Newsroom Stories

The number of uninsured people in America dropped by 8.8 million in 2014, according to a report released Sept. 16 from the U.S. Census Bureau. This number is significant because it is the first Census Bureau report since the widespread implementation of the Affordable Care Act, said a health economist at Washington University in St. Louis. “This is a big deal,” said Timothy McBride, PhD, professor at the Brown School and noted health policy analyst.

David A. Hunstad, MD, associate professor of pediatrics, has been named director of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the School of Medicine. A School of Medicine graduate, Hunstad previously served as director of the pediatric infectious diseases fellowship program and co-founded the Pediatric Physician-Scientist Training Program

Scott Frey, PhD, has been named associate director of the Program in Occupational Therapy at Washington University School of Medicine and head of its Rehabilitation and Participation Science (RAPS) PhD program.

Images captured in and around the Washington University campuses. Click the “i” in the upper-left corner for captions.

​The Washington University community is invited to create a time capsule for the cornerstone of the Gary M. Sumers Recreation Center, set to open late next summer. When it is opened in 2065, this time capsule hopefully will fare better than its predecessor – the recently recovered 1902 time capsule from Francis Gymnasium that sustained water damage.

A play is a text but also a performance. Dance is a discipline but also a communication. To be truly understood, both must be experienced live. For its 2015-16 season, the Performing Arts Department will present classic comedy and contemporary drama as well as original works by faculty and students.

Three antibiotics that, individually, are not effective against a drug-resistant staph infection can kill the deadly pathogen when combined as a trio, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. They have killed the bug — methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) — in test tubes and laboratory mice, and believe the same strategy may work in people.

Bacteria aren’t the only non-human invaders to colonize the gut shortly after a baby’s birth. Viruses also set up house there, according to new research led by Lori Holtz, MD, at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Social problems linked to America’s growing disparities in income and wealth will be a major focus of the re-launched Department of Sociology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, including its first co-sponsored public lecture of the fall semester. ​

Jessica Kuchta-Miller, JD, a certified organizational ombudsman practitioner with extensive experience in dispute resolution, mediation, conflict coaching and training, has been named to the new position of staff ombudsperson at Washington University in St. Louis, announced Henry S. Webber, executive vice chancellor for administration.