School of Medicine

With the aid of a grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health, School of Medicine researchers are studying why immunity elicited by the flu vaccine wanes so rapidly. The goal is a better, longer-lasting flu vaccine.

Researchers from the McKelvey School of Engineering and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are one step closer to delivering precise amounts of medication to exact location, repurposing an existing imaging “painting” method.

Patrick White, MD, assistant professor of medicine, has been named director of the newly formed Division of Palliative Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The appointment was announced by Victoria J. Fraser, MD, the Adolphus Busch Professor and head of the Department of Medicine.

Greg Bowman, at the Washington University School of Medicine, is leading one of the largest crowd-sourced computational biology projects in the world. Called Folding@home, it’s aimed at understanding how proteins fold into their proper shapes. Bowman understands the importance of protein folding more than most. He became legally blind by age 9 due to a condition caused when a protein doesn’t fold properly.

Stanley E. Thawley, MD, professor emeritus of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at the School of Medicine, died Jan. 22 while at work in St. Louis. His care for patients, including veterans, extended to the rural communities of Madison and Ste. Genevieve counties.

Michael W. Penney, MD, associate professor of radiology, has been named vice chair for community radiology for Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology (MIR) at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Over-testing for urinary tract infections (UTIs) leads to unnecessary antibiotic use, which spreads antibiotic resistance. Infectious disease specialists at the School of Medicine made changes to hospital procedures that cut urine tests by nearly half without compromising doctors’ abilities to detect UTIs.

The School of Medicine has received a $15 million commitment from longtime benefactors Philip and Sima Needleman to support two cutting-edge research centers aimed at developing new treatments for diseases that collectively affect millions.

A School of Medicine study of adults with lumbar scoliosis and found that the most important factor in determining whether to do surgery is the extent of a patient’s disability due to his or her spinal deformity, as well as how much that disability interferes with day-to-day life.

The American Academy of Microbiology has named three Washington University in St. Louis faculty members as fellows: Gautam Dantas, of the School of Medicine, and Robert Kranz and Petra Levin, professors of biology in Arts & Sciences.