School of Medicine

Researchers at the School of Medicine are leading a multicenter team conducting research to evaluate whether brain imaging might help reveal risk for autism spectrum disorder in early infancy. Previous research suggests such imaging in high-risk children can predict problems in kids as young as 6 months old.

The Academy of Science-St. Louis recently honored Washington University Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton for his leadership in science and three researchers at the School of Medicine — Susan K. Dutcher, Anne M. Fagan and Samantha A. Morris — for their work as outstanding scientists.

A gift from Walter Metcalfe Jr. and his wife, Cynthia, will support the work of School of Medicine child psychiatrist Joan Luby, MD, and her collaborators. The gift was inspired by promising early findings suggesting interventions to address the impact of toxic stress on the long-term behavioral and mental health of children.

A new study led by the School of Medicine has found that proton therapy is associated with fewer severe side effects than conventional X-ray radiation therapy for many cancer patients.

David H. Perlmutter, MD, executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and the George and Carol Bauer Dean of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has received the Christopher Hobler Spirit of Hope Award in recognition of his advocacy for neurological research.

Gammon Earhart, director of the Program in Physical Therapy at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been named a Catherine Worthingham Fellow of the American Physical Therapy Association.

Alexandra Keane, who earned a doctor of medicine degree, told fellow members of Class of 2019 to nurture their creative thinking. “Entering a continually moving world, I hope we unplug, indulge in the stillness and feed our imaginative spirit, for this may generate our own Newtonian flash of discovery,” she said.

Samuel Achilefu, the Michel M. Ter-Pogossian Professor of Radiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been named a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.

Alexandra Keane has spent her undergraduate and medical student career at Washington University. She received numerous academic honors, played point guard on the women’s basketball team and, to cap her student years, will give the graduate student address at Commencement on Friday, May 17.

School of Medicine researchers have snapped high-resolution pictures of the chikungunya virus latched onto a protein found on the surface of cells in the joints. The findings could accelerate efforts to find new ways to prevent or treat viral arthritis.