Medicine & Health

William G. Powderly, MD, will lead global health initiatives as a newly appointed deputy director of Washington University’s Institute of Public Health. He also will serve as co-director of the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Medicine at the university’s School of Medicine. ​

Andrew and Barbara Taylor and the Crawford Taylor Foundation, the charity of the entire Jack C. Taylor family, have committed $20 million to the Department of Psychiatry at the School of Medicine to advance the science underlying the diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric illnesses. The gift creates the new Taylor Family Institute for Innovative Psychiatric Research.

Providing birth control to women at no cost substantially reduced unplanned pregnancies and cut abortion rates by 62 percent to 77 percent over the national rate, a new study shows.

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis is one of five U.S. medical schools to receive a $250,000 Alfred P. Sloan Award for Faculty Career Flexibility.

Seasonal flu vaccines will be offered to School of Medicine faculty and staff at no cost beginning Tuesday, Oct. 2. The medical school recommends that all employees, even those with no direct patient contact, get a vaccine.

Studying leukemia in mice, John F. DiPersio, MD, PhD, and his colleagues at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, have reduced a life-threatening complication of stem cell transplants, the only curative treatment when leukemia returns. ​​

Neurologists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have received funding to study the brain following repeat concussions. The project is one of 15 around the country selected by NFL Charities, the charitable foundation of the National Football League Owners.

Chelsea Clinton announced during the annual Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York on Sept. 25 that Washington University in St. Louis will serve as the host of the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U), April 5-7, 2013, on the Danforth Campus.  President Bill Clinton launched CGI U in 2007 to engage the next generation of leaders on college campuses around the world. Each year, CGI U hosts a meeting where students, youth organizations, topic experts, and celebrities discuss solutions to pressing global issues.

West Nile virus expert Michael Diamond discusses the potentially record-setting 2012 West Nile virus infection season and describes ways to reduce chances of infection.

The most comprehensive analysis yet of breast tumors shows that one of the most deadly subtypes shares many genetic features with similarly lethal ovarian tumors.