Mark J. Mannis, professor and chair of the Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Science, was selected as the new president of the Pan-American Association of Eye Banks.

Mannis, who specializes in corneal transplantation, has served as chair of the Eye Bank Association of America in the past. The Pan-American Association of Eye Banks is a supra-national organization dedicated to education and the fostering of effective eye banking to provide corneal transplant tissue to the countries of Central and South America.

Hendry Ton, UC Davis School of Medicine assistant clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral science, has received a Chancellor's Achievement Award for Diversity and Community.

Ton teaches cultural competency. He also serves on the Doctoring Steering Committee, where he is developing a longitudinal cultural competence curriculum. In addition, he has worked with Ethnogeriatrics Online, an innovative program that encourages medical students to examine the intricate relationships of culture, geriatrics and medicine.

In the psychiatry residency training program, Ton participates as a lecturer in the spiritual and cultural components of the residency curriculum. He is vice chair of the Department of Psychiatry's diversity advisory committee and established a service that provides consultation to county psychiatric care providers.

The fifth annual Dean's Award for Excellence in Mentoring was presented this year to Klea Bertakis, professor and chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine, and Ralph deVere White, professor and chair of the Department of Urology and assistant dean for cancer.

The award, which includes a $2,000 gift, recognizes their roles in the academic development of junior faculty and helping them attain their full academic potential.

Peter Sokolove, associate professor of emergency medicine, has been named national Residency Program Director of the Year by the Emergency Medicine Residency Association. The honor is awarded every year to the top emergency medicine residency program director in the nation.

A number of Sokolove's colleagues and residents in the Department of Emergency Medicine nominated him for the award. In one nomination, a resident stated, "Dr. Sokolove has compassionately supported residents through pregnancy, illness, stress and divorce. During those chaotic times, it is very helpful to have him standing beside you. Dr. Sokolove has not lost his empathy for those stresses that residency places on residents and their families."

Amparo C. Villablanca, associate professor of cardiology and director of the Women's Cardiovascular Medicine Program at UC Davis Health System, has been awarded the Frances Lazda Endowed Chair for Women's Cardiovascular Medicine.

Villablanca founded and became director of the Women's Cardiovascular Medicine Program in 1994, one of the first programs in the nation to be established. Villablanca's clinical expertise is in non-invasive cardiology and heart disease in women. She has lectured extensively on hormonal influences on heart disease and gender differences in cardiac risk factors, diagnosis and treatment. Villablanca also conducts translational and basic research that focuses on understanding the mechanisms of hormones and their receptors in regulating cardiovascular disease susceptibility in men and women. The Frances Lazda Endowed Chair is the result of an estate gift of Frances Lazda, a long-time Sacramentan who died last year.