Author: Jim Goodwin

​Melody Goodman, PhD, an assistant professor of surgery at Washington University School of Medicine and a research member of Siteman Cancer Center, has been appointed to the City of St. Louis Board of Health and Hospitals.

Shashikant Kulkarni, PhD, an associate professor of pathology and immunology at the School of Medicine, has been named editor-in-chief of the journal Cancer Genetics.​​​​

Researchers at the School of Medicine have been awarded $13.7 million from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to create new therapies for multiple myeloma, a cancer of the immune system.​ Led by Samuel Achilefu, PhD, (pictured) and Gregory Lanza, MD, PhD, at the newly created Center for Multiple Myeloma Nanotherapy, scientists will work to develop nanomaterials and drugs to treat the disease.

​A personalized method for testing the effectiveness of drugs that treat multiple myeloma may predict quickly and more accurately the best treatments for individual patients with the bone marrow cancer. The process, developed by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine​ in St. Louis, also may aid patients with leukemia or lymphoma.

​​Timothy J. Ley, MD, a leukemia researcher and hematologist at the School of Medicine, has received a seven-year, $6.4 million Outstanding Investigator Award from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The funding will allow him to continue research aimed at understanding the mutations that initiate acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and how they might be targeted with new approaches.

​​Three scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Siteman Cancer Center each will receive $900,000 in funding – $2.7 million total – over two years for their innovative approaches to fighting leukemia and other types of cancer.

Robert Schreiber, PhD, the Alumni Professor of Pathology and Immunology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been named a co-editor-in-chief of Cancer Immunology Research​.

Teresa Deshields, PhD, manager of Siteman Counseling Service at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine, has been chosen as a 2015 fellow by the American Psychosocial Oncology Society.

​​Siteman Cancer Center plans to expand cancer services and facilities at Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital in St. Charles County. The $13.1 million project will expand the existing facility from 19,500 square feet to 30,750 square feet. That is in addition to expansion projects already underway at Siteman’s main campus at Washington University Medical Center and at Siteman Cancer Center-South County.

A free e-book by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine provides practical, science-based advice for lowering breast cancer risk at every stage of life. “Together — Every Woman’s Guide to Preventing Breast Cancer” is written for a lay audience to help women improve their breast health and the breast health of their loved ones.