Medicine & Health

As the Oklahoma Legislature clears the way for autonomous practice by nurse practitioners, it’s time for a broader conversation regarding the scope and duration of training and certification needed to independently provide care to patients of all types, says Patrick Aguilar, MD, a business of health expert at WashU Olin Business School.

SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, has awarded the prestigious SPIE-Franz Hillenkamp Postdoctoral Fellowship in Problem-Driven Biomedical Optics and Analytics to Morgan Fogarty, a graduate student at WashU Medicine.

Researchers at WashU will study ways to fix malfunctioning ion channels responsible for neurological and heart illness.

WashU Medicine’s Invasive Fungal Infections Clinic has been named a Center of Excellence, Diamond Level, by the European Confederation of Medical Mycology in recognition of its three-fold excellence in diagnosis, management and research on fungal infections. It is one of two clinics with such status in the U.S. and one of 13 in the world.

Susan K. Dutcher, a professor of genetics and of cell biology and physiology at WashU Medicine, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of her distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.

A small clinical trial, led by researchers at WashU Medicine, has found that moxidectin, a new medicine for river blindness, also works for lymphatic filariasis, another tropical disease.

WashU Medicine researchers led by Polina Lishko have identified a temperature-controlled switch in mouse sperm that changes their movements. The findings may offer new approaches for contraception and infertility treatment.

Biomedical engineering researchers at Washington University have developed a brain wave decoder that can help people with spinal cord injuries.

Shannon Lenze, at WashU Medicine, received the William H. Danforth St. Louis Confluence Award. Lenze was recognized for her partnership with the EleVATE Collaborative to improve maternal and infant health outcomes.

Jeremiah “Jay” Truel co-founded StreetMedSTL, a nonprofit that sends interdisciplinary physicians to encampments and shelters to provide medical care, support and illness-prevention strategies. Since it began in 2022, StreetMedSTL has treated more than 1,000 patients. Truel soon will earn a medical degree from WashU Medicine.