School of Medicine

Alison J. Whelan, M.D., has been named senior associate dean for education, and Yi Zhang, J.D., has been named assistant dean for clinical trials. Both appointments were effective July 1. Creation of Whelan’s position emanates from the school’s Plan for Excellence, the 10-year strategic plan recently completed and endorsed by the Executive Faculty, Chancellor Mark […]

A recently identified gene allows immune cells to start the self-destructive processes thought to underlie autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS) and rheumatoid arthritis, researchers at the School of Medicine have found.

Illustration of two proteins involved in DNA repair by artist Amy VanDonselResearchers at the School of Medicine have shed new light on a process that fixes breaks in the genetic material of cells. The scientists studied protein molecules that have an important role in homologous recombination, which is one way that cells repair breaks in the DNA double helix. Their findings could lead to ways of enhancing chemotherapy drugs that destroy cancer cells by damaging their DNA.

The School of Medicine is participating in a national trial to determine whether back braces for adolescents with scoliosis, an abnormal curvature of the spine, are effective in preventing the condition from progressing and, if so, which patients most benefit.

DornGerald W. Dorn II has been named the Philip and Sima K. Needleman Professor of Medicine at the School of Medicine. The professorship was established to support a faculty member holding a key leadership position within the BioMed 21 initiative, a multidisciplinary imperative to rapidly convert research findings into effective, individualized treatments.

MichalskiJeff M. Michalski, professor of radiation oncology, has been named vice chair and director of clinical programs of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the School of Medicine. He will oversee clinical operations at all treatment facilities, clinical and translational research, and all training and education.

Cancerous tumors sometimes form at the site of chronic wounds or injury, but the reason why is not entirely clear. Now researchers at theSchool of Medicine have engineered mice with a persistent wound-like skin condition, and the mice are helping them understand the tumor-promoting effects of long-standing wounds and injuries.

RiewThe National Football League has announced a new spine treatment program for retired players, and orthopedics specialists at the School of Medicine have been chosen to participate. K. Daniel Riew, the Mildred B. Simon Distinguished Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and chief of the cervical spine service for Washington University Orthopedics, is one of five U.S. spine specialists selected to participate in the new NFL program.

Pig heart valves used to replace defective aortic valves in human patients failed much earlier and more often than expected, says a report from cardiac surgeons at the School of Medicine. This is the first report to demonstrate this potential problem, the researchers say.

Alzheimer’s disease researchers at the School of Medicine have won renewal of a grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) to study the differences between people who remain mentally spry in the golden years of life and those who develop dementia.