April 3, 2003
Health Sciences News Briefs
Dorris brothers
When the Department of Defense began attaching journalists to military units in Southwest Asia and the Persian Gulf, Pat Dorris, a TV reporter for KGW in Portland, Ore., was assigned to U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln. With a homeport in Everett, the carrier would be ideal for the reporter to deliver sailors’ stories to families and friends in the Northwest. The placement also reunited Dorris with his older brother, whose naval career had separated them for four years. Cmdr. Bill Dorris is a pilot and second in command of the carriers F-18 Hornet Squadrons. Their father is Bill Dorris, retired UW School of Medicine director of facilities and construction coordination. His message to them was: “I hope you are enjoying each other’s company. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event that neither of you will forget.” To comply with ship regulations on escorting all news gatherers, the big brother agreed to keep an eye on his kid brother, 11 months his junior. Pat Dorris flew onto the ship in mid-March. Since then his daily profiles have been broadcast on several affiliate stations.
Neuroscience prize
Dr. Linda Buck, a member of the basic sciences division at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, is co-recipient of the third annual Perl/University of North Carolina Neuroscience Prize. Buck, who is also a UW affiliate professor of physiology and biophysics and investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), and Dr. Richard Axel, professor at Columbia University and HHMI investigator, will receive the award for their discovery of the family of olfactory receptor proteins. Buck and Axel first discovered the family of olfactory receptors in 1991. Their research explained how humans and other animals can detect thousands of different odor molecules. Buck received an undergraduate degree from the UW and a Ph.D. degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. The $10,000 award will be presented at the University of North Carolina on May 2.
