School of Medicine

MugliaAfrican-American women are three times more likely to deliver babies three to 17 weeks prematurely than Caucasian women, according to a review of Missouri birth statistics by a group of researchers headed by professor Louis Muglia. In addition, African-American women are more likely to deliver babies prematurely in subsequent pregnancies.

Photo by Robert BostonPhysicians cut the ribbon at the grand opening of the Northwest Tower, which houses faculty offices.

David J. Murray, M.D., has been named the Carol B. and Jerome T. Loeb Professor in the School of Medicine. Washington University Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton and Larry J. Shapiro, M.D., executive vice chancellor for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, made the announcement.

Michael T. Marrah, J.D., and Bradley J. Castanho, Ph.D., have been named assistant vice chancellors for research and co-directors of the Office of Technology Management.

A new finding by School of Medicine researchers adds a new layer of complexity to the quest to understand the causes of childhood brain cancers.

School of Medicine researchers have developed a three-hour workshop that trains health-care providers to identify potentially unsafe drivers with dementia.

EberleinTimothy Eberlein received the 2006 Dr. Rodman L. Sheen and Thomas G. Sheen Award, given each year for outstanding contributions to the medical profession. Eberlein is Bixby Professor and chairman of the Department of Surgery, the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Distinguished Professor and director of the Siteman Cancer Center at the School of Medicine and surgeon-in-chief at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

A.G. Edwards Inc., the St. Louis-based national investment firm, will establish the A.G. Edwards Visiting Professorship in Entrepreneurship.

Researchers linked anticancer agents to a PET tracer to deliver treatment directly to tumors in mice (red and yellow shows highest amounts of tracer).Cancer cells keep growing because they don’t react to internal signals urging them to die. Now researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found an efficient way to get a messenger into cancer cells that forces them to respond to death signals. And they did it using one of the most sinister pathogens around — HIV.

Americans are bombarded with antismoking messages, yet at least 65 million of us continue to light up. Genetic factors play an important role in this continuing addiction to cigarettes, suggest scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. They show that certain genetic variations can influence smoking behaviors and contribute to a person’s risk for nicotine dependence.