Denzel Washington's hometown hosts awarding of scholarships bearing Washington f...( LOS ANGELES (April 29 2008) Paulett...),Health

LOS ANGELES (April 29, 2008) Pauletta and Denzel Washington will present two research scholarships Friday, May 2, at Mount Vernon High School in Denzels hometown of Mount Vernon, N.Y. The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m.

The Pauletta and Denzel Washington Family Scholar in Neuroscience Awards have been given annually since 2004 by the Department of Neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. The program provides $2,500 in monthly support for a graduate-level researcher and $2,000 per month for an undergraduate. Recipients work during the summer months under the direction of renowned physicians, neurosurgeons and scientists, and prepare a scientific abstract or paper to submit to a national neuroscience, cancer or neurosurgery organization.

In addition to lending their name to the scholarships, the Washingtons take an active role in the program, meeting with applicants and announcing the annual awards. The scholarships are awarded in a different city each year to increase awareness of neuroscience research and encourage students from many geographic locations to apply. The Washingtons said they hope the Mount Vernon setting will persuade students from Denzels hometown to consider careers in the sciences because they offer the potential to change the world.

Keith L. Black, M.D., chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai, will speak and introduce the Washingtons, strong supporters of Cedars-Sinais neuroscience research program. Mount Vernon Mayor Clinton Young Jr. and Superintendent of Schools W.L. Tony Sawyer, Ed.D., also will speak.

Other speakers include Arthur J. Ochoa, Esq., senior vice president for Community Relations at Cedars-Sinai, and Dwain Morris-Irvin, Ph.D., a neural stem cell research scientist at Cedars-Sinais Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute. Morris-Irvin, who also is from the Mount Vernon area, conducts research to identify new treatments for brain tumors and neurodegenerati
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