Newsroom Stories

Washington University installed automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) in seven areas across the Danforth Campus Sept. 16 with a high volume of foot traffic. An AED is a computerized medical device that can monitor a person’s heart rhythm and can recognize when a distressed person requires a shock to re-establish a normal heart rhythm.

A search is under way to fill a new vice provost position in the Office of the Provost whose initial focus will be on diversity and faculty development, among other areas of university-wide importance. An advisory committee has been formed that will identify and recommend candidates from within the Washington University community.

Missouri has one of the highest statewide smoking averages in the country, more than 23 percent. And racial and ethnic minorities, people with lower incomes and education levels, Medicaid recipients and the LGBT community smoke or experience secondhand smoke at a rate significantly higher than the state average.These findings are highlighted in a new report by the Center for Tobacco Policy Research (CTPR) at Washington University in St. Louis. The report, “Who is Most Affected? Tobacco-Related Disparities in Missouri,” identifies statewide differences related to who is smoking, who is exposed to secondhand smoke and who is quitting.CTPR is offering a media-only webinar on the new disparities report at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 21. Researchers will discuss the report and be available to answer questions about the findings. Visit https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/895612886 to register. More information about CTPR’s report is available at: http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/21180.aspx  .ExternalClass p.MsoNormal, .ExternalClass li.MsoNormal, .ExternalClass div.MsoNormal {margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:’Times New Roman’;} .ExternalClass a:link, .ExternalClass span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue;text-decoration:underline;} .ExternalClass a:visited, .ExternalClass span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple;text-decoration:underline;} .ExternalClass div.Section1 {page:Section1;}    

Of note Gautam Dantas, PhD, assistant professor of pathology and immunology, has received a two-year, $75,000 grant from the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative for research titled “Functional Metagenomic Discovery of Novel Enzymatic Functions from Ultra Low-Volume Samples with Whole Metagenome Amplification.” … Kavit Alan Desouza, MD, research scientist in biomedical engineering, has received a […]

The Daily Telegraph (UK) Gene predicts speed of Alzheimer’s development 9/17/2010 Knowing that certain patients are going to develop the disease very quickly could also help experts better analyze the effectiveness of trial drugs designed to slow its development, suggests a WUSTL study. “We have looked at data from three separate, international studies, and in […]

An international team of Alzheimer’s disease experts, led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has uncovered a gene variation that appears to predict the rate at which Alzheimer’s disease will progress. Whereas previous studies have focused on factors that influence the risk for developing Alzheimer’s, the new research points to a way to determine how rapidly the disease will progress. 

University College, the continuing education and professional studies division in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, will host a symposium titled “The Sustainability Challenge: Local to Global” at 7 p.m. Oct. 26 in Steinberg Auditorium. The symposium will feature experts from Washington University and the greater St. Louis region as they discuss questions and challenges facing the environment, community development and organizational life.

The Gephardt Institute is sponsoring the annual Public Service Fair featuring more than 40 nonprofit organizations from 4:30-6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 21, in the Danforth University Center Tisch Commons and Edison Family Courtyard. The fair is open students, faculty, staff and the local community.

Students packed College Hall Sept. 13 to hear international human rights lawyer and prominent political commentator Arsalan Iftikhar, JD, speak on Muslim identity in the United States’ post-9/11 era. A lively question-and-answer discussion followed his lecture titled, “The Pacifist Fundamentalist.”

Current census figures show that one in seven Americans is living below the poverty level, a rate that nears the record poverty levels of 1960. “The latest rise in the poverty rate illustrates how many more Americans are at risk of poverty and economic insecurity in this country,” says Mark R. Rank, PhD, poverty expert and the Herbert S. Hadley Professor of Social Welfare at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.