School of Medicine

The largest study to date of sustained calorie reduction in adults shows that it does not produce all of the metabolic effects associated with longevity that have been found in animal studies. Severely cutting calorie intake, however, did appear to lower the risk of cardiovascular disease and make people more sensitive to insulin, according to John O. Holloszy, MD, principal investigator at the study’s Washington University clinical site.

Following a weeklong orientation that focused on health disparities and public health, first-year students at the School of Medicine got their hands dirty working at urban gardens in St. Louis. The students volunteered with a nonprofit organization that works to establish and sustain green spaces in neighborhoods across the city.

Compared with routine medical care, probiotics administered to critically ill patients in intensive care units showed no benefit in preventing the colonization of drug-resistant microbes in the intestinal tract, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Ralph G. Dacey Jr., MD, the Henry G. and Edith R. Schwartz Professor and head of the Department of Neurological Surgery, has received the Walter Reed Distinguished Service Award from his alma mater.

Marilyn Siegel, MD, a professor of radiology and of pediatrics, loves solving the puzzles her field presents and the opportunities it has given her. But most of all, she loves helping patients.

A new study shows that quitting smoking after a heart attack has immediate benefits, including less chest pain, better quality of daily life and improved mental health. Many of these improvements became apparent as little as one month after quitting and are more pronounced after one year, according to the research led by Sharon Cresci, MD, at the School of Medicine.

​As the use of e-cigarettes has risen dramatically in the United States in recent years, so have calls to poison centers about them. Yet many parents who use e-cigarettes – or “vape” – aren’t aware of the dangers to children, according to a study at the School of Medicine.

For patients with an often-deadly form of leukemia, new research by Timothy J. Ley, MD, and colleagues suggests that lingering cancer-related mutations – detected after initial treatment with chemotherapy – are associated with an increased risk of relapse and poor survival.

First-year medical student Anna Arnaud writes about what it means to receive a white coat, which incoming School of Medicine students received at a ceremony Friday, Aug. 14, to initiate the transition from students of science to practitioners of medicine.

First-year students at the School of Medicine participated Friday, Aug. 14, in the traditional White Coat Ceremony — a rite of passage in which future doctors are welcomed to the medical school and the medical profession. The class also recited an oath promising honesty and integrity.