Newsroom Stories

HallahanDennis Hallahan has been chosen to head the Department of Radiation Oncology at the School of Medicine. Hallahan will be named the first Elizabeth H. and James S. McDonnell III Distinguished Professor in Medicine. He will also serve on the Senior Leadership Committee of the Siteman Cancer Center.

Certain characteristics of preschool-aged children at high risk for asthma could help physicians deliver more personalized and effective treatment. Researchers at the School of Medicine and five other sites nationwide found that children who showed the most improvement in days without wheezing using an inhaled corticosteroid drug were caucasian boys who had allergies and had a hospitalization or emergency department visit for asthma symptoms in the year prior to the trial.

Working with an asthma coach helps to significantly reduce hospitalizations of low-income, African-American children with asthma, results of a new, two-year study show. Researchers at the School of Medicine and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill worked with nearly 200 parents of children between 2-8 years old on Medicaid who had been hospitalized for asthma at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

In the world of small things, shape, order and orientation are surprisingly important, according to findings from a new study by chemists at Washington University in St. Louis. Lev Gelb, WUSTL associate professor of chemistry, his graduate student Brian Barnes, and postdoctoral researcher Daniel Siderius, used computer simulations to study a very simple model of molecules on surfaces, which looks a lot like the computer game “Tetris.” They have found that the shapes in this model (and in the game) do a number of surprising things.

“Timely identification and diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can impact a child’s development and is the key to opening the door to the services and therapies available to children with autism,” says Paul Shattuck, Ph.D., assistant professor at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis. “Unfortunately, our research shows that the average age of autism diagnosis is nearly six years old, which is three to four years after diagnosis is possible.” Shattuck is the lead author of an article on the timing of ASD identification in the current issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Video available

Hye Young Kim, *Awakening Moment I*The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts will present its annual MFA Thesis Exhibition in the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum May 8 to July 27. The exhibition will feature thesis projects by 27 master of fine arts candidates in the Sam Fox School’s Graduate School of Art. Works will explore a wide range of thematic territory, from formal concerns to social issues, ecological simulations and scientific research. Media include painting, printmaking and sculpture as well as photography, video and site-specific installation.

Washington University’s Service Awards ceremony, hosted by Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton, will take place at 2:30 p.m. May 18 at Edison Theatre. The ceremony will honor those with 10, 15, 20, 26 and 30-plus years of service to the University.

A memorial service for Abdullah M. Nassief, M.D., associate professor of neurology, will be held at 1 p.m. May 9 in Connor Auditorium in the Farrell Learning and Teaching Center at the School of Medicine.

Forget your keys recently, can’t remember where you put your reading glasses and feeling a little blue? It could be that you’re not getting enough vitamin D. Researchers at the School of Medicine studying the effects of vitamin D deficiency on the elderly have found a correlation of mild depression and forgetfulness with low levels of vitamin D.

Photo by Whitney CurtisRichard J. Smith, Ph.D., dean of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and the Ralph E. Morrow Distinguished University Professor of physical anthropology, meets with students after he presented them and 10 other recipients with the Arts & Sciences’ Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence April 20.