Colditz appointed to NIH council
Graham A. Colditz, MD, DrPH, the Niess-Gain professor of surgery and director of the Division of Public Health Sciences at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been named to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Council of Councils.
Three physician-scientists receive Doris Duke Charitable Foundation awards
Three physician-scientists from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have received a 2019 Clinical Scientist Development Award from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Philip Budge, MD, PhD, Brian DeBosch, MD, PhD, and Andrew Kau, MD, PhD, are among 16 U.S. physician-scientists receiving the awards, which provide $495,000 over three years to each investigator.
Stable home lives improve prospects for preemies
A new School of Medicine study has found that as premature babies grow, their mental health may be related less to medical challenges they face after birth than to the environment the babies enter once they leave the newborn intensive care unit.
$15 million supports quest for personalized leukemia therapies
Investigators at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have been awarded a $15 million grant to better understand the genetic changes that drive acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a deadly blood cancer, and predict patients’ responses to therapy. The findings also may enable investigators to develop more effective therapies tailored to patients, based on the genetic characteristics of their cancer cells.
Why initial UTIs increase susceptibility to further infection
Researchers at the School of Medicine have discovered that an initial urinary tract infection (UTI) triggers changes to immune and other cells in the bladder that can prime the bladder to overreact to bacteria, worsening subsequent UTIs.
Children with mild asthma can use inhalers as needed
A new study from the School of Medicine finds that African American children with mild asthma can take their steroid inhalers as needed, based on symptoms, rather than at set times daily regardless of symptoms.
Steed receives prestigious medical scientists award
Ashley Steed, MD, PhD, an instructor of pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has received a 2019 Career Award for Medical Scientists from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to biomedical science through research and education.
Creed, McCall named Rita Allen Foundation Scholars
Meaghan C. Creed and Jordan G. McCall, both assistant professors in anesthesiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, have been named to the 2019 class of Rita Allen Foundation Scholars.
Genes linked to Alzheimer’s risk, resilience ID’d
A team led by researchers at the School of Medicine in St. Louis has identified a pair of genes that influence risk for Alzheimer’s disease. The genes — known as MS4A4A and TREM2 — affect the brain’s immune cells. They influence Alzheimer’s risk by altering levels of TREM2, a protein that is believed to help microglia cells clear excessive amounts of the Alzheimer’s proteins amyloid and tau from the brain.
Andrea Wang-Gillam
Andrea Wang-Gillam, MD, PhD, is an oncologist at Siteman Cancer Center whose family’s careers inspired her lifelong interest in helping people through medicine. Today she aims to improve outcomes for patients with pancreatic cancer.
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