Author: Ken Duenke

Recipients of the annual James M. Holobaugh Honor were recognized at a reception Feb. 10 in Holmes Lounge. The honor recognizes individuals and organizations that live and lead with integrity, engage diverse communities on issues relevant to LGBT community at WUSTL and throughout the St. Louis metropolitan area.

David Windus has been named associate dean for medical student education at the School of Medicine. He also is a professor of medicine and assistant medical director of the school’s Chromalloy American Kidney Center.

Obesity researchers at the School of Medicine are recruiting families with overweight children for a study to help those kids, and their parents, lose weight. The two-year study, called COMPASS (Comprehensive Maintenance Program to Achieve Sustained Success), will involve families with one or more children between the ages of 7 and 11 who are at least 20 percent above their ideal weight.

It may seem a small consolation from either point of view, but a new study has affirmed that patients with cancer are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease, and patients with Alzheimer’s disease are less likely to get cancer.

Many of the same genes influence both alcohol and marijuana use as well as dependence on those substances, according to researchers at the School of Medicine. Together, these genes make some people more likely to drink alcohol or use marijuana. As consumption of alcohol or use of marijuana increases, risk of dependency rises.

Four Washington University faculty members have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society. The rank of fellow is the highest honor awarded by the association and is bestowed upon members by their peers.

Washington University used the backdrop of our nation’s capital Dec. 16 to announce the establishment of the John C. Danforth Center for Religion & Politics, a scholarly and educational center that will focus on the role of religion in politics in the United States. For a slideshow of the events surrounding the announcement, click here.

This is a special edition of the eRecord to announce the establishment of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion & Politics. The Record will go entirely digital in January 2010 to improve timely communication to the University community and to reduce printing and distribution costs.

Neill Wright, associate professor of neurosurgery and of orthopedic surgery, has been named the Herbert Lourie Professor in Neurosurgery at the School of Medicine. Washington University Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton and Larry J. Shapiro, executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, announced the appointment.

For the first time, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have shown that brain plaques in apparently healthy individuals are associated with increased risk of diagnosis with Alzheimer’s disease years later. In two studies published this month in Archives of Neurology, scientists report that volunteers with brain plaques were more likely to have declining scores on annual cognitive tests, to show signs of shrinkage in a key brain area affected by Alzheimer’s and to eventually be diagnosed with the disease.