Category: Division Announcements

Nathan Nolan, MD, and colleagues will present workshop at AAIMW22

Dr. Nathan Nolan, instructor in medicine, division of infectious diseases, along with Frank O’Brien, MBBCh, MRCPI, assistant professor of medicine, division of nephrology and Lisa Zickuhr, MD, assistant professor of medicine, division of rheumatology, submitted a workshop proposal for the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine Week 2022 (AIMW22). Their submission,  “Interprofessional, Multidisciplinary Case Conferences: A Novel Approach […]

Welcome Dr. Nicolo Cabrera to Infectious Diseases Division

Nicolo Cabrera, MD

Nicolo Cabrera, MD, joined the Infectious Diseases Division following completion as a PGY-7 Immunocompromised Host/Transplant Infectious Disease fellow at the Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. He was born and raised in the Philippines where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, magna cum laude, at […]

The Infectious Diseases Division Celebrates Women in Medicine

Each September, the AMA Women Physicians Section (WPS) honors physicians who have offered their time, wisdom and support to advance women with careers in medicine. The ID Division recognizes all the women physicians, researchers, residents, fellows and medical students working to make health care more equitable. We celebrate these trailblazers during Women in Medicine month. […]

Julia López, PhD, MPH, LCSW is panelist at the Missouri History Museum on September 15, during National Hispanic Heritage Month

This event is in person at the Missouri History Museum but can also be accessed virtually. Join a panel discussion at the Missouri History Museum on the first day of National Hispanic Heritage Month. Panelists will hold an open dialogue with the audience about their personal identities, cultural perspectives, and how they’re building social spaces […]

COVID-19 vaccine elicits antibodies in 90% taking immunosuppressants (Links to an external site)

However, people treated for autoimmune conditions produce weaker responses than healthy people COVID-19 vaccination elicited antibody responses in nearly nine out of 10 people with weakened immune systems, although their responses were only about one-third as strong as those mounted by healthy people, according to a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine […]

Bernard Camins, MD, MSCR, former faculty member, participates in the coin toss for the men’s singles match on Pride Day at the 2021 US Open

Rainbow flags flew proudly at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 1 as the USTA celebrated and welcomed the LGBTQ+ community to the first-ever Open Pride Day during the main draw of the 2021 US Open. It’s been an exciting start of the #USOpen for Dr. Bernard Camins, an infectious diseases specialist […]

Antibodies block specific viruses that cause arthritis, brain infections – Could form basis of universal therapy, vaccines for alphaviruses (Links to an external site)

Alphaviruses — mosquito-borne viruses that can trigger brain infections and arthritis — may have met their match. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified two antibodies that protect animals from disease caused by alphaviruses. The antibodies worked for every alphavirus tested, meaning they potentially could form the basis of treatments […]

Elvin Geng, MD, PhD, professor of medicine, uses epidemiologic model that indicates early COVID-19 shutdowns helped St. Louis area avoid thousands of deaths (Links to an external site)

Delays in implementing public health orders likely would have resulted in many more hospitalizations, deaths. In March 2020, not long after the first cases of COVID-19 were reported locally, health officials in the city of St. Louis and St. Louis County issued emergency public health orders intended to reduce interactions between people and slow the […]

Podcast: Vaccines and COVID-19 infection generate protective antibodies, even against delta

This episode of ‘Show Me the Science’ focuses on the work of scientist Ali Ellebedy, who has published several papers about the immune response to vaccines and COVID-19 infection. Ali Ellebedy, PhD, a researcher at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has found that patients with COVID-19 infections and others who have been […]

Antibody protects against broad range of COVID-19 virus variants – Targets key part of virus’s spike protein that changes little across variants (Links to an external site)

The virus that causes COVID-19 today is not the same as the one that first sickened people way back in December 2019. Many of the variants circulating now are partially resistant to some of the antibody-based therapeutics that were developed based on the original virus. As the pandemic continues, more variants inevitably will arise, and […]

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 […]

Congrats to Dr. Robyn Klein, who has received an $8.7M grant to investigate why some emerging viral infections can trigger memory problems that last long after the virus is gone from the body. (Links to an external site)

More than half of the survivors of West Nile virus brain infections are left with memory disorders that make everyday tasks such as remembering the route from home to work challenging. Similar issues can arise in the aftermath of other viral infections, such as the “brain fog” that plagues some people after a diagnosis of […]

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 […]

Antibodies elicited by COVID-19 vaccination effective against delta variant – Jacco Boon, PhD and Ali Ellebedy co-senior authors (Links to an external site)

Despite causing a surge in infections this summer that has resulted in thousands of hospitalizations and deaths, the delta variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 is not particularly good at evading the antibodies generated by vaccination, according to a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

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 […]