Newsroom Stories

Courtesy PhotoJeffrey Lowell (left) and Eric Shirley, lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy, perform clubfoot repair surgery on a child while on board the USNS Comfort.Jeffrey Lowell, professor of surgery and of pediatrics, not only serves his patients, he serves his country, too. He was recently deployed on a mission serving in his role as a commander in the U.S. Public Health Service Reserve. Commander Lowell was deployed on the Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort July 13-Aug. 6 to serve as a general surgeon while the ship was in Panama, Nicaragua and El Salvador.

The Fall 2007 Assembly Series parts with some of the traditions of the 54-year-old lecture series, while maintaining its mission of presenting to the Washington University community some of the most distinctive and vibrant voices of the day.

D. Ashley Hill, assistant professor of pathology and immunology, will receive a two-year grant from The Hope Street Kids, a program that supports and promotes research into pediatric tumors. The program will provide $70,000 over the next two years to support Hill’s search for the genetic causes of pleuropulmonary blastoma (PPB), a rare childhood lung tumor originally identified by Hill’s mentor at Washington University, Louis P. “Pepper” Dehner, professor of pathology and immunology and of pathology in pediatrics.

“With African-Americans and other minority groups having both problem and pathological gambling rates that are 2-3 times higher than Caucasian gamblers, accurate diagnosis is essential to treat gambling addiction,” says Renee Cunningham-Williams, Ph.D., a leading gambling addictions expert and visiting associate professor of social work at Washington University in St. Louis. In a first step to close this gap in care, Cunningham-Williams successfully led the development and testing of a new assessment tool, the Gambling Assessment Module, to determine the reliability of current pathological gambling disorder criteria.

In response to the interest of students, parents and other members of the University community, the Campus Card Account (CCA) has expanded its services.

More than 1,000 newly arrived freshmen will volunteer their time Sept. 1 to paint, landscape, clean and beautify 13 area public schools to make the school year more enjoyable for students and their teachers. It’s all part of the annual Service First, an initiative that introduces first-year University students to community service in the St. Louis area.

Samuel R. Bagenstos, J.D., professor of law, has been appointed associate dean for research and faculty development at the School of Law, effective July 1, according to Kent Syverud, dean and the Ethan A.H. Shepley University Professor at the School of Law.

Photo by David KilperBob Chekoudjian has transitioned from punk rocker to computer expert

Track and field standout Delaina Martin has been selected as one of the Top 30 contenders for the 2007 NCAA Woman of the Year award.

Victoria L. May, Science Outreach director since 1998, has been appointed assistant dean of Arts & Sciences.