School of Medicine

The nip in the air is a reminder not only of the coming autumn but of flu season. And for any Washington University employee who works with or near patients, it means it’s time to get a flu shot.

The intersection of Duncan and Boyle avenues closed Sept. 15 for the Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) project to upgrade the Duncan Avenue storm sewer. The closure has resulted in a number of employees using the CORTEX parking lot as a detour, even though the lot has not been designated as one. Employees are encouraged to use Newstead or Taylor avenues instead of Boyle Avenue and the CORTEX lot to access parking garages and lots.

Joni Westerhouse, a longtime veteran in public affairs at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been named associate vice chancellor and associate dean for Medical Public Affairs.

Jeffrey I. Gordon, MD, has won the 2014 Dickson Prize in Medicine for his pioneering studies demonstrating how the tens of trillions of microbes that live in the gut influence human health.

Ross C. Brownson, PhD, professor at the Brown School and at the School of Medicine, has been awarded a $365,600 grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute for his project “A Cross-country Comparison of Evidence-based Prevention of Cancer.”

The most common type of hospital-associated infection may be preventable with a vaccine, new research in mice suggests. The experimental vaccine, created by School of Medicine researchers, prevented urinary tract infections associated with catheters, the tubes that hospitals and other care facilities insert to drain urine from the bladder.

Kelli VanDussen, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in the (Thaddeus) Stappenbeck Lab, has received a three-year, $174,750 grant from the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America for research titled “Defining The Basis of Epithelial Defects in Crohn’s Disease Patients.”

The same viruses that make us sick can take up residence in and on the human body without provoking a sneeze, cough or other troublesome symptom, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

New research suggests that schizophrenia isn’t a single disease but a group of eight genetically distinct disorders, each with its own set of symptoms. The finding, in a study led by researchers at the School of Medicine, could be a first step toward improved diagnosis and treatment for the debilitating psychiatric illness.

School of Medicine employees ignored the unexpected chill in the air Friday, Sept. 12, and came out in droves for the annual employee appreciation picnic on the Medical Campus. The picnic was sponsored by the dean’s office and the Medical School Management Council.