Combining two meds may help older adults with depression

For older adults with clinical depression that has not responded to standard treatments, adding the drug aripiprazole to an antidepressant they’re already taking is more effective than switching antidepressants, according to a study led by the School of Medicine.

Parasitic infections common in low-resource US communities

New research finds evidence that parasitic infections are likely widespread in low-resource communities throughout the southern United States. Such infections can lead to lifelong health consequences, according to Theresa Gildner, an anthropologist in Arts & Sciences.

St. Louis high school students compete at Brain Bee

WashU welcomed 54 students from the St. Louis region Feb. 25 for the first in-person St. Louis Area Brain Bee since the COVID-19 pandemic. Sanjay Adireddi of Ladue Horton Watkins High School won this year’s competition and will compete in the U.S. National Brain Bee in April.

Notables

Timothy Miller, MD, PhD, the David Clayson Professor of Neurology at the School of Medicine, has been named a winner of the Rainwater Annual Prize for Outstanding Innovation in Neurodegenerative Disease Research.

Research Wire

David Cunningham (left) and Geoff Ward, both in Arts & Sciences, received a $500,000 three-year grant from the Mellon Foundation, along with collaborators from other universities, for the project “The Virality of Racial Terror in US Newspapers, 1863-1921.”

Research Wire

Jian Wang, a professor and director of the Center for Aerosol Science and Engineering at the McKelvey School of Engineering, won a $766,552 grant from NASA for new research on Arctic aerosols. Wang aims to understand how aerosols impact Arctic climate change.

George C. Hatch, professor emeritus in Arts & Sciences, 85

George C. Hatch, who taught in the Department of History in Arts & Sciences for more than 30 years, died Feb. 25, 2023, at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. He was 85.