Medicine & Health

Joni Westerhouse, a longtime veteran in public affairs at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been named associate vice chancellor and associate dean for Medical Public Affairs.

Jeffrey I. Gordon, MD, has won the 2014 Dickson Prize in Medicine for his pioneering studies demonstrating how the tens of trillions of microbes that live in the gut influence human health.

The most common type of hospital-associated infection may be preventable with a vaccine, new research in mice suggests. The experimental vaccine, created by School of Medicine researchers, prevented urinary tract infections associated with catheters, the tubes that hospitals and other care facilities insert to drain urine from the bladder.

The same viruses that make us sick can take up residence in and on the human body without provoking a sneeze, cough or other troublesome symptom, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

New research suggests that schizophrenia isn’t a single disease but a group of eight genetically distinct disorders, each with its own set of symptoms. The finding, in a study led by researchers at the School of Medicine, could be a first step toward improved diagnosis and treatment for the debilitating psychiatric illness.

School of Medicine employees ignored the unexpected chill in the air Friday, Sept. 12, and came out in droves for the annual employee appreciation picnic on the Medical Campus. The picnic was sponsored by the dean’s office and the Medical School Management Council.

Ellen Binder, MD, and Krikor Dikranian, MD, PhD, have been named the 2014-2016 Carol B. and Jerome T. Loeb Teaching Fellows at the School of Medicine. The two-year fellowships support awardees as they implement innovative ideas that enhance the education of medical students and residents.

A new study led by Michael J. Holtzman, MD, at the School of Medicine suggests that a fundamental antiviral defense mechanism is intact in asthma. This indicates that another aspect of the immune system must explain the difficulty people with asthma have when they encounter respiratory viruses.

​Mark Thoelke’s work ethic has contributed to his success in starting and leading the hospitalist division at Washington University School of Medicine. He has been called “the doctor’s doctor,” a term that refers to a physician whom another physician would recommend to family and friends.

Michael Wong, MD, PhD, has been named the Allen P. and Josephine B. Green Professor of Pediatric Neurology at the School of Medicine. Wong sees patients with pediatric epilepsy at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and specializes in basic research into the origins of the illness.