Newsroom Stories

One of the most pernicious aspects of multiple sclerosis (MS) — its sheer unpredictability — may finally be starting to yield to advanced medical imaging techniques. Researchers from the School of Medicine report online in the journal Neurology that an approach known as magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) allowed them to estimate three months in advance the chronic effects of inflammation of the optic nerve.

Obesity researchers at the School of Medicine are recruiting families for an on-line program aimed at young children that targets healthy eating and physical activity. The 10-month study will evaluate the effectiveness of Food for Thought, an investigational, Internet-based program for parents of overweight 2- to 6-year-olds.

Ron Steele*Masked Marvels & Wondertales*A high-kicking giant. A clumsy cowpoke. A grumpy, pipe-smoking trout fishing beside an imaginary stream. Welcome to Masked Marvels & Wondertales, the eye-popping one-man variety show by Michael Cooper, the virtuoso storyteller, mask-maker and mime. In January Cooper will bring his colorful cast of characters to St. Louis for a performance sponsored by Washington University’s Edison Theatre.

A program at the School of Medicine and St. Louis Children’s Hospital designed to increase awareness about sickle cell disease and the importance of blood donations within the African-American faith community led to a 60 percent increase in first-time blood donations, a new study has found.

InderTerrie E. Inder, M.D., Ph.D., has received a 2008 Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Inder is a pediatrician and researcher at the School of Medicine and St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

Hailing from Asia, Europe, South America and the St. Louis region, 112 students will graduate Saturday, Dec. 13, 2008 from the Executive MBA program at the Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis.

The future of medicine is taking shape at the heart of Washington University Medical Center. Construction crews have framed the BJC Institute of Health at Washington University in 8,210 tons of steel beams. They are on schedule with the 11-story, 700,000-square-foot building, despite a year of record-setting rain.

On Dec. 17 at the Duane Reed Gallery in Clayton, the Arts as Healing Program is hosting a public showing of art created by cancer patients. This reception, from 5:30 to 8 p.m., will celebrate these patients as artists and honor “their journey of hope.”

Douglas Mann has been named the Tobias and Hortense Lewin Professor and director of the Cardiovascular Division in the Department of Medicine at the School of Medicine. The appointment will be effective in March 2009. He will also become cardiologist-in-chief at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and director of the new Heart and Vascular Institute at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University.

Photo by David KilperSutera’s leadership lifts engineering to new levels