Municipal court reform a year after Ferguson

Following the death of Michael Brown a year ago this August, one of the key issues to emerge was a critical examination of the municipal court system in the individual communities that make up St. Louis County. Many of the courts were accused of not working primarily for justice, but as a way to raise funds for municipalities. Three faculty members from the School of Law, all of whom are involved in court reform efforts, express their thoughts on the reform process.

Medical resident Sommovilla receives award from surgical education group

Joshua Sommovilla, MD, a resident in the Department of Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been awarded the 2015 Outstanding Resident Teaching Award by the Association for Surgical Education. He received the award at the association’s annual meeting this past spring in Seattle.

Obituary: Ernst K. Zinner, astrophysicist and cosmochemist, 78

Ernst K. Zinner, PhD, research professor emeritus of physics and earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, died Thursday, July 30, of medical complications of mantle cell lymphoma. Among many other accomplishments, in 1987 Zinner identified for the first time material in the laboratory that predated the formation of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago.

Student awarded scholarship to cybersecurity conference

Tony Granillo, a student in the Sever Institute’s Master of Cyber Security Management program at Washington University in St. Louis, received a scholarship to attend the inaugural ISACA CSX North America Conference. 

WashU Expert: Six tips for coping with food allergies in college

​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.​

Hawthorn Leadership School for Girls, region’s first all-girls charter school, launches with help from Washington University

Hawthorn
Launching this month, Hawthorn Leadership School for Girls will offer sixth and seventh-grade girls a rigorous education in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Washington University in St. Louis is both Hawthorn’s sponsor and its partner. Educators with the university’s Institute for School Partnership have been working closely with Hawthorn leaders for more than a year to develop the school’s project-based curriculum and real-world philosophy.

The Black Rep announces 2015-16 schedule

The Black Rep will launch its 2015-16 season with “Tell Me Somethin’ Good” at Washington University Sept. 2-20. The decades-spanning musical revue, one of the company’s most popular shows, is the first of three productions The Black Rep will present this year in the university’s Edison Theatre.

WashU Expert: Picking up the phone to improve mental health in seniors

A new study in JAMA Psychiatry shows that therapy provided via telephone for older adults in rural areas is effective in treating anxiety disorder. In an accompanying editorial, Eric J. Lenze, MD, of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, wrote that the health-care system lacks the capacity to help the growing elderly population and that relying too heavily on sedative medications isn’t the answer.​

Gastric bypass surgery lowers women’s alcohol tolerance​

Women who have gastric bypass surgery to lose weight should keep a close eye on their alcohol consumption, according to a study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The researchers found that changes in how alcohol is metabolized after surgery can speed its delivery into the bloodstream, resulting in earlier and higher peaks in blood-alcohol levels.