School of Medicine

For Kathy Grange, MD, every day is a professional adventure, solving medical mysteries and pursuing diagnoses of rare diseases. A professor of pediatrics, Grange is director of the Division of Genetics and Genomic Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics.

Shashikant Kulkarni, PhD, an associate professor of pathology and immunology at the School of Medicine, has been named editor-in-chief of the journal Cancer Genetics.​​​​

​Melody Goodman, PhD, an assistant professor of surgery at Washington University School of Medicine and a research member of Siteman Cancer Center, has been appointed to the City of St. Louis Board of Health and Hospitals.

Emil R. Unanue, MD, an internationally renowned immunologist at the School of Medicine, has received a Sanofi-Institut Pasteur Award for his invaluable contributions to the field of immunology. The annual awards honor scientists who have made outstanding contributions to biomedical research in fields that profoundly affect global health.

Researchers at the School of Medicine have been awarded $13.7 million from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to create new therapies for multiple myeloma, a cancer of the immune system.​ Led by Samuel Achilefu, PhD, (pictured) and Gregory Lanza, MD, PhD, at the newly created Center for Multiple Myeloma Nanotherapy, scientists will work to develop nanomaterials and drugs to treat the disease.

With the aim of producing high-quality X-rays with minimal radiation exposure, researchers at the School of Medicine have developed a new approach to imaging patients. Using proprietary software developed for the Microsoft Kinect system, the team has adapted hands-free technology used for the popular Xbox system to aid radiographers when taking X-rays.

To further the goal of improving patient safety and quality in health care, three institutions — the Goldfarb School of Nursing at Barnes-Jewish College, St. Louis College of Pharmacy and Washington University School of Medicine — have created the Center for Interprofessional Education (CIPE) at Washington University Medical Center.

Now that most roadwork at Washington University Medical Center has been completed, the shuttle buses have been rerouted and renamed to accommodate employees. The new routes will begin Nov. 30. The buses now will be identified with a name instead of by a color.

A new study shows that the number of infant deaths and injuries attributed to crib bumpers has spiked significantly in recent years, prompting the researchers to call for a nationwide ban on the bedding accessory. The findings indicate that in the majority of incidents studied, crib bumpers were the sole cause of harm, rebutting beliefs that other items also in the cribs caused the deaths and injuries.

Researchers at the School of Medicine have received a five-year, $6.5 million grant to study the physiological underpinnings of developmental disabilities in children and to use the findings to search for novel ways to improve such children’s lives. The grant renews funding for the university’s Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (IDDRC), which is directed by John N. Constantino, MD (left) and Bradley L. Schlaggar, MD, PhD.