"Keep Up the Pace--Staying Fit as You Age" is the title for the health and fitness talk Monday, Jan. 19, at 7 p.m. in the REI downtown Seattle store. The speakers are Dr. Carol Teitz, associate professor of orthopaedics, and Dr. Robert S. Schwar tz, professor of medicine. Topics will include things you can do now to keep your body fit and flexible into the future, ways to cope with damaged joints, and research findings on exercise and aging. The talks by UW Physicians are given on the third Monda y of each month.

Dr. Christina Surawicz, professor of medicine and chief of gastroenterology at Harborview, has been voted president-elect of the American College of Gastroenterology. She will assume the presidency in October 1998. The international organization has more than 7,000 members.

Dr. Richard Veith, professor and director of the Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center at the Veterans Affairs medical center, has been named acting chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, effective Jan. 5. Dr. Gary Tucker, chair of the department since 1985, plans to take a year-long sabbatical and return to the department as professor. A committee chaired by Dr. William Catterall, chair of the Department of Pharmacology, is conducting a search for Tucker's suc cessor.

Dr. Sue Woods, professor and associate dean for academic programs in the School of Nursing, has been elected to the 12-member board of commissioners of the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. She will serve a two-year term as one of two faculty representatives, beginning immediately. The organization was established in 1996 as a new accrediting agency for baccalaureate and graduate nursing education programs. More than 300 schools have applied for pre-accreditation status.

Dr. Diana J. Wilkie, associate professor in the School of Nursing, is the first recipient of the National Hospice Foundation Research Award. The newly established award will be given annually to recognize exemplary contributions. A nationally r ecognized pain researcher, Wilkie, together with her colleagues, documented the intensity of pain as well as the pulse and respiratory rates of hospice residents with cancer, before and after they received massage therapy. They found that the therapy prov ided immediate relaxation as well as pain relief. Study results will be used to help plan a larger study of massage therapy as a means of relieving cancer pain and stress.

Dr. Nancy Woods, professor in the School of Nursing and director of the Center for Women's Health Research at the UW, has received the Excellence in Women's Health Research Award from the National Association of Professionals in Women's Health. The award recognizes benchmark programs and individual leaders whose efforts and accomplishments have had a significant impact on women's lives. Among other projects, Woods is conducting a 10-year study of women as they experience the menopausal transitio n, with an emphasis on how a woman's biology integrates with her life experiences.