical records.

Visit hsc.unm.edu for information.