Martin Hollenberg, professor emeritus of Anatomy and former dean of Medicine, has been appointed UBC co-ordinator for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) within the Office of the Vice-President, Research.

Hollenberg will co-ordinate and stimulate efforts of health researchers at UBC and affiliated hospitals to maximize the research opportunities presented by the impending formation of the CIHR.

The CIHR's budget for health-related research is expected to nearly double that currently available through the Medical Research Council of Canada (MRC). The MRC will be replaced by the CIHR next year.

Hollenberg joined UBC's Faculty of Medicine in 1971 and served as its dean from1990-96.

Metals and Materials Engineering Prof. Indira Samarasekera has been appointed the UBC co-ordinator for the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), the $1-billion fund designed to help universities, colleges and hospitals upgrade their research facilities.

Samarasekera will assist UBC researchers in preparing funding applications. UBC has been successful in attracting more than $22 million from CFI in the first round of funding.

Director of the Centre for Metallurgical Process Engineering, Samarasekera has been a faculty member since 1980. She has been a member of the National Research Council of Canada since 1996 and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

Frederick Pritchard has been named UBC's director of planning.

 Pritchard, formerly the planning manager for the City of Kelowna, will advise and support the associate vice-president, Land and Building Services, on issues such as campus development, academic space planning and capital projects.

Pritchard will also be responsible for forging and maintaining close ties with the City of Vancouver, the Greater Vancouver Regional District, the provincial government, UBC Properties Inc. and others with an interest in UBC's campus.

Richard Kerekes, director of the Pulp and Paper Centre, has been awarded the 1999 John S. Bates  Memorial Gold Medal for long-term contributions to the science and technology of the pulp and paper industry.

The medal is the highest recognition given to a member of the Pulp and Paper Technical Association of Canada.

Founder and director of the UBC Pulp and Paper Centre since 1983, Kerekes also established UBC's Pulp and Paper Master of Engineering program and recently led the development of a new advanced papermaking initiative for the province.

The Centre for Research in Women's Studies and Gender Relations has awarded three one-term teaching releases to Dianne Newell, Becki Ross and Patricia Badir for this academic year.

This fall, Newell, a professor of History, is using the term to do research in feminist science fiction while Ross, an associate professor of Women's Studies and Sociology, is investigating the sub-culture of erotic entertainment in post-war Vancouver. In January, Badir, an assistant professor in the English Dept., will use the term to edit and produce a play by early Canadian dramatist Marjorie Pickthall.

The Centre provides funding for the selected scholar's department to hire sessional lectures to cover their teaching during the term. The deadline for applications for the 2000-2001 selections is Nov. 15.