Dr. Dean Bok has been selected as...

Dr. Dean Bok has been selected as a senior scientific investigator in the UCLA Research to Prevent Blindness project studying retinal degenerative disease. Bok is the Dolly Green Professor of Anatomy and Ophthalmology at the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA. His research is primarily concerned with the structure and function of photoreceptors and pigment epithelium (cellular material which covers surfaces) and the interactions between the cell types.

Nobuko Komine,a Santa Monica College interior design student, has won second place in the Van Luit West Week 1987 Student Design Contest. Komine was selected for a $500 award from more than 65 entries from students attending major Southern California interior design schools. She will be featured in the March issue of Designers West magazine and her award-winning design will be on display through March at the Pacific Design Center.

Lloyd Handel, Santa Monica College librarian, has been appointed to represent large urban community college districts on a newly formed staff development committee for community college library services. The appointment was made by Lois Marriott, library services coordinator in the chancellor’s office of the California Community Colleges.

Leonard LaBella Jr., president and executive director of Santa Monica Hospital Medical Center, has been elected to the Hospital Council of Southern California’s 1987 board of directors. He will serve as chairman of the council’s coastal region, which includes Santa Monica, West Los Angeles, Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Marina del Rey and Torrance.

Beverly Hills resident Richard C. Larson has been elected to the board of directors of the Braille Institute, a nonprofit organization offering more than 200 programs and services for the blind and visually impaired. Larson is honorary chairman of the board of C. A. Larson Investment Co., Beverly Hills, and past president of the California Mortgage Bankers Assn.

Joseph and Barbara Factor Bentley of Beverly Hills have been appointed chairpersons of the yearlong 75th Diamond Jubilee celebration of the Jewish Homes for the Aging of Greater Los Angeles. Joseph Bentley, senior vice president of the Beverly Hills branch of City National Bank, is a survivor of the Holocaust whose parents and 55 other relatives perished in Auschwitz. Barbara Bentley is a trustee of the Max Factor Family Foundation, which has funded numerous Jewish and secular causes.

Benjamin Fohrman, Israel Freeman and Morris Gorrin have been named as recipients of Temple Beth Am’s Hall of Honor. The Hall of Honor is a permanent tribute traditionally bestowed on those who have done outstanding work for the temple, the community and Jewish ideals. They will be honored at a dinner Friday evening in the temple sanctuary.