Newsroom Stories

Before classes began at the Brown School, students, faculty and staff went out into the St. Louis area Aug. 25 for the annual Brown School Community Service Day. A video captures the program at Gateway Greening, one of 21 area agencies for which students, faculty and staff provided service. “It’s nice to start off the year ‘walking the walk,’” says Melissa Jonson-Reid, PhD, professor at the Brown School.

Sleep disruptions may be among the earliest indicators of the start of Alzheimer’s disease, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report this week in Science Translational Medicine. David M. Holtzman, MD, the Andrew B. and Gretchen P. Jones Professor and head of the Department of Neurology, is the study’s author.

Take a deep breath. Smooth your brow. Raise your hands and stomp your feet. It’s time to talk about art. Welcome to Kemper Art Reaches Everyone (KARE), a new arts engagement program designed for people with early-onset to moderate Alzheimer’s.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death among children ages 1-14 and will affect over 12,000 families in the United States this year alone. To increase awareness, September is designated Childhood Cancer Awareness Month with Wednesday, Sept. 12, pegged as Childhood Cancer Awareness Day. WUSTL researchers Kimberly J. Johnson, PhD, assistant professor at the Brown School and Todd Druley , MD, PhD, pediatric oncologist and assistant professor of pediatrics at the School of Medicine, are working to alleviate childhood cancer.

Due to pre-election media responsibilities, George Will, who was to present the Fall keynote lecture for the John H. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University tonight, has rescheduled this event for 7 p.m. Tuesday, December 4, Graham Chapel.

Lihong Wang, PhD, the Gene K. Beare Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering has received an National Institutes of Health Director’s Pioneer Award to explore novel imaging techniques using light that promise significant improvements in biomedical imaging and light therapy.

Author Wes Moore visited campus Sept. 4 and spent the day talking with groups of students and faculty, before giving an Assembly Series address. His book, The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates, is the 2012-13 selection for the First-Year Reading Program. Winners of the reading program essay contest had a special opportunity to sit down with the author in the Whittemore House.

The Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies will kick off its two business plan competitions at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 6. Combined, the Olin Cup and YouthBridge Social Enterprise and Innovation Competition will award more than $200,000 in funding for new commercial and social ventures.

Linda Nicholson, PhD, the Susan E. and William P. Stiritz Distinguished Professor in Women’s Studies in Arts & Sciences, has been named the new ombuds for Danforth Campus faculty at Washington University in St. Louis. The Office of Ombuds was established in September 2010 to provide faculty a confidential, informal place to discuss concerns about the university, its policies or its procedures.