Medicine & Health

The School of Medicine and its Department of Pediatrics have established funding for three pediatric scholars named in honor of a trio of highly regarded former pediatricians at the university. The new Scholars in Pediatrics are Paul Hruz, MD, PhD, Shalini Shenoy, MD, and Andrew White, MD.

Researchers at the School of Medicine are studying the quality, effectiveness and safety of generic drugs used to treat depression. The research, supported by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is the only study of its kind in the nation. Pictured is the study’s principal investigator, Evan D. Kharasch, MD, PhD.

Researchers at the School of Medicine have identified changes in the brains of children growing up in poverty. Those changes can lead to lifelong problems like depression, learning difficulties and limitations in the ability to cope with stress. But the study showed that the extent of those changes was influenced strongly by whether parents were attentive and nurturing. Pictured is principal investigator Joan L. Luby, MD.

Athletes with concussions aren’t allowed to compete again right away, and a Washington University concussion expert advises that children with concussions also may not be able to go back to the classroom right away. Pictured is an image of the brain.

The final results of a stroke-prevention study in patients with narrowed brain arteries confirm earlier findings: Medication plus lifestyle changes are safer and more effective for preventing stroke than a surgical technique called stenting. Pictured is a narrowed brain artery kept open with a stent.

A team of Washington University in St. Louis engineers and physicians is combining areas of expertise to prevent hospitalized patients from deteriorating while in the hospital and from being readmitted soon after discharge.

Veteran physician Cheri LeBlanc, MD, has been treating patients during one of life’s most critical periods — the college years. As the new director of student health and wellness, LeBlanc hopes to educate students in ways that will last a lifetime.

Larry J. Shapiro, MD, executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, will host the annual Dean’s Update for all employees Nov. 8 and 22.

Studying spinal fluid from people at risk for Alzheimer’s disease, School of Medicine researchers have found that a gene variation that had not been considered risky actually can increase the chances of developing Alzheimer’s disease when it occurs in tandem with another gene variant known to elevate risk. Shown is an image of a brain with a buildup of amyloid deposits (highest amounts in yellow and red) that collect to form senile plaques in patients with Alzheimer’s.

Roberto Civitelli, MD, the Sydney M. and Stella H. Schoenberg Professor of Medicine, has been elected president of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR), the world’s leading scientific organization for bone health research.