Newsroom Stories

The School of Medicine has received a $2.5 million grant to provide medical care to low-income and underserved adults living with HIV. The five-year grant, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, was awarded through the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Modernization Act.

Pamela BuellPamela Buell, a 30-year veteran of higher education development, has been named associate vice chancellor and director of medical alumni and development programs at Washington University in St. Louis.

June 4, 2007 — Washington University in St. Louis is creating a new International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES) to encourage and coordinate university-wide and external collaborative research in the areas of renewable energy and sustainability — including biofuels, CO2 mitigation and coal-related issues. The university will invest more than $55 million in the initiative, according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. (more…)

A simple personality test could help doctors more quickly detect dementia with Lewy bodies, a form of dementia often confused with Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study led by researchers at the School of Medicine. Dementia with Lewy bodies is the second most common neurodegenerative cause of dementia. It shares many characteristics with both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

Krikor Dikranian, Jay Piccirillo and David Windus recently received the Samuel R. Goldstein Leadership Awards in Medical Student Education for 2006. The awards honor outstanding educators at the School of Medicine and were established in 2000 in memory of Goldstein, a longtime friend of the medical school.

Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis recognized the achievements of five alumni and a special friend at 4 p.m. May 18 in the Arts & Sciences Laboratory Science Building. Edward S. Macias, Ph.D., executive vice chancellor, dean of Arts & Sciences and the Barbara and David Thomas Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences, presented Distinguished Alumni Awards to Mel F. Brown, J.D., (A.B. ’57, J.D. ’61); Alvin Rabushka, Ph.D., (A.B. ’62, M.A. ’66, Ph.D. ’68); Ronald M. Rettner (A.B. ’72); Pepper Schwartz, Ph.D., (A.B. ’67, M.A. ’69); and William Jay Smith (A.B. ’39, M.A. ’41). Macias also presented the Dean’s Medal to Harriet K. Switzer, Ph.D., secretary to WUSTL’s board of trustees, for her support and dedication to Arts & Sciences.

WarnerBrad W. Warner, M.D., has been named pediatric surgeon-in-chief at the School of Medicine and St. Louis Children’s Hospital. His appointment was announced jointly by Timothy Eberlein, M.D., Bixby Professor and chairman of the Department of Surgery, and Lee Fetter, president of St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

Tommy Thompson, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, will be among the speakers at a June 8 conference on Medicaid financing.Rising healthcare costs and diminishing health insurance coverage will be among critical issues debated by leading medical policy experts as Washington University hosts a daylong public forum on Medicaid financing June 8 in the School of Medicine’s Eric P. Newman Education Center. Participants include top administrators from a half dozen major research hospitals and a range of academic, government and think-tank policy experts, including Tommy Thompson, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Discovery of alterations in a gene called FGFR2 could accelerate the development of new treatments for endometrial cancer, a type of uterine cancer. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis; the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen); the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, which is part of Cambridge University; and New York University School of Medicine reported the findings in the May 21, 2007, online version of the journal Oncogene.

Tim Russert, managing editor and moderator of NBC’s “Meet the Press” and political analyst for “NBC Nightly News” and the “Today” show, delivered Washington University’s 2007 Commencement address May 18 in Brookings Quadrangle. More than 14,000 people, including some 2,600 graduates, were on hand to hear Russert’s speech, titled “A View From Washington.”