School of Medicine

Teresa Deshields, PhD, manager of Siteman Counseling Service at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine, has been chosen as a 2015 fellow by the American Psychosocial Oncology Society.

More than half of older adults with clinical depression don’t get better when treated with an antidepressant. But results from a multicenter clinical trial that included Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis indicates that adding a second drug — an antipsychotic medication — to the treatment regimen helps many of those patients.

Matthew Mutch, MD, a nationally known clinician and educator in the laparoscopic treatment of colorectal cancer, has been named chief of Colon and Rectal Surgery in the Department of Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

With the growing understanding of the importance of gut bacteria in human health, researchers at the School of Medicine studied gut motility, measuring the transit time of food moving through the gastrointestinal tract in mice in a way that mimicked the dietary effects of world travel. The study demonstrates ways to uncover how even a single ingredient, such as turmeric, can affect health through interactions of diet and gut microbes.

Cancers have many strategies for avoiding attacks from the immune system. But the more scientists are able to understand about them, the more effectively they will be able to use the immune system to fight cancer. To that end, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a new strategy.

The St. Louis Children’s Hospital Child Development Center parking lot is not a thoroughfare for garage access. Using it as such compromises the safety of children and parents, so employees are asked not to drive through the lot to access the garages. Employees traveling north on Newstead can proceed north a half block to Duncan to access both garages.

Sam Bhayani, MD, has been appointed chief medical officer of the Faculty Practice Plan at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, effective Nov. 1. The university’s Faculty Practice Plan, known as Washington University Physicians, ranks among the five largest academic group practices in the United States.

Larry J. Shapiro, MD, executive vice chancellor of medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, will step down in December after 12 years at the helm. He reflects on his tenure here and on the dedicated, inspiring students, faculty and staff he has worked with.

As part of the overall plan to improve traffic flow in and around the Medical Campus, the access road on the south side of the campus garages along Duncan Avenue only will allow for right turns into and out of both Taylor and Newstead avenues beginning Monday, Sept. 21.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are recruiting volunteers for a study comparing the potential health and longevity benefits of the Mediterranean diet with those of a typical American diet. The study’s aim is to determine whether health and longevity are influenced more by healthy eating or by weight loss.