Dr. Irwin Schatz, a professor at the University of Hawai'i medical school, will be honored with a Mayo Clinic Distinguished Alumni Award on Friday in Rochester, Minn., for numerous articles and contributions to the Honolulu medical community, as well as questioning the ethics of the controversial Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male, which was conducted from 1932 to 1972.

In the early 1970s, a reporter discovered Schatz was the only physician who had written to the Tuskegee study's author, questioning its ethics. A later article in the Wall Street Journal led to major changes in how patients are protected in clinical studies.

Schatz, former chairman of the Department of Medicine at UH, has written almost 100 medical articles and was a major contributor to the Honolulu Heart Program, a longitudinal study with 44 years of follow-up in Japanese-American men. He completed a fellowship in internal medicine at the Mayo Clinic in 1961.

— Advertiser Staff

AUDITIONS

LOVE TO SING? CONSIDER YOUTH CHOIR

Kindergarten through 12th-grade students who love to sing are encouraged to audition for the Hawaii Youth Opera Chorus, the state's largest and oldest community youth choir. Auditions are 8:15 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday and Aug. 22 at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa Music Department.

Participants come from schools islandwide and range from beginners to some of the state's finest young vocalists and musicians.

"HYOC's family, through its community, develops the entire child," said Nola Nahulu, executive and artistic director.

Applicants must complete an audition application form before the audition. There is a $25 audition deposit fee, applicable to tuition. For details: 521-2982, info@hyoc.org or www.hyoc.org.

— Zenaida Serrano