School of Medicine

A pioneering surgical technique has restored some hand and arm movement to patients immobilized by spinal cord injuries in the neck, reports a new study at the School of Medicine. The researchers assessed outcomes of nerve-transfer surgery in nine quadriplegic patients. Each of the nine reported improved hand and arm function.

About 200 Washington University students in medicine, engineering and business recently gathered in the Cortex Innovation District for a networking event known as “Problem Day.” The event kicked off a seven-month effort for student entrepreneurs to develop innovative solutions to clinical problems. 

Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine is adopting a new system to help maximize and streamline its clinical trials management and data collection. Elements of the new system will go live later this month, with the entire system expected to be online in January.

Gwendalyn J. Randolph, PhD, director of the Division of Immunobiology at the School of Medicine, has been chosen as a 2015 recipient of the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award. The award challenges investigators to develop groundbreaking approaches that have a high impact on a broad area of biomedical or behavioral science. Randolph is one of 13 Pioneer Award winners this year.

Shedding light on possible contributors to autism, schizophrenia and other neuro-psychiatric disorders, School of Medicine researchers have found that a type of support cell in the brain, called an astrocyte, may play a role in the ability of neurons to communicate.

Robert Schreiber, PhD, the Alumni Professor of Pathology and Immunology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been named a co-editor-in-chief of Cancer Immunology Research​.

Through an elective rotation that began nearly 15 years ago, neurosurgery residents at the School of Medicine have an opportunity to see how complex neurosurgical procedures are performed in another country with a markedly different health-care system.

Maurizio Corbetta, MD, an internationally recognized neuroscientist and clinician at the School of Medicine, will receive the 2015 Outstanding Neurorehabilitation Clinician Scientist (ONCS) Award. The American Society of Neurorehabilitation (ASNR) Education Foundation Board selected Corbetta for the honor.

Lisa Cristine Simone, 25, a doctoral candidate in the Program in Physical Therapy at Washington University School of Medicine, died unexpectedly Sept. 29, 2015, in St. Louis.

Jeffrey I. Gordon, MD, the Dr. Robert J. Glaser Distinguished University Professor at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, is a recipient of the 2015 Keio Medical Science Prize.