Year: 2021

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.

A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that measuring mitochondrial DNA in the blood of patients with COVID-19 can help predict which patients are at highest risk of severe disease, requiring more intensive care.

Question: When a flu pandemic broke out in 1918, it spread around the world over the course of two years. The university offered its buildings to the Red Cross to help keep St. Louis safe during the pandemic. What was Graham Chapel used for?

New School of Medicine research indicates that allergens in the environment often are to blame for episodes of acute itch in eczema patients. Researchers found the itch signals are being carried to the brain along a previously unrecognized pathway that current drugs don’t target.

The Center for the Humanities in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis recently announced its 2021-22 cohort of faculty fellows. Faculty fellows spend a semester in residence at the center, giving them space and time to make great progress on their research and book projects.