Investigational drugs chosen for major Alzheimer’s prevention trial

Brain scans
Leading scientists have selected the first drugs to be evaluated in a worldwide clinical trial to determine whether they can prevent Alzheimer’s disease. The pioneering trial, expected to start by early 2013, initially will test three promising drugs, each designed to target Alzheimer’s in different ways.

The welfare state: The campaign issue no one’s talking about

The most vulnerable and marginalized groups in this country stand to lose the most in this campaign, says Jason Q. Purnell, PhD, assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, and all the rhetoric directed at the middle class fails to take into account the very real struggles of the poor and the working class in this country. It’s one of the issues that is being overlooked as the presidential campaign heads into the home stretch with the election just four weeks away. “I do believe this election is a stark choice between a vision in which government has a constructive role to play in enhancing people’s life choices and one in which individuals are largely on their own,” he says.

October Car-Free Month

Faculty, staff and students commuting to all WUSTL campuses are encouraged to leave their sedans, SUVs and minivans in the garage and go “car-free” for the month of October as part of the university’s Car-Free Month. Car-Free Month activities include free bicycle tune-ups, a group bike ride, a Car-Free Challenge and demonstrations.

Powderly to lead global health initiatives​

William G. Powderly, MD, will lead global health initiatives as a newly appointed deputy director of Washington University’s Institute of Public Health. He also will serve as co-director of the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Medicine at the university’s School of Medicine. ​

Richard Powers Oct. 16 and 18

Over the course of 10 novels, Richard Powers has emerged as one of today’s most challenging and philosophically minded authors. On Oct. 16 and 18, Powers, the Visiting Hurst Professor of Creative Writing, will present a pair of events for The Writing Program’s fall Reading Series.

Patricia Hampl to read Oct. 11

The Florist’s Daughter, Patricia Hampl’s most recent memoir, opens with a striking scene. As her mother lays dying, the writer sits at her bedside and begins composing an obituary on a plain yellow notepad. What follows is a loving tribute to her parents and to the startling passions that define supposedly ordinary lives.​

Law school to Host Missouri Court of Appeals Special Session Oct. 11​

The law school is hosting a Special Session of the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District on Thursday, October 11 in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom (Anheuser-Busch Hall, Room 310) beginning at 1 p.m. The attorneys for the three cases―regarding a property line dispute, legal representation of a defendant in a child sexual abuse case, and an alderman’s defamation claims―will have 15 minutes each to argue their sides.  A Q&A on judicial procedure and an informal Q&A on judicial clerkships will follow the special session.