Police Chief Joe Farrow has been elected to a three-year term on the board of directors of NAMI California, part of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Farrow, who took the helm of the campus Police Department last August after a 37-year career with the California Highway Patrol, has had a long-standing commitment to NAMI and the training of law enforcement officers on how to interact safely, effectively and compassionately with people showing signs of mental illness.

“As first responders, we are de-escalating whatever situations we come across and helping people,” he said. “But, in cases involving mental illness, we must pay special attention to try to alleviate the crisis a person is going through.

“Our compassion and understanding will heavily influence how these incidents are resolved.”

In 2015, Farrow worked with Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, on successful legislation (Senate Bill 11) that set a new minimum requirement of 15 hours of training (more than double the previous minimum) for all police recruits in California, on the subject of mental health.

A companion measure, SB 29, also successful, addressed a gap in the training requirement for field training officers. They had been required to undergo training on behavioral health issues, but there was no prescribed number of hours. SB 29 established an eight-hour minimum, and also established a minimum of four hours of training for the regular field training officer course.

Now, as campus police chief, Farrow is going even farther — requiring his officers to undergo 40 hours of crisis intervention training, or CIT, in line with a standard that his department aims to achieve as it strives for international accreditation.

The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging recently honored two UC Davis faculty members, presenting its Paul C. Aebersold Award to Distinguished Professor Simon Cherry for outstanding achievement in basic nuclear medicine and naming Professor Julie Sutcliffe a fellow of the society.

Cherry and Sutcliffe are both affiliated with the Department of Biomedical Engineering (College of Engineering) and UC Davis Health, Cherry in the Department of Radiology, and Sutcliffe in the Division of Hematology and Oncology, Division of Internal Medicine.

Cherry’s major accomplishments have been in developing and applying high-resolution systems for positron emission tomography, or PET, particularly the invention of microPET technology, and co-leading the EXPLORER project which recently built the world’s first total-body PET scanner.

Sutcliffe’s research involves the design, synthesis and in vivo evaluation of targeted molecular imaging agents with a focus on positron emission tomography. The society established its fellows program in 2016 to recognize distinguished service to the society as well as exceptional achievement in the field of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging.

Two teams of researchers are represented in Cell Metabolism’s “Best of 2017” issue, published in May. Only five research articles made it into the issue, along with two clinical reports and four review articles.

“Virgin Beta Cells Persist throughout Life at a Neogenic Niche Within Pancreatic Islets” (April 2017) — Lead contact Mark Huising, associate professor in the Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, College of Biological Sciences; and the Department of Physiology and Membrane Biology, School of Medicine. The findings could open up a new route to replace lost insulin-producing cells in people with type I diabetes. Read Egghead blog post.

“A Ketogenic Diet Extends Longevity and Healthspan in Adult Mice” (September 2017) — Lead contact Jon J. Ramsey, professor, Department of Molecular Biosciences, School of Veterinary Medicine. A study of a high-fat, low-carbohydrate “ketogenic” diet in laboratory mice, with a finding that the mice lived an average of 13 percent longer than mice on a control diet. Read UC Davis news release.

Dateline UC Davis welcomes news of faculty and staff awards, for publication in Laurels. Send information to dateline@ucdavis.edu.

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