Thomas R. Stevenson, professor and chief of the Division of Plastic Surgery, has been elected chair of the American Board of Plastic Surgery. The board is the credentialing body for plastic surgery. Its charge is to promote safe, ethical and efficacious plastic surgery in the U.S. by maintaining high standards for the education, examination, certification and recertification of plastic surgeons.

Helen K. Chew, director of the UC Davis Cancer Center’s Clinical Breast Cancer program and assistant professor of hematology and oncology, is the recipient of the Joyce Raley Teel award for outstanding dedication to the cause of breast cancer. Chew is medical director of Sacramento AANCART, a National Cancer Institute-funded project headquartered at UC Davis that seeks to reduce cancer incidence and mortality among Asian-Americans.

Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, professor of internal medicine and director of UC Davis Health System’s Center for Reducing Health Disparities, has been elected chair of the National Mental Health Association’s board of directors. He is the first Latino to serve as board chair for the national organization and its 340 affiliates around the country, which addresses all aspects of mental illness. Aguilar-Gaxiola recently received the U.S. Office of Minority Health Community Leader Award for his work in Hispanic communities.

Zenja Watkins, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology, received a Women Who Mean Business Award from the Sacramento Business Journal. Watkins was honored for her work as director of the Women’s Health Community Clinics, which provide prenatal, obstetrical and gynecological care to women of various socioeconomic levels.

The Violence Prevention Coalition of Orange County has named Garen Wintemute, professor of emergency medicine and director of the Violence Prevention Research Program, an Ambassador of Peace. Wintemute was recognized in the Public Service category for his research and advocacy on firearm violence and its prevention.

AcademyHealth, the national organization for health services research and policy, has honored Richard L. Kravitz with its 2006 “Article-of-the-Year” award for his lead authorship in an article about direct-to-consumer drug advertising. Kravitz, a professor of internal medicine and director of the UC Davis Center for Health Services Research in Primary Care, conducted a study that showed patients’ requests for specific medications could have a profound effect on physicians when they are asked to prescribe medications for major depression.