St. Louis student surprised with WashU Pledge scholarship

High school senior Marye’ Jones got two big surprises Dec. 12: a letter of admission to WashU, her dream school, and a WashU Pledge scholarship award. Jones, of St. Louis, was among 700 students admitted through the early decision process.

Exercise, mindfulness don’t appear to boost cognition

A School of Medicine study focused on whether exercise and mindfulness training could boost cognitive function in older adults found no such improvement following either intervention.

Jha to measure dose from radiation therapy with imaging

Abhinav Jha, at the McKelvey School of Engineering, wants to use novel imaging to better understand how people absorb radiation therapy. His team won a four-year $2.2 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant for the study, which aims to guide treatment decisions.

Odibo named Lang endowed chair in OB-GYN

Anthony Odibo, MD (second from right), an expert in maternal-fetal medicine, has been named the Virginia S. Lang Endowed Chair in Obstetrics & Gynecology at the School of Medicine. The chair was established with a gift from the Lang family through The Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Notables

Cindy Brantmeier, in Arts & Sciences, shared her research, which examined the challenges of health literacy for language-diverse patients across the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic, at the United Nations/UNESCO Latin American Congress on Literacy.

Research Wire

Proscovia Nabunya (left), at the Brown School, and Patricia Cavazos-Rehg, at the School of Medicine, won a five-year $1.2 million research grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to address depression among youth living with HIV in Uganda.

Notables

Thorold Theunissen, an assistant professor of developmental biology at the School of Medicine, has been named to an editorial board of early-career scientists for the journal Stem Cell Reports. He is one of 10 inaugural members.

Radhakrishnan Gopalan, professor of finance, 50

Radhakrishnan Gopalan, a longtime, beloved professor of finance, prolific researcher and mentor to students at Olin Business School, died Dec. 6 of cancer. He was 50.