School of Medicine

Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton presents William A. Peck, MD, Washington University’s Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Distinguished Professor of Medicine and director of the Center for Health Policy, with ​the William Greenleaf Eliot Society  “Search” Award at the society’s 45th annual dinner May 1 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Clayton, Mo.

Among surgeries for obesity, a newer, increasingly popular procedure called sleeve gastrectomy provides more weight loss to high-risk severely obese patients than adjustable gastric banding, a new study by Esteban Varela, MD, suggests. Two years after surgery, patients in both groups had lost substantial weight, but those who had had a sleeve gastrectomy shed an average of 16 additional pounds.

Adolescents visiting a pediatric emergency department are willing to disclose information about their sexual activity when filling out a computerized questionnaire, and this information can be used to determine whether they should be tested for STIs, a new study by Fahd A. Ahmad, MD, shows.

Washington University in St. Louis has awarded five Bear Cub fund grants totaling $190,000 to support innovative research that has shown commercial potential. Jerry Morrissey (right), PhD, received one of the grants to develop rapid tests for the early development of kidney cancer.

New research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis shows that the same genes that promote healing after cartilage damage also appear to protect against osteoarthritis, a condition caused by years of wear-and-tear on the cartilage between joints. Although the research was conducted in mice, the genes are likely to be important in people, too.

Susan E. Mackinnon, MD, received the Clinician of the Year award and the Research Achievement Award in Basic Science at the American Association of Plastic Surgeons’ annual meeting April 14-17, 2012, in San Francisco.

Jim Jackson (left), project manager in Facilities Management at the School of Medicine, explains energy used in light bulbs to a visitor to the energy conservation and alternative energy station at the School of Medicine’s Earth Day festivities April 19 in the BJC Institute of Health Hope Plaza. In addition to energy, visitors learned about recycling, gardening and water conservation, and transportation and clean air.

The Advisory Committee for the Diversity and Inclusion Grants has awarded eight grants totaling nearly $174,000 to Washington University faculty and administrators for initiatives that improve the university environment for women and members of underrepresented minority groups.

David M. Jaffe, MD, was elected president of the Academic Pediatric Association at its recent annual meeting in Boston. Jaffe is the Dana Brown Professor of Pediatrics and director of the Division of Emergency Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and medical director of emergency services at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

Charged atoms, or ions, move through tiny pores, or channels, embedded in cell membranes, generating the electrical signals that allow cells to communicate with one another. In new research, scientists have shown how an unusual protein plays a key role in temporarily blocking the movement of ions through these channels. Preventing ions from moving through the channel gives cells time to recharge so that they can continue firing.