Medicine & Health

Friends and family of Bernard Becker, MD, will gather for a memorial Friday, Nov. 22. Becker, professor emeritus of ophthalmology and visual sciences, died at his home Aug. 28, 2013, at the age of 93.

Washington University has received a $1.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to foster student diversity in its PhD training program in the biomedical sciences. Pictured are inaugural scholars from the program.

Washington University’s Bear Cub Fund supports innovative translational research to help investigators demonstrate the commercial potential of their technologies. Grant applications are due Nov. 30.

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.

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.