School of Medicine

Researchers have uncovered a unique connection between diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease, providing further evidence that a disease that robs people of their memories may be affected by elevated blood sugar, according to scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Philip Needleman, PhD, former chair of the Department of Pharmacology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Washington University School of Medicine and the Brown School have received a $4 million grant to study whether a new model of providing family planning services can reduce unintended pregnancies and births. As part of the study, they are recruiting 10,000 women of child-bearing age in the St. Louis area to participate.

G. Alexander Patterson, MD, the Joseph C. Bancroft Professor of Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been named editor of The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, a peer-reviewed journal in cardiothoracic surgery.

David M. Holtzman, a leading expert in researching the underlying mechanisms that lead to Alzheimer’s disease, and Paul Michael Lützeler, an authority on 18th, 19th and 20th century German literature, will receive Washington University in St. Louis’ 2015 faculty achievement awards, Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton announced.

Washington University School of Medicine neuroscientists, led by Michael R. Bruchas, PhD, assistant professor of anesthesiology and of neurobiology, have attached the light-sensing protein rhodopsin to opioid receptor parts to activate the receptor pathways using light from a laser fiber-optic device. They also influenced the behavior of mice using light, rather than drugs, to activate the reward response.

Regis J. O’Keefe, MD, PhD, is the new head of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. The former captain of the Yale University basketball team takes a collaborative approach to managing the department. O’Keefe, who specializes in musculoskeletal oncology, said his goal is to make those around him better.

The Center of Regenerative Medicine has received a $4,000 grant from the Society for Developmental Biology to aid in the project titled “Developmental Biology Educational Outreach to St. Louis Public Schools.”

Grant W. Farmer, PhD, a postdoctoral research associate at Washington University School of Medicine and an adjunct professor at Saint Louis University, died unexpectedly April 7, 2015, at his home in Richmond Heights. He was 36.

Washington University in St. Louis kicked off a yearlong initiative, “Gun Violence: A Public Health Crisis,” with a panel discussion April 21 at the Eric P. Newman Education Center.