Author: Julia

Renowned Gastroenterology Leader at Siteman Cancer Center Honored for Mentorship (Links to an external site)

Nicholas Davidson, MD

Nicholas O. Davidson, MD, DSc, AGAF, the John E. and Adaline Simon Professor of Medicine and Developmental Biology and chief of the Division of Gastroenterology at WashU Medicine and a nationally recognized physician-scientist who treats patients at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and WashU Medicine, is the recipient of the 2026 Distinguished Mentor Award from the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA). He will […]

Celebrating Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month (Links to an external site)

May marks the annual celebration of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the United States. In 1978 Congress proclaimed the first week of May as “Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week.” Future Presidents continued this annual proclamation until 1992 when Congress and President George H.W. Bush signed a law designating the month of May to celebrate […]

Grants bolster research on myelodysplastic syndromes (Links to an external site)

Jeremy Baeten, PhD and Matthew Walter, MD

The Edward P. Evans Foundation has awarded three-year, $750,000 Discovery Research Grants to Jeremy Baeten, PhD, an assistant professor of medicine, and Matthew Walter, MD, the Edward P. Evans Endowed Professor of Myelodysplastic Syndromes, both in the Division of Oncology at WashU Medicine. Walter treats patients at Siteman Cancer Center, based at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and […]

WashU Nephrology Presents at NKF 2026 Spring Clinical Meetings (Links to an external site)

Anuja Java, MD

The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) 2026 Spring Clinical Meetings (SCM) will be held May 6 -10 at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, bringing together kidney‑care professionals from across the country for practical education, clinical updates, and multidisciplinary collaboration. WashU Nephrology will be well represented this year by Anuja Java, MD, and Dr. Tingting Li, MD, MSCI, FASN, who […]

Huffman Receives Honorary Professorship at University of Abuja (Links to an external site)

Mark Huffman, MD, MPH, William Bowen Endowed Professor of Medicine in the Cardiovascular Division

Mark Huffman, MD, MPH, William Bowen Endowed Professor of Medicine in the Cardiovascular Division at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been named an honorary professor at the University of Abuja in Nigeria. The appointment recognizes his contributions to cardiovascular research and public health in Nigeria.

ID Fellowship Program receives continued accreditation (Links to an external site)

WashU Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases co-chief Barbara Trautner, MD, PhD, discusses a patient's case with First Year Fellow Laveena John, MD, visiting medical student Hiyori Mori, medical student Elisa Carrillo, and senior clinical research coordinator Johanan Luna during ID rounds at Wohl Hospital on March 16, 2026.

The Infectious Diseases Fellowship Program at Washington University School of Medicine celebrates its continued accreditation status, effective January 23, 2026, by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The ACGME sets standards for effective educational and training programs, and monitors compliance with those standards.

New software safeguards research participants’ privacy (Links to an external site)

WashU Medicine and University of Michigan researchers developed a software, De-ID, that flags sensitive information in data collected through focus groups, surveys and interviews. It highlights and suggests generic replacements using a color-coding scheme: red for information that has a high risk of identifying someone; yellow for medium-risk information; and blue for low-risk information. Accepted suggestions are highlighted in green, and ignored suggestions in gray.

Which details in a de-identified scientific record are enough to still identify a person? If, for example, the record includes that a person is a CEO, the abundance of CEOs in the world would make identification nearly impossible. If the person is a CEO living in Missouri, the list becomes notably shorter but likely extensive […]

Innovative CAR-T cell therapy receives FDA Breakthrough Therapy designation (Links to an external site)

An innovative cell-based immunotherapy developed by WashU Medicine researchers has received Breakthrough Therapy designation from the FDA. The novel CAR-T cell therapy is licensed to Wugen, a WashU Medicine startup based in the Cortex Innovation District in St. Louis (shown).

A cell-based immunotherapy designed to treat rare and aggressive types of blood cancer has been granted Breakthrough Therapy designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Developed by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, this innovative CAR-T cell therapy is licensed to Wugen, a WashU Medicine startup biotechnology company based […]

Global Health Researchers Find Care Disparities Among Asian Heart Failure Patients in US (Links to an external site)

Mark Huffman, MD, MPH, William Bowen Endowed Professor of Medicine and Co-Director of the Global Health Center, and Anubha Agarwal, MD, MSc an associate professor of medicine and Co-Director of the Program in Global Cardiovascular Health

WashU Cardiovascular Division Global Health researchers have published a new article on disparity on heart failure care for Asian patients in the U.S. Mark Huffman, MD, MPH, William Bowen Endowed Professor of Medicine and Co-Director of the Global Health Center, and Anubha Agarwal, MD, MSc an associate professor of medicine and Co-Director of the Program in Global Cardiovascular Health […]

Ewald Receives BJH Neville Grant Award (Links to an external site)

Gregory Ewald, MD

Greg Ewald MD, Director, Section of Heart Failure and Heart Transplantation, has received the  2026 Neville Grant Award for Clinical Excellence. Ewald and other recipients will be recognized at the upcoming BJH Medical Staff Association Semi-Annual meeting. 

Autism Acceptance – World Autism Awareness Day (Links to an external site)

April is Autism Acceptance Month, a time dedicated to promoting inclusion and support. It has been officially rebranded from awareness to acceptance to encourage community change. The month begins with World Autism Awareness Day on April 2nd, a United Nations-sanctioned day aimed at celebrating, accepting, and amplifying the voices of autistic individuals.

Deaf History Month (Links to an external site)

Each year, National Deaf History Month is celebrated to commemorate the achievements of people who are deaf and hard of hearing. In 2026, it runs from April 1 through April 30.

Steve Brody, MD, Elected to Association of American Physicians (Links to an external site)

Steve Brody, MD

The Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine proudly congratulates Steve Brody, MD, on his election to the Association of American Physicians (AAP), one of the nation’s most respected honorary medical societies. Founded in 1885, the AAP recognizes physician scientists whose work has advanced biomedical science and improved human health.

Ying Maggie Chen Awarded NIDDK R01 Grant (Links to an external site)

Ying (Maggie) Chen, MD, PhD

Ying Maggie Chen, MD, PhD, FASN, Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Nephrology, has been awarded a National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) R01 grant totaling $2.969 million for her project, “Activating Autophagy to Treat Uromodulin-Associated Genetic Chronic Kidney Disease.”

Stopping GLP-1 drugs can quickly erase cardiovascular benefits (Links to an external site)

WashU Medicine researchers found that stopping GLP-1 drugs such as semaglutide and tirzepatide — even temporarily — elevates the risk of heart attack, stroke and death compared to staying on the medication continuously.

Following a rapid increase in popularity of GLP-1 drugs for diabetes and weight loss, such as semaglutide and tirzepatide, approximately one in eight U.S. adults now take these medications, which also provide cardiovascular benefits. However, when patients stop taking these drugs, they not only regain weight, but, according to a new study, they also incur […]

Built to meet the moment (Links to an external site)

digital graphic

In the United States and around the world, public health is under enormous strain. Entire divisions at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been dismantled; the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has been shuttered; science funding through the National Institutes of Health has been slashed and thousands of public health jobs cut.

Krings Published in Annals of Internal Medicine (Links to an external site)

Krings

James Krings, MD, MSCI, Assistant Professor of Medicine, was recently published in Annals of Internal Medicine. The study, “A New Approach to Reliever Therapy in Asthma: Implications of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and U.S. Department of Defense Clinical Practice Guideline”.

Fellows Reddy and Klucher Present Challenging Infectious Disease Cases (Links to an external site)

left to right: Prashanth Reddy, MD, Darcy Wooten, MD, and Justin Klucher, MD

WashU Medicine Infectious Diseases Fellows Prashanth Reddy, MD, and Justin Klucher, MD, recently participated in the semimar “Challenging ID Case Presentation 2026.” Hosted by the Infectious Disease Society of St. Louis (IDSTL), this annual event emphasizes the importance of clinical reasoning through real-world infectious disease cases presented by regional ID fellows. 

GLP-1 medications get at the heart of addiction: study (Links to an external site)

WashU Medicine researchers find in a new study that GLP-1 use is tied to reductions in substance use disorders and serious outcomes across all types of addictive substances.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis show in a new study that GLP-1 medications may be effective at treating and preventing substance use disorders across all major addictive substances studied, suggesting these drugs target a common biological pathway underlying addiction.

$6.4 million supports studies of cardiac muscle function in heart failure (Links to an external site)

WashU Medicine researchers have received two grants from the NIH to study the roles of troponin — a critical protein in the heart — in various forms of heart failure. (Image: Sara Moser/WashU Medicine)

Michael J. Greenberg, PhD, an associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has received two grants totaling almost $6.4 million to investigate the complex roles of troponin — a critical protein in the heart — in various forms of heart failure. In particular, Greenberg’s research will […]

Publication reviews 15 years of DOLF accomplishments and looks toward disease elimination (Links to an external site)

The Death to Onchocerciasis and Lymphatic Filariasis (DOLF) project at Washington University in St. Louis

The Death to Onchocerciasis and Lymphatic Filariasis (DOLF) project at Washington University in St. Louis recently celebrated 15 years of conducting clinical and translational research to test new treat­ments to support the elimination of two major neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), namely lymphatic filariasis (LF) and onchocerciasis (also known as river blindness).