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 |  NEW MEDICAL SCHOOL UNIT SET TO TRANSFORM PATIENT CARE: The new Division of Genetics and Genomic Medicine in the Edward Mallinckrodt Department of Pediatrics brings together the separate worlds of patient care and genomic science. Plans for the division map out a model of individualized medical care in which physicians look to a patient's genetic make-up to determine the most effective treatment.
UNIVERSITY RESEARCHER TO HEAD "GRAND CHALLENGE": Researchers at Washington University will be part of the Department of Energy's "grand challenge" project to explore enigmas in microbiology. Himadri Pakrasi, Ph.D., professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, will lead one project, making him the first university scientist to be chosen by the Department of Energy to lead such an endeavor in a National Laboratory.
BEARS NOTCH HIGHEST FINISH EVER: The Washington University Athletic Department finished third in the 2004-05 United States Sports Academy Directors' Cup Division III final standings, as announced by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, United States Sports Academy, and USA Today. The finish is the highest in school history, eclipsing a fifth-place finish in 2002-03.
Research
GENES LINKED TO ALCOHOL SENSITIVITY: Can you blame your genes if you can't handle your liquor? A new study by Washington University School of Medicine researchers may pave the way to finding out. They have found that responses to alcohol – sensitivity to alcohol intoxication, interest in alcohol consumption, and risk of developmental brain damage from alcohol – are partially influenced by two genes.
 THE FATE OF THE NEANDERTALS: Researchers from the Natural History Museum in Vienna, the University of Vienna in Austria, and Washington University recently conducted the first successful dating of the human fossil evidence excavated more than 100 years ago from the Mladec Caves in the Czech Republic. The material has been proven to be the oldest cranial, dental, and postcranial assemblage of early modern humans in Europe and could help shed light on the emergence of modern man and the fate of the Neandertals.
WHEN PUBLIC COMPANIES GO PRIVATE: In the discussion about the plan for private Social Security accounts, one aspect not mentioned frequently is that private accounts would increase the number of investors in the market, which could stem the tide of public companies going private. The relevance of the move toward private ownership is examined in a recent study conducted by Anjan Thakor, Ph.D., the John E. Simon Professor of Finance in the John M. Olin School of Business.
Features
 STUDENT HELPS WITH TSUNAMI RELIEF: As Keren Kinglow, a pre-med student enrolled in University College, watched the images of the terrifying tsunami unfold across the nightly newscasts, she found herself increasingly distraught. Kinglow, an intensive-care unit nurse, joined a team of volunteers and spent three weeks working with children who were orphaned by the tsunami in Sri Lanka.
CONGRATULATIONS! NOW WHAT?: Well, you've graduated from college and unless you're off to graduate school, it's time to get a job. And according to a career expert at Washington University in St. Louis, you'll probably have a much easier time finding a job than students did in the past few years.
BANG! YOU'RE HURT!: Fireworks can be beautiful against the night sky on July 4th, but Bo Kennedy, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics and associate director of the Emergency Department at St. Louis Children's Hospital, says that when it comes to fireworks safety at home, there is no such thing.
Heard on Campus
"In essence, and in sum, a University is a matter of faith and a matter of hope: faith that knowledge is better than ignorance ..... faith that by thought and study, we humans can add to our store of knowledge and wisdom ..... faith that we can pass on that wisdom, which is very hard-earned, to coming generations of bright and able young people ..... hope that, if we do it right, our graduates can build on the success of those of us who have gone before and learn from our mistakes so as not to repeat them .... hope that because of Washington University, each generation can be and will be better off than the last."
—William H. Danforth, Chancellor Emeritus of Washington University.
Kudos
Christopher I. Byrnes, Ph.D., the Edward H. and Florence G. Skinner Professor of Systems Science and Mathematics and dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, has been selected to receive the 2005 W.T. and Idalia Reid Prize. The award, one of the most prestigious in the field of differential equations and control theory, will be presented to Byrnes at the 2005 meeting of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics in New Orleans in mid-July.
The Council of the American Law Institute re-elected Susan Frelich Appleton, J.D., the Lemma Barkeloo and Phoebe Couzins Professor of Law, to a one-year term as secretary. A nationally known expert on family law, she has also served on the Board of Directors of the American Bar Foundation since 2004.
Kenneth M. Ludmerer, M.D., professor of medicine in the School of Medicine and of history in Arts & Sciences, was recently inducted as a Master of the American College of Physicians. Ludmerer was one of only 45 physicians nationwide elected to mastership, the highest level achievable in the organization, at the college's annual meeting in San Francisco.
Liz Swary, a 2005 honors graduate in economics from Cleveland, Ohio, has been named the 2005 ESPN The Magazine College Division Softball Academic All-American of the Year, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Swary is the fourth Bears student-athlete to earn the award.
WUSTL Links
About @ Washington University in St. Louis
This newsletter is prepared by Special Development Communications Projects staff in Alumni and Development Programs. It is intended to provide a brief summary of what is happening at the University. Alumni, parents, and friends of the University for whom we have valid e-mail addresses automatically receive @ Washington University in St. Louis.
Copyright 2005, Washington University in St. Louis
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