Author: Elizabethe Holland Durando

To show appreciation for exemplary service in medical education, School of Medicine students recently presented faculty and house staff with the annual Distinguished Service Teaching Awards. Shown are Nigar Kirmani, MD, (right) and other awardees enjoying the ceremony.

The School of Medicine has been awarded a career-development grant to support junior faculty members interested in using “omics” technologies to diagnose, treat and prevent lung diseases. The grant, funded by the National Institutes of Health, will help train young pulmonary scientists to apply new analytic omics tools to the study of lung diseases.

While back braces have been used for decades to treat scoliosis, studies of their effectiveness have been inconclusive. But new results from a clinical trial provide the strongest evidence yet that braces work in a significant percentage of cases. Shown is one of the principal investigators, Matthew B. Dobbs, MD, examining an X-ray of a patient whose spine was fused to treat scoliosis.

The School of Medicine and its Department of Pediatrics have established funding for three pediatric scholars named in honor of a trio of highly regarded former pediatricians at the university. The new Scholars in Pediatrics are Paul Hruz, MD, PhD, Shalini Shenoy, MD, and Andrew White, MD.

School of Medicine faculty recently presented about 20 ideas to Washington University students during IDEA Labs’ inaugural ‘Problem Day’ in hopes that they might be able to devise solutions. IDEA Labs — which stands for Innovation, Design & Engineering in Action — is a bioengineering design incubator founded last year as a joint venture of the schools of Medicine and Engineering & Applied Science and the Division of Biology & Biomedical Sciences.

Larry J. Shapiro, MD, executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, will host the annual Dean’s Update for all employees Nov. 8 and 22.

The School of Medicine’s Evan D. Kharasch, MD, PhD (left) and J. Evan Sadler, MD, PhD, have been elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors medical scientists in the United States can receive.

Premature babies often spend their first months of life in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) — environments that, in recent years, have seen transformations, with hospitals adding private rooms to NICUs in place of open wards. But research at the School of Medicine adds new information to the discussion over what is the optimal setting for infants in the NICU. Shown is the study’s first author, Bobbi Pineda, PhD, in the NICU at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

Project ARK and The SPOT have been tapped as a model and mentor to what is hoped will be a similar center in East St. Louis. The new clinic, funded through a federal grant, will emulate The SPOT, a School of Medicine program that celebrated its fifth anniversary in September. The SPOT addresses health risks facing youth ages 13-24 by providing health, social support and prevention services free of charge. Pictured are the center’s medical director, Katie Plax (left), and Kim Donica, the executive director.

Global Health Week featured a visit with the former president and health minister of Ecuador, an international fair, and education about outreach efforts of Global Health Scholars and others. Pictured is Alfredo Palacio, MD, Ecuador’s former president and health minister, while visiting with Washington University students.