Medicine & Health

Michael Lane, MD, has been named patient safety officer for the Department of Medicine. The position is new for the department, and in the role, Lane will oversee and coordinate safety efforts to help improve health-care outcomes.

Mario Castro, MD, and Angela Brown, MD, will lead a new office in the Department of Medicine that supports faculty members’ career development. The new program will feature workshops and seminars to promote faculty career development in the areas of research, clinical care, education and leadership.

Healthy men and women show little difference in their hearts, except for small electrocardiographic disparities. But new genetic differences found by Washington University in St. Louis researchers in hearts with disease could ultimately lead to personalized treatment of various heart ailments.

Estrogen levels drop dramatically in menopause, a time when the risk of urinary tract infections increases significantly. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found new evidence in mice that the two phenomena are connected by more than just timing.

The School of Medicine’s 9th Annual Art Show opens Jan. 22 and runs through Feb. 17 at the Farrell Learning and Teaching Center atrium.

Bradley L. Schlaggar, MD, PhD, the A. Ernest and Jane G. Stein Professor of Neurology at Washington University School of Medicine, has been awarded the E. Mead Johnson Award for Pediatric Research. The award is among the most prestigious in pediatric research.​

The widespread flu reports are a harsh reminder of the importance of influenza vaccines. This is particularly true for healthcare workers, says Elizabeth Sepper, JD, health law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “One-third of healthcare providers fail to protect themselves, their patients, and the public from influenza.” Sepper says that it is time for a national flu vaccine mandate for healthcare workers.

A road- and bridge-construction project that will impact Washington University, and particularly the medical center, is scheduled to begin in the next few days. The project is expected to completed by summer 2014.

Melanomas that develop in the eye often are fatal. Now, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report they have identified a mutated gene in melanoma tumors of the eye that appears to predict a good outcome.

Rajendra S. Apte, MD, PhD, is the new Paul A. Cibis Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The second faculty member to hold the Cibis chair, Apte focuses his research on inflammation and aberrant blood vessel growth that together wreak havoc in eye diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in older Americans.