School of Medicine

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a way to prevent fat cells from growing larger, a process that leads to weight gain and obesity. By activating a pathway in fat cells in mice, the researchers found they could feed the animals a high-fat diet without making them obese.

Why move from current standards of patient care to a more personalized approach to treatment? Experts at the School of Medicine describe today’s medical landscape as they plan for the care — and cures — of the future.

The School of Medicine is building the necessary infrastructure through centers and institutes to allow research that is more efficient and cost-effective, and that encourages high risks leading possibly to key breakthroughs.

Timothy Ley, MD, has been investigating leukemia, particularly acute myeloid leukemia (AML), for decades. His research team now knows the mutations they need to go after ­aggressively, the nature of the ­mutations that need to be targeted and why patients relapse.

At Washington University, training the next generation of leaders in translational medicine is a key focus. Here, Cheryl Leyns and Phat Huynh share stories of working in the lab of David Holtzman, MD, researching pathologies of Alzheimer’s disease.

Faculty at the Envolve Center for Health Behavior Change, a collaboration among Washington University, Duke University and Centene Corp., share what it takes to make bad habits into good ones.

Tim Hsu and David Ma met while graduate students at Washington University through the university’s Taiwanese Graduate Student Association. After they graduated, they wanted to find a way to recreate the camaraderie they’d known in school and created the WashU Alumni Club in Taiwan in 2012.

John A. (Jack) Pierce, MD, emeritus professor of medicine at the School of Medicine, died Nov. 24 in St. Louis following a long battle with cancer. Pierce came to the university in 1967 as the first director of the Department of Medicine’s Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine.

Conrad Chris Weihl, MD, PhD, has received the 2017 Derek Denny-Brown Young Neurological Scholar Award in Basic Science, the most prestigious honor awarded by the American Neurological Association.

Julie Margenthaler, MD, professor of surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and a breast surgeon at Siteman Cancer Center, has been named secretary-treasurer of the American Society of Breast Surgeons.