Author: Ken Duenke

The Washington University Board of Trustees met Friday, Oct. 5, and issued a tribute to Trustee J. Stephen Fossett, for whom a search continues following the disappearance of his plane over Nevada. They also heard a number of reports, among them one from Raymond E. Arvidson, Ph.D., the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor and chair of the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences in Arts & Sciences. Arvidson reviewed the research of his department in a talk titled “Geology, Habitability, and Life on Mars.”

MackinnonSusan Mackinnon has 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. Mackinnon was honored for her professional achievement in the health sciences.

Studying efforts to combat obesity in children, a research team led by investigators at the School of Medicine has found that children who lose weight are able to keep it off more effectively if they participate in a maintenance-targeted treatment program, although the effectiveness of the maintenance program lessens over time. The researchers report their findings in the Oct. 10 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

William F. Stenson, M.D., has been named the Dr. Nicholas V. Costrini Professor of Gastroenterology & Inflammatory Bowel Disease at the School of Medicine. Washington University Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton made the announcement with Larry J. Shapiro, M.D., executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine.

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is bringing together a distinguished group of scientists, legal scholars, jurists and philosophers from across the country to help integrate new developments in neuroscience into the U.S. legal system. The Law and Neuroscience Project is the first systematic effort to bridge the fields of law and science in considering how courts should deal with new brain-scanning techniques as they apply to matters of law.

An extra degree of precision will be added to radiation treatments for prostate cancer at the School of Medicine following the installation of two new technologies in the Department of Radiation Oncology. The move to adopt these technologies was led by Jeff Michalski, professor of radiation oncology.

On Wednesday, Oct. 17, the documentary “Thin” will be shown at 7 p.m. in McDonnell Hall, Room 162, followed by a panel discussion with health professionals. The film is a comprehensive and honest profile of four women struggling with their affliction at an eating disorders treatment center.

To explore the state of spiritual life at Washington University, two of its many campus ministers, Rabbi Avi Orlow of Hillel, and Reverend Gary Braun of the Catholic Student Center, will share their beliefs and guide an open discussion for the Assembly Series. The event, free and open to the public, will be held on Monday, October 15 at 4 p.m. in Graham Chapel. Amy Heath-Carpentier, a career development specialist with the Career Center, will moderate.

Peter Humphrey, M.D., Ph.D., has been named the Ladenson Professor of Pathology in the Department of Pathology and Immunology at the School of Medicine. The announcement was made by Larry Shapiro, M.D., executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine.

Clayton Avenue will be closed between 5 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Oct. 8-10 while MoDOT sets girders on the west side of the bridge under Kingshighway.