Recommendation against PSA test goes too far

A draft recommendation by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force calling for an end to routine PSA testing for healthy men age 50 and older goes too far, says Gerald Andriole, MD, a prostate cancer expert at Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.

A time to remember

James E. McLeod, vice chancellor for students and dean of the College of Arts & Sciences who died Sept. 6, was remembered through song and speech during three events at WUSTL this past week, including an intimate Liederabend Sunday, Oct. 9, in Holmes Lounge. The performance, with baritone Sidney Outlaw (left), was dedicated to the memory of McLeod, who initiated the university’s first Liederabend, translated as “evening of song,” nearly 30 years ago.

Australian alliance

Andreas Schloenhardt, PhD, associate dean and associate professor of law at the University of Queensland (UQ) TC Beirne School of Law, presents “Be Careful What You Pay For: Trafficking in Persons in Australia,” on Oct. 7, in Anheuser-Busch Hall. Schloenhardt’s lecture was part of a visit to the law school by a delegation from UQ’s TC Beirne School of Law.

Children’s Discovery Institute funds new projects

The Children’s Discovery Institute has approved funding for three large-scale research initiatives focusing on heart and lung diseases in children. Together, the projects will receive $1.5 million over three years.The institute is a multi-disciplinary, innovation-based research partnership between St. Louis Children’s Hospital and the School of Medicine that has awarded more than $23 million in scientific grants since its launch in 2006.

Lucie Brock-Broido on craft of poetry Oct. 11

Nationally acclaimed poet Lucie Brock-Broido will present a talk on the craft of poetry at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 11, for the Writing Program Reading Series. Brock-Broido is the author of three books of poetry: Trouble in Mind (2004), The Master Letters (1995) and A Hunger (1988). Her work often explores obsessions and anxieties — of influence, ritual, mortality and modernity — using shifting syntax and diction to create vivid, and sometimes disorienting, portraits of mind.

Exploring cancer disparities

Cancer can be deadly, but it actually kills higher percentages of African-American men and women than other racial and ethnic groups. So researchers at Washington University School of Medicine and the Siteman Cancer Center in St. Louis are trying to learn why those disparities exist and what to do about them.

Ward Stare debuts with Washington University Symphony Orchestra Oct. 23

Ward Stare is a rising star in the world of classical music, serving as both resident conductor of the St. Louis Symphony and as music director for the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra. This fall, Stare adds to his portfolio as conductor of the Washington University Symphony Orchestra. On Oct. 23, Stare will make his regular-season debut with the WUSTL symphony in a performance featuring music of Ralph Vaughn Williams, Franz Liszt and Jean Sibelius.

WUSTL wins award for case study of Living Learning Center

The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education will name Washington University in St. Louis as the winner of its “Best Lessons Learned Case Study Award” on Tuesday, Oct. 11, during the AASHE 2011 Conference in Pittsburgh. The award, for the case study, “Getting to Net-Zero: Lessons Learned from a Living Building Challenge,” which outlined “the mistakes, corrections, and lessons learned that ultimately led to successful certification” of WUSTL’s Living Learning Center at Tyson Research Center as one of the first net zero energy “living buildings.”
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