School of Medicine

The McDonnell Genome Institute at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis will receive $60 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the genetics of common diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke, autism and epilepsy.

The 29th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Celebration at Washington University in St. Louis will recognize members of the St. Louis and university community who continue to advance King’s message through service and leadership. Jason Purnell, PhD, assistant professor at the Brown School, will deliver the keynote address at the event that begins at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 18, in Graham Chapel.

Studying mice and tissue samples from the arteries of patients with atherosclerosis, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggest this plaque accumulation is driven, at least in part, by processes similar to the plaque formation implicated in brain diseases such Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Researchers involved in the treatment of children infected with Ebola have developed a set of guidelines aimed at improving how Ebola-infected children are treated.

L. Lewis Wall, MD, DPhil, has been named the inaugural Selina Okin Kim Conner Professor in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. He was installed Oct. 21. Wall is also professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Charles L. Roper, MD, a groundbreaking cardiothoracic surgeon and a professor emeritus of surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, died of respiratory failure Dec. 17, 2015, in Kirkwood, Mo. He was 90.

Clayco’s chairman and CEO, Robert G. Clark, along with the company’s partners, have committed $4.1 million to Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis to advance research into a rare blood vessel disease that results in death five to 10 years following diagnosis.

​New discoveries, a new campus, Star Wars economics and another presidential debate – these were among the most-read stories of 2015 at Washington University in St. Louis.​

Cheryl Marie Mueller, clinical administrator in the Division of Bone and Mineral Diseases at the School of Medicine, died Dec. 17, 2015, after a 12-year battle with cancer. She was 52.

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital are offering a newly approved, nonsurgical therapy to help people lose weight. Shelby Sullivan, MD, holding models of the two systems being used, said the therapy involves placing special balloons into the stomach and inflating them to give patients the feeling of being full after eating small meals.