Newsroom Stories

Healthy men and women show little difference in their hearts, except for small electrocardiographic disparities. But new genetic differences found by Washington University in St. Louis researchers in hearts with disease could ultimately lead to personalized treatment of various heart ailments.

Julie Kennedy, a senior publications editor in the Office of Public Affairs, shares this first-person account of her experience traveling to Paris. Kennedy was one of six employees selected to study abroad in an initiative to boost diversity on campus.

Barbara A. Schaal, PhD, became dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis on Jan. 1. Schaal, left, chats with Rafia Zafar, PhD, professor of English, of African and African-American studies, and of American culture studies and associate dean for diversity and inclusiveness, and Kimberly Curtis, PhD, assistant dean for graduate student affairs in Arts & Sciences, during a Jan. 16 welcome reception in Schaal’s honor.

Bradley L. Schlaggar, MD, PhD, the A. Ernest and Jane G. Stein Professor of Neurology at Washington University School of Medicine, has been awarded the E. Mead Johnson Award for Pediatric Research. The award is among the most prestigious in pediatric research.​

Estrogen levels drop dramatically in menopause, a time when the risk of urinary tract infections increases significantly. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found new evidence in mice that the two phenomena are connected by more than just timing.

William H. Danforth​, WUSTL chancellor emeritus and chairman of the board of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, received the prestigious 2012 St. Louis Award​ for outstanding leadership and commitment to the region.​

Over the holiday weekend, the WUSTL-led cosmic ray experiment Super-TIGER set a record for the longest flight ever made by a heavy-liftscientific balloon. Now aloft for 45 days, shattering the previous record of 42 days, it has recorded more than 50 million “events,” or hits by cosmic rays arriving from space. The scientists are ecstatic to have such a great balloon because the longer the it stays up, the more data they will collect and the more they will learn about the mysterious mechanism that accelerates these particles and sends them streaming across space.

Karen K. Butler, assistant curator at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, discusses Georges Braque and the Cubist Still Life, 1928-1945. The exhibition, which opens Jan. 25, is the first to explore Braque’s work in the years leading up to, and through, World War II.

The widespread flu reports are a harsh reminder of the importance of influenza vaccines. This is particularly true for healthcare workers, says Elizabeth Sepper, JD, health law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “One-third of healthcare providers fail to protect themselves, their patients, and the public from influenza.” Sepper says that it is time for a national flu vaccine mandate for healthcare workers.

As Barak Obama prepares for his second inaugural address on Jan. 21, he faces a nation still bitterly divided over his “legitimacy,” suggests Wayne Fields, PhD, an expert on the history of presidential rhetoric and speechmaking at Washington University in St. Louis. “Obama will offer his inaugural address to a nation in which a large and vocal percentage of the population are not just disappointed, but almost furious, that he’s been re-elected,” Fields says.