Patient Heeds Own Advice, Gets Degree

Don’t do it, the doctors warned Judy Strauss. Not heeding their advice, Strauss went ahead with her plan to earn a doctoral degree in clinical psychology despite having lupus, a debilitating disease of the auto-immune system in which the body develops excessive antibodies.

“The problem with lupus is that stress makes the disease incredibly worse,” said Strauss, 35, of West Los Angeles. “I wanted to know how women who have lupus are able to manage a job and maintain the illness, so I persisted.

“I found that all of the 40 women I studied use prednisone (a steroid) and other traditional medical therapies, and a lot of women--there are 10 women with lupus for every man--use spirituality. A lot of women turn to religion if they are not already involved in religion. Some use biofeedback, holistic approaches and some acupuncture,” she added. “Most of the women found traditional medicine helped, but was not complete.”

Her dissertation at the Wright Institute’s graduate school of clinical psychology was titled “Psychosocial Adjustment Among Adult Working Women With Lupus.”

To honor her, the Bonnie Bernard Denn Chapter of the American Lupus Society will stage a benefit musical comedy revue Saturday at 8 p.m. at Roxbury Park Community Center in Beverly Hills. An original Christmas skit will be staged and the singing group Song of Earth will perform. Tickets are available at the door.

Trojan Snowballs

It’s going to snow at USC this morning. At 11 sharp.

The white stuff, enough for toboggans to rush down a ramp, will arrive not from the heavens, but from the back of a snow-making machine as part of a Muscular Dystrophy Assn. fund-raiser.

Dodger relief pitcher Ken Howell will toss snowballs around with children from 32nd Street Elementary School who have been invited by Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity.

The annual snow party, free to the children, is part of a series of fraternity events to raise money for children with MD.

Marathon Poster Art

Six high school students in Los Angeles and Orange counties have been named finalists in the competition to have their poster adopted for the second annual Los Angeles Marathon on March 1. The competition drew 128 entries.

The finalists, whose works are on display at Vons markets, are Peter Kim of Hamilton High, William Chau of University High, Julia Chen of Alhambra High, Mark Nass of La Mirada High, Richard Miller of Venice High and Szetsong Leong of Chatsworth High. Shoppers can vote for their favorite.

Another Hollywood Diet

Renee Taylor says she has “the spirit of Audrey Hepburn and the appetite of Orson Welles.” She also has the figure, but not the youth, of a teen-ager.

Taylor, a comedy writer, TV talk-show guest and wife of actor Joseph Bologna, has a new book out about how she lives to diet, “My Life on a Diet--Confessions of a Hollywood Diet Junkie.”

She will appear Thursday with three other authors at the Round Table West luncheon at the Ambassador. Information: (213) 386-3276).