Medicine & Health

This year, Washington University researchers advanced our understanding of schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease, and developed devices to help surgeons see cancer cell and scientists to capture new vistas through the world’s fastest 2-D camera.

Fourteen people have been arrested in connection with a 2012 outbreak of fungal meningitis linked to steroid injections that caused 64 deaths across the United States. The arrests, which resulted in two people being charged with 25 acts of second-degree murder, remind us that drug manufacturers must be responsible for their actions, says a noted medical ethics expert at Washington University in St. Louis.

Herbert Rosenbaum, professor emeritus of neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, died Dec. 10, 2014. He was 89.

Katie Plax, MD, a professor of pediatrics at the School of Medicine, has received the Dr. Corinne Walentik Leadership in Health Award from the Missouri Foundation for Health. The award, in its second year, was created to honor the late Dr. Walentik’s commitment to serving vulnerable populations.

Two major Alzheimer’s disease studies at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have received federal funding totaling $30 million over the next five years.

Longtime philanthropists and civic leaders James and Elizabeth McDonnell have pledged $25 million to endow The Genome Institute at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The gift will fund innovative research to understand the genetic origins of diseases ranging from cancer and diabetes to autism and Alzheimer’s disease, with the aim of developing more effective diagnosis and treatment for patients.

Enhancing hearing appears to improve balance in older adults with hearing loss, according to new research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Patients with hearing aids in both ears performed better on standard balance tests when their hearing aids were turned on compared with when they were off.

As a show of their appreciation for exemplary service in medical education, Washington University School of Medicine students recently presented the school’s faculty and house staff with the annual Distinguished Service Teaching Awards. The awards were for the 2013-14 school year.

Secondary infection with hepatitis C does not cause the memory loss, personality changes and other mental impairments seen in patients with long-term HIV infections, a new study shows. Pictured is first author David Clifford, MD, of the School of Medicine.

Nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, has shown early promise as a treatment for severe depression in patients whose symptoms don’t respond to standard therapies, according to a small pilot study led by (from left) psychiatrists Charles R. Conway, MD, and Charles F. Zorumski, MD, and anesthesiologist Peter Nagele, MD, at the School of Medicine.