News

The patient is nine months pregnant and in good health. With the proper care, she has much to look forward to.

The Academic Women’s Network Fall Dinner: “Ally, Advocate, or Accomplice: We are Better Together” with guest speaker Michelle Lall, MD, MHS, Associate Professor of Department of Emergency Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine took place on November 19, 2019.

Dear colleagues, It is my pleasure to announce that Andrew Odden, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Divisions of Hospital Medicine and General Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM) has been appointed as Vice Chair of Patient Safety for the Department of Medicine. Dr. Odden has been an esteemed member of the Washington University community […]

Tapped for their work aimed at stemming opioid abuse and halting what has become an epidemic in the United States, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have received federal grants totaling more than $10 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). […]

Mark Thoelke, MD, SFHM is stepping down as Director of the Division of Hospital Medicine, as of Jan 1, 2020 to have more time and flexibility for travel with his family.  Dr. Michael Lin, Professor of Medicine, will be the Interim Chief of the Division of Hospital Medicine while we initiate a national search for […]

The highly contagious norovirus causes diarrhea and vomiting and is notorious for spreading rapidly through densely populated spaces, such as cruise ships, nursing homes, schools and day care centers. Each year, it is responsible for some 200,000 deaths, mostly in the developing world. There are no treatments for this intestinal virus, often incorrectly referred to […]

Washington University School of Medicine students recently honored faculty and residents with Distinguished Service Teaching Awards for the 2018-19 academic year. The awards, which were first given in 1991, reflect the students’ appreciation for dedication, patience and skill in training future physicians. Students completing their first, second and third year of studies select the course […]

In critically ill patients who require a heart pump to support blood circulation as part of stent procedures, specific heart pumps have been associated with serious complications, according to a new study led by cardiologists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Though the observational study does not prove that the heart pumps […]

Jason Burnham, MD, assistant professor of medicine

Victoria Fraser, MD, the Adolphus Busch Professor of Medicine

Dear colleagues, I am pleased to announce that Dr. Dominique Cosco has agreed to accept the role of Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program at Washington University School of Medicine/Barnes-Jewish Hospital. As you know, Dr. Cosco assumed the responsibility of Interim Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program in March of this year. Since […]

Michael Rauchman, MD, is Canadian, but his mother and father raised him to honor America, too. As a child, he learned that the U.S. military had played a key role in the defeat of Nazi Germany during World War II, allowing Rauchman’s Jewish parents to survive the Holocaust. Both had been imprisoned in concentration and […]

In this Issue: Letter from the Chair, Divisional Spotlight, Research News, Clinical News, Education News, New Faculty Leadership, Awards/Grants/Honors, DOM Faculty Affairs, Future Workforce in Medicine, Upcoming Events and Symposiums, Epic Update, and Giving

Studying mice, scientists have shown that boosting the activity of specific immune cells in the heart after a heart attack can protect against developing heart failure, an invariably fatal condition. Patients with heart failure tire easily and become breathless from everyday activities because the heart muscle has lost the ability to pump enough blood to […]

Peggy Kendall, MD, was named director of the Division of Allergy and Immunology in the Department of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She joined the university from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, where she was an associate professor of medicine and pathology, microbiology and immunology.

Benjamin D. Humphreys’ hobbies include experimenting with international cuisine in his kitchen, harvesting heirloom tomatoes in his backyard, and growing miniature kidneys in his laboratory. He has been perfecting his first two hobbies for years. However, his interest in growing tiny kidneys — specifically, using human stem cells to cultivate kidney organoids — began in […]

Dr. Syed Hasan joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine as an Instructor in July, 2019. He is originally from Karachi, Pakistan and immigrated to the U.S. in 2009. He finished medical school at the prestigious Sindh Medical College (now known as JSMU) in Pakistan. After graduation, Dr. Hasan spent time […]

Dr. Ian Green originally hails from Tampa, Florida. He received his Bachelor of Science degree, magna cum laude with honors, from The Ohio State University in 2011. He studied microbiology in the former 7-year B.S./M.D. combined degree program and was nominated to Phi Beta Kappa. He developed an enthusiasm for learning and investigation that led […]

Dr. Kathleen Evans grew up in Spring, Texas and attended the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma for her undergraduate education. She received degrees in both biochemistry and journalism and was interested in tying mass communication, health literacy, and education together. She completed her honors thesis on the effect of pesticides on blow flies and […]

10.18.19 Ofer Zimmerman, MD, a clinical fellow in the Department of Medicine at the School of Medicine, received a $100,000 Physician Scientist Fellowship award from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. He will be working in the laboratory of Michael Diamond, MD, PhD, the Herbert S. Gasser Professor of Medicine, to study the role of variations in the […]

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have received a $3.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support an open-source database aimed at boosting personalized approaches to cancer treatment. The database is designed to help doctors match cancer mutations — found in patients’ tumors — with drugs that […]

Dr. Jack El Sawda joined the Department of Medicine as an Instructor in Medicine for the Division of Hospital Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in July 2019. He was born and raised in the northern part of Lebanon, in a small town, along the Mediterranean coast. He completed his undergraduate […]

Dr. Hanan Dihowm joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine as an Instructor in July, 2019. Dr. Dihowm always wanted to learn to conduct research, and so she earned a master’s degree in clinical research from Rush University. She has a strong interest in cancer research, more specifically breast cancer and […]

As obesity rates climb, so do the number of people receiving weight-loss surgery. One of the most frequently performed weight-loss procedures in the world — Roux-en-Y gastric bypass — is effective, but another procedure rarely performed in the U.S. is more effective at eliminating type 2 diabetes in patients with obesity. A new study from […]

The Stanley J. Korsmeyer Memorial Lectureship was established in 2005 at the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Thursday, October 31, 2019 | 3:00 p.m. Eric P. Newman Education Center, Floor 1 EPNEC Auditorium “ER Stress: Reprogramming the Tumor Microenvironment” Download Flyer (pdf)

On a crisp autumn Saturday two years ago, the newly appointed senior associate dean for education began getting ready for an important finance meeting with the medical school’s senior leaders. That’s when a crazy idea struck her. “I was thinking about ways to reduce medical school debt and, on a broader level, my overall purpose […]

Throughout the St. Louis region, underserved and low-income patients cannot obtain quality health care. Many live in poverty without access to medical services, or even food. Dedicated community leader Lee Kling has seen firsthand how economic disparities create lifelong challenges for so many people. In response to those challenges, Kling, a St. Louis native and […]

At nearly 250 pounds, Linda DeCosta had tried everything — and failed — to lose weight: prescription drugs, exercise programs, dieting. She had even considered bariatric surgery, but insurance wouldn’t cover it. “I was almost starving myself,” DeCosta said. “Our family doesn’t eat out a lot. I don’t cook a lot of fried foods. I […]

Dr. Anthony Dao joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine in July, 2019. Dr. Dao was born in Troy, Ohio and pursued a combined 6-year BS/MD program at the University of Akron, which is associated with the Northeast Ohio Medical University. In medical school, he was interested in public health. Dr. […]

Dr. Benjamin Buetner joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine in July, 2019. Dr. Buettner was born and raised in Lima, Ohio where he graduated from Shawnee High School in 2008. He then went on to pursue his undergraduate Bachelor of Arts in Zoology at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, being […]