Medicine & Health

In response to the tragic events in Ferguson, Washington University School of Medicine will host a series of town hall meetings for faculty, staff and students beginning Wednesday, Aug. 27. A key objective is to identify how members of the Medical Campus can be of help to Ferguson, its residents and the entire St. Louis region.

Brain networks break down in a similar fashion in rare, inherited forms of Alzheimer’s disease and much more common uninherited versions of the disorder, reveals a new study led by the School of Medicine’s Beau Ances, MD, PhD.

​Brian Nussenbaum, MD, the Christy J. and Richard S. Hawes III Professor of Otolaryngology, has been named director of the Division of Head and Neck Surgical Oncology in the Department of Otolaryngology at the School of Medicine.

Washington University researchers have developed algorithms to identify weak spots in tendons, muscles and bones prone to tearing or breaking. The technology, which needs to be refined before it is used in patients, one day may help pinpoint minor strains and tiny injuries in the body’s tissues long before bigger problems occur.

First-year students at the School of Medicine recently participated in the traditional White Coat Ceremony — a rite of passage in which future doctors are welcomed to medical school and the medical profession. In addition to receiving their white coats, the 123 students recited an oath promising honesty and integrity.

Rajendra S. Apte, MD, PhD, the Paul A. Cibis Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences, is the first recipient of the Presidents’ Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Retina Specialists.

Applications for the K12 Clinical Hematology Research Career Development Program scholars are being accepted through Oct. 20.

A new multi-institutional study that originated at the School of Medicine showed that giving monthly blood transfusions to young sickle cell anemia patients who already had experienced silent strokes reduced by 58 percent their risk of another stroke, silent or otherwise.

Mice missing two important proteins of the vascular system develop normally and appear healthy in adulthood, as long as they are not injured in some way. If they are, their wounds don’t heal properly, a new study shows. The research has possible implications for treating diseases involving abnormal blood vessel growth, including in the skin and eye.

An estimated 55 million to 105 million people in the United States suffer from foodborne illnesses each year, resulting in costs of $2-$4 billion annually. What if Twitter could be used to track those cases and more quickly identify the source of the problem? A new analysis by a researcher at Washington University in St. Louis Brown School shows that new technology might better allow health departments to engage with the public to improve foodborne illness surveillance.