Category: Alumni

Hilary Reno, MD, PhD, FIDSA, an author of recent STI Treatment Guidelines 2021 also co-authors “A Guide to Taking a Sexual History”

Associate professor of medicine, Dr. Hilary Reno, is a co-author of the recently released Sexually Transmitted Infections Treatment Guidelines, 2021 (cdc.gov). The guidelines provide current evidence-based prevention, diagnostic and treatment recommendations that replace the 2015 guidance. Although the new guidelines emphasize treatment, prevention strategies and diagnostic recommendations are also discussed. CDC’s Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) […]

Andrej Spec, MD, MSCI, FECMM selected to lead the update of the Histoplasma guidelines by the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA)

Andrej Spec, MD

Andrej Spec, MD, MSCI, FECMM has been selected to lead the update of the Histoplasma guidelines by the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA); the first update since 2007. The guidelines haven’t been updated since 2007. Dr Spec was chosen among a large field of candidates based on his research in histoplasmosis. Most recently he […]

Hilary Babcock, MD, MPH and Jennie Kwon, DO, MSCI are co-authors of MMRW early release of reports on COVID-19 Hospitalizations and Vaccine Effectiveness (Links to an external site)

Real-world evaluations have demonstrated high effectiveness of vaccines against COVID-19–associated hospitalizations (1–4) measured shortly after vaccination; longer follow-up is needed to assess durability of protection. In an evaluation at 21 hospitals in 18 states, the duration of mRNA vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna) effectiveness (VE) against COVID-19–associated hospitalizations was assessed among adults aged ≥18 years. Among […]

Beating the clock on ticks and tick-borne illnesses – infectious disease clinic medical director Thomas Bailey, MD, explains

Weather conditions this summer are resulting in a very active tick season, especially in the Midwest. And where there are ticks, the diseases they carry are not far behind – ehrlichiosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tularemia, Heartland virus, and Bourbon virus. Washington University physician and infectious disease clinic medical director Thomas Bailey, MD, explains, “While many […]

ID Fellows create video to show prospective fellow candidates what fellowship is like at WashU

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis is prepared to conduct virtual interviews of potential candidates to join our ID fellowship program. Since candidates are not visiting onsite, our fellows decided to create a video that shows canididates around the medical campus while they share what it is like to […]

Rachel Presti, MD, PhD uses ICTS resources for COVID-19 research and clinical trial efforts

The CTSA program was developed to accelerate new treatments from the lab to patients, enabled to a large extent by patients participating in and benefiting from clinical trials. Clinical trials provide that needed bridge from human subjects to hypotheses to treatments that can directly benefit human health. And, never has this connection been more critical […]

Jeff Henderson, MD, PhD lead author of study that shows blood cancer patients with COVID-19 fare better with convalescent plasma (Links to an external site)

Retrospective study also indicates outcomes of critically ill patients in ICU improve when given antibodies from recovered COVID-19 patients A large, retrospective, multicenter study involving Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis indicates that convalescent plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients can dramatically improve likelihood of survival among blood cancer patients hospitalized with the virus.

Congratulations to our class of 2021 graduating fellows!

Program Directors and Graduates 2021 (l-r) Dr. Nigar Kirmani, program director, Drs. Patrick Mazi, Joseph Cherabie, Miguel Chavez, Nathan Nolan, Sasinuch Rutjanawech, and Gerome Escota, MD, program co-director.

We are so proud of this graduating class of fellows. Their achievements are many and mentioned below in a brief synopsis of each fellow. Miguel Chavez, MD, MSc is the recipient of the 2021 SHEA Jonathan Freeman Scholarship Award, has published 2 peer reviewed articles, and presented 3 posters (healthcare epidemiology, microbiology, fungal infection and […]

Mild COVID-19 induces lasting antibody protection (Links to an external site)

Months after recovering from mild cases of COVID-19, people still have immune cells in their body pumping out antibodies against the virus that causes COVID-19, according to a study from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Such cells could persist for a lifetime, churning out antibodies all the while.

Podcast: What to make of CDC’s new masking guidelines

The latest episode of the “Show Me the Science” podcast focuses on the CDC’s new masking guidelines. Guest William G. Powderly, MD, the Larry J. Shapiro Director of the Institute for Public Health and co-director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at WashU Med, says the new guidelines provide evidence that, for many fully vaccinated […]

Washington University Clinical Trials Unit to participate in the first polyclonal antibody for treatment of COVID-19

ACTG Adds First Polyclonal Antibody to ACTIV-2 Outpatient Treatment Study for COVID-19 The AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG), the largest global HIV research   network, today announced the addition SAB-185, a polyclonal antibody therapy, to the COVID-19 outpatient treatment study, ACTIV-2 Outpatient Monoclonal Antibodies and Other Therapies Trial. ACTIV-2 includes both phase 2 and phase 3 […]

DOLF project shares several recent publications from clinical trials and community studies of alternative treatments for lymphatic filariasis. All with open access.

The DOLF project is pleased to share several recent publications from clinical trials and community studies of alternative treatments for lymphatic filariasis. All of these have been published with open access. The first two articles (by Campillo et al and Ouattara et al) provide further strong evidence in support of the WHO recommendation to use […]

Kwon named committee vice chair of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) Research Committee.

Robert J. Boston photograph Jennie Kwon named National Academy of Medicine fellow. HORIZONTAL environmental portrait. IF IN LAB, with PPE. BUT WE DEFINITELY ALSO NEED PHOTOS OF HER WITHOUT GOGGLES (so you will need to take some photos out of lab). We will need headshots of her to announce the honor — but we also would like other options as well.

SHEA is the foremost professional organization promoting health-care epidemiology and infection prevention. As vice chair, Jennie Kwon, DO, MSCI, assistant professor of medicine, will help identify research priorities in health-care epidemiology, encourage new research initiatives in the field, foster research on the prevention and control of health care-associated infections and antibiotic resistance, promote communication and […]

Rachel Presti, MD, PhD, urges public to take first vaccine available.

Rachel Presti, MD, PhD, an infectious disease physician who led WashU Med’s participation in the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen COVID-19 vaccine trial, encourages the public to take the first vaccine available to them. Presti’s team conducted their clinical trial for several months — as the St. Louis area saw massive spikes in COVID-19 cases — and […]

FDA review confirms safety, efficacy of Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccine; under leadership of Rachel Presti, MD, PhD WashU IDCRU was a trial site

The FDA has confirmed a third vaccine is effective and safe in protecting against COVID-19. The vaccine, manufactured by Johnson & Johnson, is overall 67% effective beginning 14 days after vaccination, 77% effective against severe illness and completely effective against death from COVID-19. Efficacy increased over time and was demonstrated against more infectious variants seen in […]