School of Medicine

Medical professionals from Washington University and Barnes-Jewish College of Nursing are helping older adults in underserved areas of St. Louis identify and address wide-ranging health problems — from osteoporosis and frailty to impaired physical function and depression.

Patients with Parkinson’s disease who took part in regular tango dance classes for 20 sessions showed significant improvements in balance and mobility when compared to patients who did conventional exercise, a new study by researchers at the School of Medicine shows.

With a key protein disabled, a pair of kidney filtering units can’t keep antibodies (shown in red) from building up in the filter.The kidney actively cleans its most selective filter to keep it from clogging with blood proteins, scientists from the School of Medicine reveal in a new study. Researchers showed that breakdown of this self-cleaning feature can make kidneys more vulnerable to dysfunction and disease.

A 78-year-old St. Louis woman was the first patient in this region to receive an experimental device to replace her defective aortic valve without opening the chest wall or using a heart-lung machine. This procedure was performed by Washington University heart specialists at Barnes-Jewish Hospital Jan. 15.

Washington University and the pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. will collaborate more closely under a new $25 million, five-year biomedical research agreement that has the potential to move discoveries from the laboratory bench to patients’ bedsides more quickly. The collaboration represents a new model of partnership between academia and industry.

New School of Medicine research shows that losing weight by any method improves cardiovascular health.

The School of Medicine’s Department of Molecular Biology and Pharmacology has changed its name to the Department of Developmental Biology.

The Shriners Hospital for Children will build a new hospital at the Washington University Medical Center. The new hospital’s location will further enhance research opportunities and clinical care between Shriners Hospital for Children-St. Louis and the School of Medicine.

Jamie Marie Walsh, of the Department of Internal Medicine, died Sunday, Dec. 9, 2007, of complications from cancer. She was 48.

Courtesy photoSchool of Medicine physicians are testing an investigational device that allows them to insert replacement aortic valves without opening the chest.