Medicine & Health

A Jan. 14 winter concert showcased the musical talents of Washington University School of Medicine faculty, staff, residents and students. The event, held in the lobby of the Center for Advanced Medicine, was sponsored by the Department of Pathology and Immunology and the Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital’s Arts + Healthcare Program.

Research by asthma specialists nationwide, including Leonard B. Bacharier, MD, and Mario Castro, MD, at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, find that adding prescription acid controllers to standard inhaled steroid treatment does not improve asthma symptoms or control of the condition in children. The results are considered to be the most comprehensive evaluation to date of the effectiveness of prescription acid controllers to improve asthma symptoms and control among children.

Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital have broken ground on the new Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center in south St. Louis County. Located on the southeast corner of the intersection of Interstate 55 and Butler Hill Road, the new facility will provide comprehensive outpatient cancer care that is more convenient for patients living in south St. Louis County and the surrounding area.

Faculty may now apply for the Carol B. and Jerome T. Loeb Teaching Fellows program at the School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Application materials are due by Feb. 27.

If Debbie Monolo, assistant dean for academic affairs and registrar at the School of Medicine, stands in Forest Park, she can almost see both of her worlds. To the east lies the School of Medicine, where she has worked for 38 years. And if she looks south, she can see “The Hill,” where she co-owns a boutique and plays an integral role in the vibrant local Italian community.

After defeating an infection, the immune system creates a memory of the attacker to make it easier to eliminate in the future. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered an important component of the immune system’s strategy for preserving such immunological memories.

Thomas W. Ferkol Jr., MD, has been named the first Alexis Hartmann, MD, Professor in Pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Why do we like fatty foods so much? We can blame our taste buds. In the first study to identify a human receptor that can taste fat, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report that our tongues recognize and have an affinity for fat and that variations in a gene can make people more or less sensitive to the taste of fat in foods.

The chemotherapy drugs required to push a common form of adult leukemia into remission may contribute to DNA damage that can lead to a relapse of the disease in some patients, findings of a new study suggest.

Patients who die from sepsis are likely to have had suppressed immune systems that left them unable to fight infections, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown. The findings suggest that therapies to rev up the immune response may help save the lives of some patients with the disorder.