Newsroom Stories

Washington University School of Medicine faculty members were honored by the school this week for their dedication, talent and contributions to the institution and the field of medicine. Shown is Anne Carol Goldberg, MD, an associate professor of medicine, who was presented with distinguished clinician honors at the event.

In 2011, acclaimed pianist and composer Amina Figarova left Europe for the United States. The result is Twelve, a suite of new songs that Figarova wrote shortly after the move. On Feb. 21, Figarova will visit WUSTL’s Jazz at Holmes Series as part of a 14-city tour in support of Twelve, her 12th full-length album.

The American Bar Association’s House of Delegates recently adopted a resolution recommending that the federal government expand its protections against conflicts of interest among government contractors. The resolution was based in part on a report Kathleen Clark, JD, ethics expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, wrote for the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS).“In recent decades, the federal government has greatly expanded its use of contractors to perform services, and spends hundreds of billions on services every year,” Clark writes. “While an extensive array of ethics statutes and rules regulate government employees to ensure that they make decisions in the interest of the government rather than a private interest, only a few of these restrictions apply to contractor personnel.”

For nearly two decades, Black Anthology has been a strong tradition at WUSTL during Black History Month. Students write, perform and produce a politically conscious and artistically creative play highlighting issues affecting the African-American community. This year’s production took place Feb. 1 and 2 in Edison Theatre.

School of Medicine’s Health Happening Fair Feb. 1 gave employees the opportunity to test their grip strength, body composition and gaits, and provided information on an array of services. Pictured is Rob Fitzgerald, an epidemiologist in the Department of Psychiatry, watching as Megan Prouhet, a physical therapy student, programs a device that analyzes body composition.

A program to encourage and support women pursuing careers in information technology is just one of the projects that received a funding boost from this year’s Diversity and Inclusion Grants program. Among last year’s winning proposals was a summer research program for students from Meharry Medical College in Tennessee (right).

In today’s global economy, finance professionals need specialized skills and expertise that go beyond the boundaries of traditional graduate education. The new Global Master of Finance dual degree program offered by Olin Business School and Lee Kong Chian School of Business at Singapore Management University is designed to prepare students for success in a wide variety of finance-related careers worldwide.

This winter (the Southern Hemisphere summer), postdoctoral research associate Aubreya Adams, PhD, spent a few months at the South Pole Station maintaining seismic equipment. This photoessay, based on her Facebook page, provides a glimpse of what it is like at the South Pole and what seismologists get up to when they go into the field to maintain seismic stations.

Scientists have identified a genetic mutation that may underlie common behaviors seen in some people with autism, such as difficulty communicating and resistance to change. The mutation disrupts levels of serotonin, a chemical messenger produced by a limited number of neurons (red) in the brain.

A new study published earlier this month found that men and women don’t fit neatly into gender stereotypes, that perhaps men aren’t from Mars nor are women from Venus. But why do we want them to be? Lead author Bobbi Carothers, PhD, senior data analyst at Center for Public Health System Science at Washington University in St. Louis, has some theories as to why.