WashU Experts

In 2014, so called “Right to Try” laws, which gave terminally ill patients access to investigational medications, were enacted in five states. More state legislatures are now considering such laws. While time will tell whether these investigational drugs have any significant impact on quality of life or longevity, the legislative debate over such laws must be more informed than it has been, argues Rebecca Dresser, JD, expert in biomedical ethics and law at Washington University in St. Louis.

​New school. New professors. New friends. Incoming freshmen already have much to consider without worrying about global climate change and public health challenges. Still, there are easy and important ways to reduce our collective impact at college, said Phil Valko, assistant vice chancellor for sustainability at Washington University in St. Louis.​​

​For freshmen with food allergies, the college dining hall can be a dangerous place. Connie Diekman, director of university nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis and a leading national expert, encourages new students to enlist campus dietitian and food service providers to help them stay safe.​

The U.S. Department of Justice released July 31 a report critical of the St. Louis County Family Court, alleging racial bias and unfair treatment of black youth, among other accusations. Mae Quinn, JD, professor of law and director of the Juvenile Law and Justice Clinic at Washington University in St. Louis, is hopeful the report will lead to some measure of change and reform.

Freshman year of college can be a time of excitement and discovery, but it also is a period of ambivalence, sadness and doubt — and not just for students. Parents also struggle as their child transitions to college. Karen Levin Coburn, senior consultant in residence at Washington University in St. Louis and co-author of the acclaimed book, “Letting Go: A Parents’ Guide to Understanding the College Years,” offers 12 tips – six for now, six for later – that every parent of a new college student should know.

A study published July 20 in JAMA Pediatrics provides even more compelling evidence that growing up in poverty has detrimental effects on a child’s brain. Dealing with this must become “our top public health priority,” writes the School of Medicine’s Joan Luby, MD, in an accompanying editorial.

​Why downsize the O-R-E-O? Joseph Goodman, PhD, associate professor of marketing at Washington University in St. Louis’ Olin Business School, it’s a matter of matching tastes to the market.​​

“World of Warcraft” might not seem like typical research material. But Yulia Nevskaya, PhD, assistant professor of marketing at Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis found it the perfect research platform. She has helped lead a study of gamers’ behavior and what’s behind their motivation.

When lawyers blow the whistle on clients, should they be financially rewarded by the government? Kathleen Clark, JD, professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, tackles this issue in a forthcoming article in the Boston College Law Review.

​Costas Azariadis, PhD, an economist at Washington University in St. Louis, is currently in Greece. A native of Athens, Azariadis emailed his observations and insights into the turmoil and what might be next.​