MEDIA ADVISORY

EVENT: A group of 12 science honor students from La Jolla High School will get a taste of medical school life when they visit areas of UCSD's School of Medicine (SOM) during national Brain Awareness Week.  On a tour led by Abbas Sedaghat, M.D., professor of medicine at the SOM, the high school juniors and seniors will visit such sites as SOM's Gross Anatomy Laboratory where they will get an overview of the rigors of medical school study, especially as it relates to exploring the brain and nervous system.  The tour will include the viewing of normal and abnormal brain specimens and a discussion with medical school teaching lab manager Chris Hopkins.

DATE/TIME: Wednesday, March 17, 1999 at 3 p.m.

LOCATION: UCSD School of Medicine's Gross Anatomy Laboratory, Room 201of the Basic Science Building

BACKGROUND: The medical school visit is part of UCSD's "BrainWorks: Plug Into It!" series of events planned this month with selected area schools in observance of the fourth annual Brain Awareness Week, Mar. 15-21.  The week will see neuroscientists and medical professionals in U.S. and Canada host free events to educate school children and the public on the advances in brain research.  Brain Awareness Week is sponsored nationally by the Society for Neuroscience and the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives.

PHOTO Take photos of students during hands-on visual sessions with School

OPPORTUNITY: of Medicine professionals.  Visuals include neurological specimens, brain models and computer virtual reality neurological images.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Michael Dabney, University Communications (619) 822-0761 or mdabney@ucsd.edu