School of Medicine

The Washington University in St. Louis Assembly Series turned 60 in 2013, and to mark such an august occasion, it’s fitting to remember why the lecture series was conceived in the first place. The Assembly Series launched during the institution’s centennial celebration in 1953 as a way to involve the broader St. Louis community in the robust intellectual life on campus.

In a surprising discovery, neuroscientists, led by a team from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, have found that a molecule that is a breakdown product of cholesterol in the brain may be a target for developing new drugs to treat schizophrenia and other mental illnesses.

The WUSTL Assembly Series turned 60 in 2013, and to mark the anniversary, we revisit why the lecture series was conceived in the first place. The Assembly Series launched during the institution’s centennial celebration in 1953 as a way to involve the broader St. Louis community in the robust intellectual life on campus.

On Feb. 6, Laura Svetkey, MD, professor of medicine at Duke University, will give the inaugural speech in the Women Leaders in Public Health Career Lecture Series at Washington University. The goal of the series, sponsored by the University’s Institute for Public Health, is to offer broad perspectives from female leaders about their careers in diverse fields related to public health.

WUSTL’s Institute for Public Health is launching a new series of talks: the Women Leaders in Public Health Career Lecture Series. Laura Svetkey, MD, professor of medicine at Duke University, will give the inaugural speech Feb. 6. The series’ goal is to offer broad perspectives from female leaders about their careers in diverse fields related to public health.

Steven Strasberg, MD, the Pruett Professor of Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, will receive the 2014 Distinguished Service Award from the Americas Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association.

The S. Lee Kling Proton Therapy Center at Washington University Medical Center has begun treating patients with cancer near vital organs such as the spine, brain, heart and eyes. The center is the only one within 225 miles that offers proton therapy, a highly accurate radiation treatment.

A new study conservatively estimates that one in five women with ovarian cancer has inherited genetic mutations that increase the risk of the disease, according to research by the School of Medicine’s Li Ding, PhD, and her colleagues.

Ten Washington University physicians recently became certified in new medical subspecialties — five in clinical informatics and five in emergency medical services. Board certification exams were offered for the first time in each subspecialty in October.

Bradley L. Schlaggar, MD, PhD, the A. Ernest and Jane G. Stein Professor of Neurology, has been named director of the Division of Pediatric and Developmental Neurology.