School of Medicine

As the Zika epidemic took hold, leaders at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) realized they needed to learn about the virus quickly. They started phoning select scientists, and offered funding for Zika research. The School of Medicine answered the call

Melvin Blanchard, MD, a professor of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and program director of the internal medicine residency at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, has received a 2017 Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Award.

A multifaceted study — one of three major approaches School of Medicine researchers are using to unravel the physical and psychological underpinnings of autism — aims to detect, treat and even reverse the disorder.

Engineers at Washington University in St. Louis develop new nanoparticle technology that eliminates the need for cold storage in some medical diagnostic tests.

How graduate and medical students from Washington University’s Young Scientist Program are helping share science with area students. The program has been in place more than 25 years.

Many with psychiatric problems want to quit smoking, but psychiatrists and caseworkers typically don’t prescribe medications to help them or refer them to services aimed at smoking cessation, researchers at the School of Medicine and BJC Behavioral Health in St. Louis have found.

Welders exposed to airborne manganese at estimated levels below federal occupational safety standards exhibit neurological problems similar to Parkinson’s disease, according to School of Medicine research. The more they are exposed to manganese-containing welding fumes, the faster the workers’ signs and symptoms worsen. The findings, published Dec. 28, suggest current safety standards may not adequately protect welders.

Ramaswamy Govindan, MD, the Anheuser-Busch Endowed Chair in Medical Oncology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, is one of two researchers to receive the 31st annual Alton Ochsner Award Relating Smoking and Disease. The award recognizes investigators who promote understanding and awareness of that relationship.

A new study by the School of Medicine, published Dec. 22 in Nature Communications, helps explain why development of a better vaccine for tuberculosis has been stymied.

Carolyn Baum, of the Washington University School of Medicine, was selected to receive two distinguished honors from the American Occupational Therapy Association and the American Occupational Therapy Foundation in recognition of her many contributions to the occupational therapy profession.