Author: Robin

Siteman Cancer Center awarded $7.8 million to expand clinical trials access (Links to an external site)

Physicians at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have been awarded a six-year, $7.8 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to play a leading role in designing, conducting and enrolling patients in clinical trials through the NCI’s National Clinical Trials Network. The funding acknowledges Siteman’s continued […]

Dr. Patel Namrata joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Namrata Patel joined the department of Medicine in the Division of Medical Education as an Instructor on June 10, 2019. Dr. Patel has been passionate about trying to help her community ever since she can remember. She completed her medical degree at The University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Memphis, where she co-founded […]

Dr. Haris Murad joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Haris Murad joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Nephrology as an Assistant Professor on July 1, 2019. Dr. Murad received his Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (M.B.; B.S. from Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan in 2012.  After one year as a research associate in pediatric rheumatology, Dr. Murad then moved […]

Dr. Joshua Dearborn joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Joshua Dearborn joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Oncology as an Instructor on June 1, 2019. Dr. Dearborn is a behavioral neuroscientist with training in molecular biology. His research interests revolve around the neurobiology and etiology of neurodevelopmental disorders. He has a strong background in the application of rodent models in […]

Dr. Bruce Rosa joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Bruce Rosa joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases Division as an Assistant Professor on July 1, 2019. Dr. Rosa received his PhD in Biotechnology from Lakehead University (Canada), which included a two-year visiting scientist appointment studying bioinformatics approaches to analyzing circadian rhythm at Michigan State University. He joined Dr. […]

Dr. Alex Wagner joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Alex Wagner joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Oncology as an Instructor on June 1, 2019. Dr. Wagner is interested in the development and application of open bioinformatics resources that enable precision medicine. His career interests are to run an academic laboratory overseeing the development of these tools and the analyses […]

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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 […]

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

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

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)

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)

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 […]

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

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)

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)

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 […]

Dr. Shail Mehta joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Shail Mehta joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine as an Assistant Professor on March 1, 2019. Dr. Mehta’s clinical interests are Mycobacterial lung disease and bronchiectasis. Along with Dr. Carlos Daughaday, he sees patients with nontuberculous mycobacterial lung disease, many of whom also have bronchiectasis, in […]

Dr. Matifadza Hlatshwayo joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Matifadza Hlatshwayo joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases on April 1, 2019 as an Instructor. Education Dr. Hlatshwayo completed her Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Chemistry with Honors from Drury University in Springfield, Missouri. She then went on to complete her medical degree with Special Qualification in Biomedical […]

In Vivo Imaging Core

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis offers In Vivo Imaging Core (IVIC) in Infectious Diseases to provide a cost-effective and sustainable in vivo imaging resource and multi-dimensional data analysis for WUSM researchers. Two-photon microscopy is widely used in the fields of cell biology, immunology and microbiology to image single-cell dynamics in native 3D tissue environments. […]

The warrior within (Links to an external site)

MATT MILLER Robert D. Schreiber, PhD, right, consults with doctoral student Samuel O. Ameh. Their work exploring the immune system’s role in controlling cancer is fueling development of a range of approaches to cancer immunotherapy. A few short decades ago, cancer treatment consisted mainly of three pillars: surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Although each has earned […]

Congratulations to Dr. Lenise Cummings-Vaughn!

Dear Faculty and Staff, We are pleased to announce that Dr. Lenise Cummings-Vaughn will be receiving the 2019 Alene and Meyer Kopolow Award for Excellence in Service to Older Adults on April 24th at 9:00 am at the Eric P. Newman Education Center. The Kopolow Award recognizes individuals in the St. Louis Metro Region who […]

Obese mouse mothers trigger heart problems in offspring (Links to an external site)

A diet high in fats and sugars is known for its unhealthy effects on the heart. Scientists now have found that a high-fat, high-sugar diet in mouse mothers before and during pregnancy causes problems in the hearts of their offspring, and that such problems are passed down at least three generations, even if the younger […]

Topical immunotherapy keeps skin cancer risk at bay (Links to an external site)

A combination of two topical creams already shown to clear precancerous skin lesions from sun-damaged skin also lowers the risk that patients will later develop squamous cell carcinoma of the skin. The study, from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, appears March 21 in JCI Insight. […]

DOM Medical Education Update

Colleagues, It is my pleasure to announce that Dr. Melvin Blanchard, Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Medical Education and Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Training Program at Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM) is being promoted to Vice Chair for Education in the Department of Medicine. Dr. Blanchard is a distinguished […]

In Vivo Imaging Core

Dear Department of Medicine Faculty, The Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis created the In Vivo Imaging Core (IVIC) in the division of Infectious Diseases to provide a cost-effective resource for investigators requiring in vivo imaging and multi-dimensional data analysis for their research.  Since its inception in 2013, the IVIC has provided imaging […]

$3.4 million aids effort to make a better flu vaccine (Links to an external site)

The influenza vaccine is only good for one flu season, partly because different strains of the virus circulate every year. But there’s another reason people must roll up their sleeves every fall for a flu shot: The protection generated by the vaccination is fleeting, with evidence indicating that its effectiveness wanes over the course of […]

Unnecessary testing for UTIs cut by nearly half (Links to an external site)

Tests to detect urinary tract infections (UTI) often are performed routinely in hospitals, even when patients don’t have symptoms. Such testing “just to be safe” can return results that lead doctors to prescribe antibiotics when there’s little to no evidence to warrant such treatment. Now, new research indicates that making a simple change to the […]

The Loeb Teaching Fellows (Links to an external site)

Subject: The Loeb Teaching Fellows On behalf of Loeb Selection Committee co-chairs, Dr. Eva Aagaard and Dr. Mary Klingensmith, we are pleased to announce that the Loeb Teaching Fellows application cycle is now open through Wednesday, March 20, 2019 at 5:00pm.  Please share this information with anyone within the WUSM community who you believe may […]

School of Medicine expands mission of McDonnell Genome Institute (Links to an external site)

The McDonnell Genome Institute at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis is entering a new era of genomic medicine, expanding its capacities beyond genome sequencing and adding a new and vital focus on understanding how genetics influences health and disease. Jeffrey Milbrandt, MD, PhD, recently appointed executive director of the McDonnell Genome Institute, says the […]

Teaching Scholars Program (Links to an external site)

Dear Department Heads, Assistants to Chairs, Course and Clerkship Directors and Office of Education Community: The Office of Education presents the announcement below for your review regarding the Teaching Scholars Program. Please share this information with anyone within the WUSM community who you believe may be interested in these opportunities. Teaching Scholars Program The School […]

Gordon honored with Frontiers of Knowledge Award (Links to an external site)

Jeffrey I. Gordon, MD, of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been recognized with the Frontiers of Knowledge Award from the BBVA Foundation. He is being honored for outstanding contributions to biology and biomedicine for his lab’s pioneering role in founding the field of microbiome research. BBVA is a global financial services […]

Teitelbaum awarded 2019 King Faisal International Prize in Medicine (Links to an external site)

Steven Teitelbaum, MD, the Wilma and Roswell Messing Professor of Pathology and Immunology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been awarded the King Faisal International Prize in Medicine. The annual prize, awarded by the King Faisal Foundation in Saudi Arabia, recognizes scientists whose research has major benefits to humanity. Teitelbaum, who […]

Dr. Wang-Sik Lee joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Wang-Sik Lee joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Hematology as an Assistant Professor on January 22, 2019. After Dr. Lee earned his Ph.D in Biochemistry, he worked at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute as a researcher, at the Friedrich Miescher-Institute (Switzerland) as a research fellow, and at the Biotechnology Laboratory […]

Dr. Sumanth Gandra joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Sumanth Gandra joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases as an Assistant Professor on January 21, 2019. Dr. Gandra received his medical degree from Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad, India in 2004. In 2007, he received his MPH degree in community health from Eastern Kentucky University. He completed his internal medicine […]

White named director of Division of Palliative Medicine (Links to an external site)

Patrick White, MD, an assistant professor of medicine, has been named director of the newly formed Division of Palliative Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The appointment was announced by Victoria J. Fraser, MD, the Adolphus Busch Professor and head of the Department of Medicine. “Patrick is nationally recognized as an outstanding […]

Dr. Hrishikesh Kulkarni joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Hrishikesh Kulkarni joined the Department of Medicine in the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Division as an Instructor on March 1, 2018. Dr. Kulkarni is a physician-scientist who focuses on how immune proteins, specifically complement proteins, modulate lung injury. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine from the University of Pittsburgh prior to moving […]

New hope for stem cell approach to treating diabetes (Links to an external site)

Scientists working to develop more effective treatments for diabetes are turning to stem cells. Such cells can be transformed into cells that produce insulin, the hormone that controls blood sugar. But there’s a major challenge: the amount of insulin produced by theses cells is difficult to control. Now, by tweaking the recipe for coaxing human […]

Gerald Medoff, former director of infectious diseases division, 82

Gerald Medoff, MD, an emeritus professor of medicine and former director of the Division of Infectious Diseases and vice chair of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, died peacefully Monday, Jan. 14, 2019, in hospice care at Evelyn’s House in Creve Coeur, Mo., following a long bout with Parkinson’s disease. He […]

Dr. Laneshia Tague joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Laneshia Tague joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine as an Instructor on January 1, 2019. Dr. Laneshia Karee Tague completed her undergraduate degree in biological sciences at Northwestern University in 2007. She went on to complete her medical degree at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine […]