Washington University School of Medicine Digital Commons@Becker Outlook Magazine Washington University Publications 2004 Outlook Magazine, Winter 2004 Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/outlook Part of the Medicine and Health Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Outlook Magazine, Winter 2004. Central Administration, Medical Public Affairs. Bernard Becker Medical Library Archives. Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, Missouri. http://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/outlook/152 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Washington University Publications at Digital Commons@Becker. It has been accepted for inclusion in Outlook Magazine by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Becker. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Chess, anyone? Second-year medical students Eugenia Garvin, left, and Louise Yeung examine a bronze work by Arts & Sciences anthropology student Blaine Maley. The piece was among 30 on display at an art show held November 18, 2004, at the Bernard Becker Medical library's King Center. Garvin and Yeung, along with fellow second-year student Yamini Virkud, coordinated the show, which also included poetry readings, photography, painting, drawing, quilting, pottery and calligraphy by Washington University students, faculty and staff. OUTLOOK Volume XLI , Number 4 EDITOR HOLLY EOMISTON CONTACTS Winter 2004 (ISSN 1042-2897) is Phone : 314/286-0100 ART DIRECTOR ERIC YOUNG published quarterly by the Office of FAX: 314/286-0101 Medical Public Affairs, Washington PH oTO GRAPH ER ROBERT BOSTON e-mail: [email protected] University School of Medicine, Campus Periodical postage paid at St. Louis, MO. Box 8508, 4444 Forest Park Ave., CIRCULATION KATHI LAW POSTMASTER. Send address changes to : St. Louis , M0 63108. «=) 2004 EXECUTIVE STEVE KOHLER Circulation, Outlook, Campus Box 8508, DIRECTOR 4444 Forest Park Ave., St . Louis, M0 63108 outlook .wustl.edu I0)[lflli~(ill(ill gHigh. Construction continues, fleshing out the skeleton of the Farrell Learning and Teaching Center. medicine.wustl.edulltc - Farrell learning and Teaching Center Located in the heart of the Washington University Medical Center, at the intersection of Euclid and Scott avenues, the Farrell Learning and Teaching Center will serve as the school 's main venue for medical education. • The first classes are scheduled to be held there in fall 2005. • The latest technology throughout the building means, for example, that every seat in the lecture halls will be wired for personal network access. • New spaces emphasize small group learning. Giving opportunities • Prominent naming opportunities are available throughout the building, starting at $25,000. • Annual Fund support, at any level, will help enable this important addition to medical education. Contact the Office of Medical Alumni and Development at (314) 286-0086. aWashington University in St.lDuis SCHOOL OF MEDICINE UIIOO Washington University School of Medicine VOLUME XLI' NUMBER 4 • WINTER 2004 CDVE R For more than 100 years, the School of Medicine has furthered the world's understanding of science and medicine. Through the Campaign for Washington University, thousands of people have made an investment in the School 's future - and the future of medical education, research and patient care. FEATURES ILLU STRATION BY ERI C YO UNG The Challenge of Change BY GWEN ER I CSON .. ............................................................. , .. H ea lth policy ex pen s from around the coumry recendy convened at the School of M edi cince ro discuss the complex challenges facin g the U .S. health care system. The Way to the Heart BY GILA Z. RECKESS The rapid evolution of imervel1[ional cardiology over the past few decades offers pati el1[s with heart disease a less invasive alternative ro traditional surgery. New Origins for Organs BY MICHAEL PURDY Could the burgeoning fi eld of organogenesis, in which new organs are grown from animal cells, one day trea t human d isease? 3 Heart shrinking Sunrise! BY CANDACE O' CONNOR DEPARTMENTS The School of Medicine played a major role in the success of the Campaign for Washingron Unive rsity, a nea rl y decade-long fund-raising effort that surpassed all goals. Pulse Student Stage Alumni &Development 28 Nurses' Reunion 30 News 32 Class Notes 26 Educational journey Psychiatry researchers cross borders PREVENTING THE GLOBAL SPREAD OF HIV INFECTION by reducing high-risk behaviors in vulner­ ab le popularions, including women and yomh, is rhe aim of several internarional projects being launched by School of Medicine investigarors. Researchers in rhe Depanmem of Psychiatry's Epidemiology and Prevemion Research Group have received new grams and contracts rotaling more than $3.2 million from rhe World AIDS Foundation, the Narional Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the Narionailnstitme of Nursing Research to build upon work begun in 1989. Invesrigators will use the funding for a series of community-based projecrs aimed ar assessing high-risk behavior in particular groups and intervening to reduce rhat risk. Linda B. Cotder, PhD, professor of epidemiology in psychiatry and direcror of the Epidemiology and Prevention Research Group, is principal investigaror of rhe new projects. Locally, the Sisters Teaching Options for Prevemion project (STOP) will provide peer-led interventions ro inner-city women in Sr. Louis who have been arrested for Ciechanover shares Nobel Prize drug offenses. Because many women who use drugs also tend ro engage in orher VISITING PROFESSOR OF PEDIATRICS "We already know how risky behaviors, including Aaron Ciechanover, MD, DSc, who also is Research rhe commission of crimes to stop the spread of Disringuished Professor of Biochemistry at Technion­ ro suppOrt rh eir drug use, Israel Institute ofTechnology, Haifa, Israel, recendy was HIV, and we have pro­ the research team will awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. grams to help people work with the City Drug Ciechanover has been a who abuse alcohol and Coun in Sr. Louis ro railor visiring professor at Washington programs aimed at reduc­ drugs. But repeated University since 1987, spend­ ing these behaviors. ing a portion of each year in the boosters are needed In other pans of the School of Medicine's Department to help people at risk world, Corder's group will of Pediatrics. He is the 23rd adjust their behaviors:' work in India with the Nobel Laureate associated with wives of men who engage LINDA B. COTTLER , PH 0 Washingron Unive rsity. in high-risk substance Ciechanover shares the award abuse and sex behaviors. Aaron Ciechanover,MD, DSc with Avram H ersh ko, MD, PhD, The team also will study the use of club drugs ­ also from Technion-Israel Instirute ofTechnology, and including Ecstas y, ketamine, methamphetamine and Irwin Rose, MD, from the University of California, Irvine. others - among young people in Taiwan. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences honored All of the studies involve community-based programs the three scientists for their work and groundbreaking that specifically target users Out of treatment who may be discovery in rhe late 1980s of a process thar cells milize at risk for HIV, sexually transmirred diseases, drug and ro eliminate unwanted proteins. alcohol dependence and other problems. 2 Pulse Winter 2004 Outlook Morris garners lifetime achievement award for Alzheimer's research, leadership ALZHEIMER'S RESEARCHER John C. Morris, MD, Morris, who also directs the has received one of his fi eld's most presti gio us honors: the universiry-wide Center for Aging, Alzhei mer's Association Lifetime Achievemenr Award . is most recognized for his contribu­ As principal investigaror ofWashing ron Universiry's tions ro Alzheimer's research in the Alzheimer's Disease Research Cemer (ADRC) and th e area of early diagnosis. His team is program project "Healthy Agi ng and Senile Demenria," known for developing and refin­ Morris leads an inrerdisciplinary, investigative team ing the Clinical Demenria Rating compari ng normal aging and m ild Alzheimer's disease. (CDR) system, now th e standard T he ADRC is w idely regarded for its broad spectrum . MO' clinical measure in the diagnosis Jon.h C Moms, of research, including investigations of the molecular bas is and staging of dementia. of the disease, clinical studies of demenria com pared with H e al so has led several landmark studies idenrifYing healthy aging, investigating effects of dementia on drivi ng, the earliest stages of the disease and the pathologic and experimental trials of anti-dementia therapies. presence of Alzheimer's before clinical symptoms arise . CARDIOLOGY Regular exercise helps to decrease size, mass of enlarged hearts xercise may reduce more than waist Exercise also provides benefits that flexibility classes three times per week. size - it also may help to shrink the heart drugs do not, such as lowering For the following five months, they did thickened and enlarged hearts. an individual's risk of developing diabetes. endurance exercises that incorporated brisk Researchers at the School of However, drugs still appear to be the best walking, jogging and/or cycling for 40 to 60 Medicine have found that a moderate exer­ way to significantly lower blood pressure. minutes three times a week. cise regimen is just as effective as a common "Our study confirmed that medica­ As expected based on previous studies, blood preSS l'J re drug in reducing the heart's tions are more effective than exercise the medication was about twice as effective mass and the thickness of the heart wall in in lowering blood pressure," says prin­ in lowering systolic blood pressure. But the elderly individuals with mild to moderately cipal investigator Ali A. Ehsani, M0, a team found that exercise was just as effec­ el'evated blood pressure. Washington University cardiologist at tive in reducing other key health factors. Barnes-Jewish Hospital, "but our main "One of the most dangerous effects objective was to determine the effect of of high blood pressure is its effect on exercise on other important health factors heart mass, " says Ehsani.