Newsroom Stories

The Distinguished Service Teaching Awards (DSTAs) are presented by Washington University medical students to faculty and house staff in appreciation of exemplary service in medical student education. See the complete list of this year’s winners.

(Dawn Majors/P-D)Consuelo Washington, left, gets help labeling her microwave from occupational therapist Monica Perlmutter.Making sense of all the buttons on microwaves, dishwashers and coffee makers is hard enough when you can see them. For people with impaired vision, the gadgets can become more barrier than convenience. A program sponsored by Washington University helps people with poor eyesight maintain their independence by modifying their homes to make them more useful and safe.

The Arts as Healing program is designed to help patients at the Siteman Cancer Center and those involved with their care a chance to express themselves and use art as a tool in healing.

As President-elect Barack Obama continues to fill key cabinet positions from the ranks of D.C.-based public policy think tanks, a new book by longtime policy adviser Murray Weidenbaum examines how the nation’s top think tanks came to play such critical roles in U.S. politics.

Robert BostonBrooks Goedeker, Adam Chestnut, Maurice Harris and Larry Chestnut load donated gifts into trucks to be delivered to needy families in the Forest Park Southeast Neighborhood.About 25 families in the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood adjoining the Medical Campus will have a brighter holiday this year thanks to the generosity of School of Medicine employees. The Washington University Medical Center Redevelopment Corp. — which works closely with neighborhood groups in addressing employment, public improvements, home repair and security and public safety issues — has coordinated a Holiday Outreach Program for nearly 10 years.

Entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in this year’s Olin Cup competition with $70,000 in seed money at stake. A record-breaking 38 teams entered the annual business formation contest operated by the Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. Five finalists are now in the final stage of the competition which concludes with business plan presentations in January; winners will be announced Feb. 5, 2009.

At the 10th anniversary poster session, School of Medicine dean Larry J. Shapiro is flanked by A. Greig Woodring, president and CEO of RGA International Ltd. (left) and Phillip S. Smalley, M.D., RGA’s vice president and medical director.On Nov. 20, the Longer Life Foundation (LLF), a cooperative effort between the School of Medicine and the Reinsurance Group of America (RGA), celebrated 10 years of independent research into improving methods for predicting long-term mortality from various diseases and promoting quality and quantity of life. So far, LLF has funded more than 48 research grants, awarding some $2 million to support studies on topics from cancer treatment and screening to diabetes and nutrition to suicide risk.

ElginWashington University in St. Louis is in the spotlight for its pivotal role in the Genomics Education Partnership, a collaborative effort to provide research experience in genomics to undergraduate classrooms across the country. At the helm of this mission is Sarah C.R. Elgin, Ph.D., WUSTL professor of biology and professor of education in Arts & Sciences, as well as professor of biochemistry & molecular biophysics and professor of genetics in the School of Medicine.

In an attempt to reinvent itself as a “responsible corporate citizen,” tobacco company Philip Morris has begun an unlikely support of regulation of tobacco products by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. However, a new study by Peter Benson, Ph.D., assistant professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences, shows that proposed FDA regulation fails to address the suffering of migrant tobacco workers, the prevalence of smoking and the redistribution of leaf production to the developing world.

The Alpha Omicron Pi Fraternity for women will be the seventh National Panhellenic Conference organization to join the Greek community at Washington University in St. Louis, announced Ryan Jasen Henne, director of Greek Life. Colonization is slated for spring 2009.