Medicine & Health

​In a world’s first, physicians at Siteman Cancer Center have begun treating patients using MRI-guided radiation therapy, a technology that allows tumors to be visualized during treatment. Shown is Wayne Kestler, 80, one of the first patients treated with the new technology.

Nominations for the 15th annual naming of a Dean’s Distinguished Service Award recipient, as well nominations for research support and operations staff awards, are being accepted through Feb. 28.

There’s more than one way to make sure your ticker gets some love this Valentine’s Day. Plan a visit to the annual Health Happening Fair from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14, in the Eric P. Newman Education Center for free health screenings and information on a wide variety of health topics.

Stuart C. Sweet, MD, PhD, a world leader in pediatric lung transplantation, has been named the W. McKim Marriott, MD, Professor of Pediatrics at the School of Medicine. Pictured is Joan Magruder, president of St. Louis Children’s Hospital, congratulating Sweet on the honor.

Several School of Medicine faculty members were honored by the school Jan. 29 at the 2014 Faculty Recognition Event at the Eric P. Newman Education Center. Faculty members were honored at the event with Distinguished Faculty and Samuel R. Goldstein Leadership awards.

As part of an ongoing road construction project, the Tower Grove Avenue bridge over Interstate 64/Highway 40 will be closed for about two weeks, beginning Monday, Feb. 3. When the bridge reopens, it will remain open until March 7 (tentatively), when it and the Boyle Avenue bridge will be closed for demolition.

Scientists at the School of Medicine have discovered what appears to be a potent stimulator of new bone growth. The finding could lead to new treatments for osteoporosis and other diseases that occur when the body doesn’t make enough bone.

Scientists have identified a new way that some viruses protect themselves from the immune system’s efforts to stop infections, a finding that may make new approaches to treating viral infections possible.

In a surprising discovery, neuroscientists, led by a team from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, have found that a molecule that is a breakdown product of cholesterol in the brain may be a target for developing new drugs to treat schizophrenia and other mental illnesses.

On Feb. 6, Laura Svetkey, MD, professor of medicine at Duke University, will give the inaugural speech in the Women Leaders in Public Health Career Lecture Series at Washington University. The goal of the series, sponsored by the University’s Institute for Public Health, is to offer broad perspectives from female leaders about their careers in diverse fields related to public health.