Dr. Muthulingam Dharushana joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Muthulingam Dharushana joins the Department of Medicine
Dr. Dharushana Muthulingam joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases as an Instructor on July 1, 2019. Dr. Muthulingam was born in London and grew up in the California desert. She received undergraduate training in both philosophy and molecular/cell biology at Berkeley. She went on to complete medical and public health […]

Dr. Christopher Rigell joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Christopher Rigell joins the Department of Medicine
Dr. Christopher Rigell joined the Department of Medicine on July 1, 2019 as an Instructor in the Division of Allergy and Immunology. Dr. Rigell completed his undergraduate studies in Molecular and Cellular Biology at Vanderbilt University prior to obtaining his MD from the University of Alabama School of Medicine in Birmingham, Alabama. He completed his […]

Dr. Brandon Kayser joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Brandon Kayser joins the Department of Medicine
Dr. Brandon Kayser joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Geriatrics and Nutritional Sciences as an Instructor on June 30, 2019. Dr. Kayser completed his Ph.D. in 2014 in Integrative and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Southern California. Using both longitudinal human cohorts and preclinical models, he investigated the role of obesity […]

Dr. Kangyun Wu joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Kangyun Wu joins the Department of Medicine
Dr. Kangyun Wu joined the Department of Medicine in the Division pf Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine as an Instructor on July 1, 2019. Dr. Wu is a Senior Scientist in Dr. Michael Holtzman’s lab. He graduated from Huangzhong Agriculture University with a Bachelor of Science in Plant Protection in Wuhan, China in June 1998. […]

Dr. Colin Diffie joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Colin Diffie joins the Department of Medicine
Dr. Colin Diffie joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Rheumatology as an Instructor on July 1, 2019. Dr. Diffie is a native Texan, and dual majored in Psychology and Neurobiology at UT Austin, where he graduated summa cum laude. He then went to medical school at the University of Texas Health Science […]

Dr. Cristina Vazquez Guillamet joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Cristina Vazquez Guillamet joins the Department of Medicine
Dr. Cristina Vazquez Guillamet joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases as an Assistant Professor on July 1, 2019. Clinical practice: After finishing her training in critical care medicine (CCM) and Infectious Diseases (ID), Dr. Vazquez Guillamet started her waiver position at University of New Mexico where her clinical practice encompassed […]

Dr. Carlos Mejia joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Carlos Mejia joins the Department of Medicine
Dr. Carlos Mejia joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases as an Instructor on July 1, 2019. Dr. Mejia received his medical degree from Universidad San Carlos de Guatemala and later completed five years of internal medicine training at Hospital Universitario La Paz in Madrid, Spain. After completing his residency, he […]

Dr. Jane O’Halloran joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Jane O’Halloran joins the Department of Medicine
Dr. Jane O’Halloran joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases ans an Assistant Professor on July 1, 2019. Originally from Ireland, Dr O’Halloran studied medicine at the National University of Ireland, Galway. She completed Specialist Registrar training in Infectious Diseases and Internal Medicine in Ireland where she also did her PhD […]

Dr. Surachai Amornsawadwattana joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Surachai Amornsawadwattana joins the Department of Medicine
Dr. Surachai Amornsawadwattana joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology as an Instructor on July 1, 2019. A native of Thailand, he earned his medical degree from the Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, in Bangkok (1996-2002). After completing his 3-year internship at Thammasat University Hospital (2002-2005), he was recruited for his Internal Medicine […]

Dr. Osama Altayar joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Osama Altayar joins the Department of Medicine
Dr. Osama Altayar joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology as an Instructor on July 1, 2019. He earned his medical degree from the Faculty of Medicine at Damascus University, Syria (2004-2011). After completing his medical education, he joined the Division of Preventive, Occupational and Aerospace Medicine at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota […]

Lavine receives presidential early-career award (Links to an external site)

Lavine receives presidential early-career award
Kory J. Lavine, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. He was nominated for the honor by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Three physician-scientists receive Doris Duke Charitable Foundation awards (Links to an external site)

Three physician-scientists receive Doris Duke Charitable Foundation awards
Three physician-scientists from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have received a 2019 Clinical Scientist Development Award from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Philip Budge, MD, PhD; Brian DeBosch, MD, PhD; and Andrew Kau, MD, PhD, are among 16 U.S. physician-scientists receiving the awards, which provide $495,000 over three years to each investigator. […]

Cardiovascular Division Leadership Announcement

Cardiovascular Division Leadership Announcement
Dr. Douglas L. Mann, the Tobias and Hortense Lewin Professor of Medicine, stepped down as Chief of the Cardiovascular Division effective May 1, 2019, in order to focus on his research and have more time with his family. Dr. Mann will stay here on the faculty and continue to play an important role as a clinician, […]

Immune-boosting compound makes immunotherapy effective against pancreatic cancer (Links to an external site)

Immune-boosting compound makes immunotherapy effective against pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer is especially challenging to treat – only eight percent of patients are still alive five years after diagnosis. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy are of limited benefit, and even immunotherapy – which revolutionized treatment for other kinds of cancer by activating the body’s immune system to attack cancer cells – has been largely ineffective because […]

Deadly tick-borne virus cured with experimental flu drug, in mice (Links to an external site)

Deadly tick-borne virus cured with experimental flu drug, in mice
Only a few cases of the newly discovered Bourbon virus have been reported, and two of them ended in death, partly because no specific treatments are available for the tick-borne illness. Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified an experimental antiviral drug that cures mice infected with the potentially […]

Heartburn drugs linked to fatal heart and kidney disease, stomach cancer (Links to an external site)

Heartburn drugs linked to fatal heart and kidney disease, stomach cancer
Extended use of popular drugs to treat heartburn, ulcers and acid reflux has been associated with an increased risk of premature death. However, little has been known about the specific causes of death attributed to the drugs. Now, a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Veterans Affairs St. […]

Powderly to lead Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences (Links to an external site)

Powderly to lead Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences
William G. Powderly, MD, the Dr. J. William Campbell Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been named director of the university’s Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences (ICTS). The institute is funded by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Evanoff […]

Blanchard appointed vice chair for education (Links to an external site)

Blanchard appointed vice chair for education
The Department of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has named Melvin Blanchard, MD, to the newly created position of vice chair for education. Blanchard will continue in his role as director of the department’s Division of Medical Education until a national search is concluded and a replacement is named. Regarding his role as […]

Siteman Cancer Center announces first network affiliate in Illinois (Links to an external site)

Siteman Cancer Center announces first network affiliate in Illinois
The Siteman Cancer Network, a partnership with regional medical centers, has added a third member, the network’s first in Illinois. Alton Memorial Hospital in Alton, Ill., has joined the network, which is aimed at improving the health of people and communities through cancer research, treatment and prevention. Membership in the Siteman network strengthens and further expands Alton Memorial’s […]

Unending trauma – With scarce resources, doctors address mental health needs of 1 million refugees (Links to an external site)

Unending trauma – With scarce resources, doctors address mental health needs of 1 million refugees
COX’S BAZAR DISTRICT, Bangladesh — From high atop barren hills and the crests of skinny, rutted roads, the views of the vast camps that serve as makeshift homes to more than 900,000 Rohingya refugees are staggering. In every direction, stretches of hastily built, criss-crossed bamboo walls and roofs hold in place dirty orange, blue, black […]

OUTMed at St. Louis PrideFest

OUTMed at St. Louis PrideFest
OUTmed, an organization for LGBTQIA-identified faculty, staff, trainees and allies at the School of Medicine, participated in St. Louis’ PrideFest and Parade on June 30. OUTmed, a forum based in the Department of Medicine, is open to anyone in the School of Medicine interested in OUTmed activities, regardless of departmental affiliation. This was OUTmed’s third […]

Welcome to Peggy Kendall, MD

Welcome to Peggy Kendall, MD
We are pleased to announce that Peggy Kendall, MD will be the new Chief of the Division of Allergy and Immunology in the Department of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine effective August 1, 2019. Dr. Kendall is currently an Associate Professor of Medicine and Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in […]

National Clinician Scholars Program

National Clinician Scholars Program
The National Clinician Scholars Program (NCSP) offers a two-year training experience with formal leadership and master’s level research training. Scholars endeavor to be change agents driving policy-relevant research and partnerships to improve health and health care. Download NCSP flyer

Snapshot of chikungunya could lead to drugs, vaccines for viral arthritis

Snapshot of chikungunya could lead to drugs, vaccines for viral arthritis
KATHERINE BASORE Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have created a detailed 3-D structure of chikungunya virus (shown in blue and green) attached to a mouse protein (in magenta) that the virus uses to get inside cells and cause disease. The findings could accelerate efforts to find new ways to prevent […]

Department of Medicine Faculty Recognition Reception

Department of Medicine Faculty Recognition Reception
The Department of Medicine recently recognized faculty who have been honored with teaching and clinical awards this past year. Their outstanding contributions fostering medical education and clinical excellence positively influences the medical profession not only locally, but also nationally and internationally.

Colonna, Ley elected to National Academy of Sciences (Links to an external site)

Colonna, Ley elected to National Academy of Sciences
Two physician-scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are among the 100 new members and 25 foreign associates elected to the National Academy of Sciences this year. Election to the academy — which was announced Tuesday, April 30 — is considered one of the highest honors that can be awarded to a […]

Ethic of Service Award celebrates those who care about the region

Ethic of Service Award celebrates those who care about the region
Dean Emeritus Bob Virgil (front row, second from right)  joins recipients of the Gerry and Bob Virgil Ethic of Service Award on April 17 at the Knight Executive Education and Conference Center for a recognition ceremony. (Photos: Sid Hastings/Washington University) Seven members of the Washington University in St. Louis community were celebrated for their contribution to […]