Medicine & Health

WUSTL neurologist John C. Morris, MD, has received the Alzheimer’s Association’s Medical and Scientific Award for 2013.

School of Medicine researchers have shown that several markers for presymptomatic Alzheimer’s disease identified in recent years are accurate predictors of Alzheimer’s years before symptoms develop. Catherine Roe, PhD, says researchers found no differences in the accuracy of the biomarkers.

Erin Sanborn, a doctoral student in the School of Medicine’s Program in Occupational Therapy, is the recipient of the 2013 Women in Science Rosalind Kornfeld Leadership Award given by the Academic Women’s Network at the university.

William H. Daughaday, MD, a leading diabetes researcher, world authority on growth hormone, and the former director of the metabolism division at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, died after a long illness Friday, May 3, 2013, in Milwaukee. He was 95.

Burton E. Sobel, MD, internationally known leader in cardiovascular medicine, prolific scientist and former longtime director of the Cardiovascular Division at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, died Friday, May 3, 2013, at his home in Vermont, after a long illness. He was 75.

Washington University alumnus Mark Wronkiewicz (BS ’12) developed BrainCopter, one of the first brain-controlled applications for the iPad, while studying biomedical engineering at the university. His mentor, the School of Medicine’s Eric Leuthardt, MD, tries the application, which challenges players to use their thoughts to manipulate a flying brain icon past obstacles.

Many medical conditions destroy nerve axons, the long wires that transmit signals to other parts of the body. Now, researchers have found a way the body can remove injured axons, identifying a potential target for new drugs that could prevent the inappropriate loss of axons and maintain nerve function.

Timothy Eberlein, MD, director of the Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine, has been named vice chair of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network board of directors.

Kelle Moley, MD, the James P. Crane Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been elected president of the Society of Gynecologic Investigation (SGI).

For nearly a decade, doctors have used implanted electronic stimulators to treat severe depression in people who don’t respond to standard antidepressant treatments. Now, preliminary brain scan studies conducted by School of Medicine researchers are revealing that vagus nerve stimulation brings about changes in brain metabolism weeks or even months before patients begin to feel better.