School of Medicine

School of Medicine researchers have identified a previously unknown, rare muscle disease that can be treated with immunosuppressing drugs.

Joel S. Perlmutter, MD, the Elliot H. Stein Family Professor of Neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been named scientific director of the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation. Dystonia is a neurological disorder that causes excessive, involuntary muscle contractions and abnormal postures.

A wristwatch-like motion-tracking device can detect movement problems in children whose impairments may be overlooked by doctors and parents, according to a new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Christopher R. Carpenter, MD, professor of emergency medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been elected to the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) Board of Directors. The board establishes SAEM’s mission, purpose, values and direction.

Rick W. Wright, MD, the Jerome J. Gilden Distinguished Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has received the 2019 Kappa Delta Ann Doner Vaughn Award from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

A new study led by the School of Medicine shows that most Americans spend a lot of time sitting, despite public health messages that prolonged sitting is unhealthy. Such inactivity increases the risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers.

A policy change regarding the rules of lung distributions for transplants has had several unintended consequences, according to a new study from the School of Medicine.

Removing one gene caused normal muscle muscle fibers to grow to three times their normal size. Researchers at the School of Medicine have found that targeting a protein related to that gene with lithium can reduce muscle wasting in a rare form of muscular dystrophy.

Andwele Jolly, a business director at Washington University School of Medicine, has been named vice chairperson for the Missouri Foundation for Health. Jolly will serve as the vice chairperson for the foundation’s Board of Directors’ Executive Committee.

Pregnancy tests can sometimes give a false negative result to women several weeks into their pregnancies, according to research by Ann Gronowski, professor of pathology and immunology at the School of Medicine. Her findings led the FDA to change its standards for evaluating new pregnancy tests, but old tests with the false-negative problem are still on the market.