Dr. Teresa A. Benton, who has practiced...

Dr. Teresa A. Benton, who has practiced small-animal medicine in Torrance since 1982, is the new president of the Southern California Veterinary Medical Assn. Benton is a 1981 graduate of the Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. She and her husband, Mark Campbell, live in San Pedro.

Other new officers are Dr. Gerald E. Hackett, a 1978 graduate of the University of Minnesota and director of equine research at Cal Poly Pomona, and Dr. John N. S. White, 1951 graduate of the Royal College of London, who practices small-animal medicine in southeast Los Angeles.

Installed as trustee was Dr. George Crueller of Santa Clarita, who practices small-animal medicine in Van Nuys.

Kevin Peterson of Palos Verdes Estates has been named South Bay Citizen of the Year by the Wellness Community-South Bay. The award is given annually to a citizen who has shown exceptional service to the community and for involvement in the support of cancer patients and/or cancer research.

Peterson, South Bay district manager for GTE California, has been elected president of South Bay Assn. of Chambers of Commerce and was recently appointed a member of the legal and regulatory affairs committee of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The South Bay Assn. of Chambers represents 18 chambers of commerce in the greater South Bay area, from Long Beach north to Westchester. Other newly association officers are Dominique Sorensen, Bill Kernney, John Kirk, Joyce Crettol and Dan McClain. The association is focusing on saving the Los Angeles Air Force Base and forming a regional approach to economic development.

Dr. George C. Emmanouilides of Rolling Hills Estates has been named 1992 Distinguished Physician by the Hellenic Medical Society of New York. He was also honored in Los Angeles by the Hellenic-American Medical and Dental Society of Southern California during a UCLA event at St. Sophia Fellowship Hall in Los Angeles.

Emmanouilides is professor of pediatrics at UCLA School of Medicine and chief of the division of pediatric cardiology at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance. A member of the UCLA School of Medicine faculty since 1963, he received the Sherman Mellinkoff UCLA Faculty Award in 1982, and in 1989 was presented with the Dr. George Papanicholau Award by the Hellenic-American Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles.

Emmanouilides and his wife, Akrevoe, are the parents of five adult children.

Dr. Samar Sircar of Rolling Hills has been elected to the Chadwick School’s Roessler-Chadwick Foundation Board of Trustees. Sircar and his wife, Vidya, have had two children graduate from Chadwick School. A daughter, Shoma, is a junior at the school.

Sircar was born in Calcutta, India, where he received his early education. He moved to London and served surgical residencies in multiple specialties and by 1974 was an orthopedic consultant at London University.

After moving to Boston, he was appointed a clinical fellow in orthopedics at Massachusetts General Hospital at Harvard University and later at Eastern Virginia Medical School. He has a private orthopedic practice in Torrance and teaches at UCLA.

Marcia Smith of Playa del Rey is the new president of Toastmasters Peninsula Club 174. Smith is a hypnotherapist and president of her own company, Discoveries Unlimited, in Playa del Rey.

Kathy Popoff, new Toastmasters educational vice president, has her own law practice in Rolling Hills Estates.

Other new officers are Barbara McNurlin of the McNurlin Group, Torrance; Becky Crusoe, marriage, family and child counselor intern in Torrance; Tamara Boswell, transportation consultant in Torrance; Alison Fleming, Waddell & Reed, Palos Verdes, and Diane Regecz of Quorum International personal security services.

Peninsula Toastmasters meet at 7 p.m. Thursday at Portofino Italian Restaurant, 28901 Western Ave., Rancho Palos Verdes. Information: (310) 316-6573.

Inglewood resident Carlos J. Perez, a Loyola Marymount University freshman, was named one of two recipients of a $20,000 Southern California Edison Independent Colleges of Southern California Scholarship. He also received five shares of Edison common stock and an Edison employee mentor.

Perez, 19, the son of Carlos and Gladys Perez of Inglewood, competed against 22 applicants and received the scholarship based on his educational performance, leadership skills, extracurricular activities and potential to succeed.

He earned a 4.05 grade point average at Inglewood High School and was a member of the varsity swim team, editor of the student newspaper and a volunteer with 100 hours of service at Centinela Hospital. Perez is majoring in biochemistry and plans to become a doctor.