Month: January 2021

Faculty experts from across Washington University in St. Louis draw upon their research, their instruction, their experience and their thought leadership to proffer insight and ideas for the new administration, the new beginning.

Dr. Karen Joynt Maddox expects the new Biden/Kamala Harris administration to retool and reinforce Obamacare, rather than the previous administration’s failed attempts to repeal and replace. She offers areas ripe for both quick and gradual change: reinstating health discrimination protection, investing in insurance enrollment, creating the “public option,” and broadening competition in insurance markets.

Luis Glaser, a beloved mentor and former head of the then-Department of Biological Chemistry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, died Dec. 23, 2020, in Miami after a long illness. He was 88.

A new program has launched at Washington University to support principal investigators and their postdoctoral researchers. The Postdoc Peer Mentorship Program is accepting applications for those who wish to be mentors and for those who would like a mentor on both the Danforth and Medical campuses. The deadline is Feb. 1. 

Some 25 current and retired staff joined Habif Health and Wellness caregivers and outside staff to serve as case investigators and contact tracers. Their efforts helped keep COVID-19 largely in check at Washington University until Habif could enlist a permanent team of trained trackers. 

Gene Hoefel, professor emeritus at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, died peacefully in his sleep at the Anthology of Clayton View assisted living facility on Dec. 28, 2020. He was 86.

School of Medicine researchers have received an NIH grant to study factors that prevent pregnant women from getting tested for COVID-19; to evaluate the importance of testing regularly during pregnancy; and to see whether pregnant women with COVID-19 need specialized care.

Geophysicist Michael Wysession, professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, teaches a popular undergraduate course called “Energy and the Environment.” He breaks down President-elect Joe Biden’s 9-point Energy Plan, point-by-point.

James L. Gibson, who has studied and written extensively about the evolution of South Africa’s democracy in the post-apartheid era, has been elected to the Academy of Science of South Africa as an honorary foreign associate.

Leaning on their expertise in history, ethics and religious studies, faculty from the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics reflect on the Jan. 6 Capitol Insurrection.