About Washington University School of Medicine

The School of Medicine has a rich, 113-year history of success in research, education and patient care. It pioneered bedside teaching and led in the transformation of empirical knowledge into scientific medicine. From the earliest days, there has been an understanding that “investigation and practice are one in spirit, method and object.”

U.S. News & World Report ranks Washington University School of Medicine one of the top five in the nation and places its students first in terms of academic quality. An outstanding education from Washington University School of Medicine provides graduates with solid opportunities for highly sought-after residencies and fellowships, engaging and challenging research endeavors, and successful, rewarding medical careers.

History
In 1891, responding to a national concern for improving doctors' training, the Washington University administration established a medical department. In 1909, Robert Brookings, a successful businessman turned philanthropist, set about transforming the department into a modern medical school with full-time faculty, adequate endowment, modern laboratories and associated teaching hospitals.

Brookings' dream of modern excellence centered on creating an outstanding faculty for teaching, research and patient care. Among the first four department heads recruited in 1910 was Joseph Erlanger, who went on to win the 1944 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

In 1919, Evarts Graham was appointed the first full-time head of surgery. Fourteen years later, he performed the first successful lung removal. In 1910, George Dock established a tradition of distinguished clinical research in the Department of Medicine. Carl and Gerty Cori arrived at the School of Medicine in 1931 to join the Department of Pharmacology. In 1947, they won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for research on the catalytic conversion of glycogen. Six other Nobelists received training under their auspices.

Women first gained admission to the student body in 1918; today, they make up half of each incoming class. African-American graduates of the medical school now number more than 250. Improved scholarship support for all students, including special fellowships for those entering the Medical Scientist Training Program, is a high priority.

The transmission of excellence from one generation to the next is a hallmark of this school. Dean Robert Moore's 1951 comment remains true today: “An institution is only as great as the individual men and women who compose it.”

Faculty
Outstanding faculty achievements include:

• 18 Nobel laureates have been associated with the School of Medicine.
• 13 faculty members are among the fellows of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences; 23 faculty members belong to its Institute of Medicine.
• 72 faculty members hold individual career development awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
• 47 faculty members hold career development awards from non-federal agencies.
• 19 faculty members have MERIT status, a special recognition given by the National Institutes of Health that provides long-term, uninterrupted financial support to investigators who have demonstrated superior achievement during previous research projects.
• 8 faculty members are Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators.

Washington University Physicians are specialists who are members of the full-time faculty at the School of Medicine. The highly active clinical practice group—one of the largest in the nation—is composed of more than 900 physicians, representing more than 50 specialties and subspecialties in medicine and surgery. Washington University Physicians provide comprehensive medical care at more than 35 clinical office sites throughout the greater St. Louis area.

Support
Grants and contracts totaling more than $468.3 million supported faculty research efforts at the School of Medicine during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2004. Substantial additional support was provided directly to faculty investigators by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. During the same time period, gifts and grants from private sources, including alumni, individuals, foundations, corporations and other organizations totaled $53.2 million from 7,159 entities.

The School of Medicine received $368.4 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health during the federal fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2003, making it the second-largest recipient of NIH dollars among the 121 U.S. medical schools. That money came in 775 separate grants, 691 of which were designated as research grants, with the remainder primarily funding training and education activities.

Research Highlights
The many medical firsts at the School of Medicine include:

• Served as a major contributor on the international team that produced the finished human genome sequence.
• Generated cells that, when injected into the spinal cords of rats, reinsulate nerve axons and improve mobility.
• Developed a genetic test that detects whether an individual will develop a form of thyroid cancer and would benefit from thyroid removal — the first surgical prevention of cancer based on genetic test results.
• Developed a rating scale used worldwide to diagnose Alzheimer's disease.
• Created the first PET scanner, a device that images the brain at work.
• Helped pioneer the use of insulin to treat diabetes.
• Developed a blood test for early diagnosis of prostate cancer.
• Proposed the now-common practice of taking aspirin to help prevent heart attacks.
• Developed a surgery to remove damaged portions of emphysema patients' lungs, dramatically improving function.
• Pioneered research into excitotoxicity and brain injury.
• Developed a cure for hepatitis B in cases diagnosed early.
• Created a surgical cure for atrial fibrillation.
• Performed the world's first nerve transplant using nerve tissue from a cadaver donor.
• Developed a blood test that quickly and safely identifies whether a heart attack patient will require invasive treatment.
• Performed innovative larynx restoration surgery for the first time in the United States.
• Helped pioneer cochlear implant technology.
• Demonstrated that bacteria, not stress, cause ulcers.
• Performed the first surgical lung removal.
• Pioneered the use of surgery and medication to lower eye pressure in glaucoma patients to prevent further vision loss.
• Grew embryonic animal tissue transplants into fully functional kidneys in an animal host.

Ongoing research includes:

• Identifying biologic markers that predict the onset of Alzheimer's disease.
• Studying the effects of alcohol and anesthesia on the developing brain.
• Improving pain management strategies for children.
• Developing and using nanoparticles for molecular imaging and targeted drug delivery for cancer and clogged arteries.
• Pioneering the use of magnets to guide catheters.
• Imaging language areas in adult and pediatric brains during recovery from stroke to observe natural rehabilitation patterns. Developing drug therapies for histoplasmosis and malaria.
• Determining how microorganisms naturally residing in the gut contribute to human health and disease.
• Investigating weight loss approaches including low-carbohydrate diets, liposuction, gastric bypass surgery and extreme caloric restriction.
• Developing and using new imaging tools to study how nervous system cells form connections.
• Determining the mechanism by which antidepressant medications work in the brain.
• Identifying anatomical and genetic markers of schizophrenia.
• Leading efforts to identify the underlying cause of recurrent urinary tract infections.
• Developing treatments to compensate for individual genetic traits that interfere with drug performance.

BioMed 21
To meet the challenge posed by the current revolution in the biomedical sciences, the School of Medicine has devised a bold new strategy called BioMed 21 to support translational research. Three new units — the Center for Genome Sciences, the Division of Clinical Sciences and the Center for Biological Imaging — accessible to faculty on both the Hilltop and medical campuses, will catalyze and support emerging forms of bioresearch and rapidly convert the knowledge of the genetic blueprint into effective, individualized medical treatments. The university has dedicated more than $300 million to the project, including both private support and NIH funding. BioMed 21 is currently supporting construction of the interdisciplinary Center for Genome Sciences; later will come construction of a $150 million building for translational research and an $18 million facility to spur development of mouse models for human diseases. See biomed21.wustl.edu to learn more.

Facilities
The 302,000-square-foot Southwest Tower houses the Charles F. Knight Emergency and Trauma Center on the street level; 28 new operating rooms opened in this facility in January 2005, and a new cardiothoracic intensive care unit will open later in the year. The School of Medicine occupies 75,000 square feet of research space in this building. The Southwest Tower and the 650,000-square-foot Center for Advanced Medicine complete the medical center's $350 million campus integration project, which began in 1996. These capital improvements, with the 11-story McDonnell Pediatric Research Building, have added more than 609,000 square feet to the School of Medicine. Most outpatient, diagnostic and testing services, as well as cancer services, are now located on the north side of the campus, and all high-intensity, complex surgical cases and related care are delivered on its south end.

Currently under construction is the 110,000-square-foot Farrell Learning and Teaching Center at the corner of Scott and Euclid avenues. The six-story building will house all of the medical school's teaching spaces and individual student study areas, as well as two lecture halls and a cafe. It is expected to open in August 2005.

A two-story, 45,000-square-foot Specialized Research Facility is currently under construction on the south side of McKinley Avenue. It is scheduled for completion in May 2005.

In the aggregate, the School of Medicine occupies more than 4.5 million gross square feet. Research and instructional endeavors occupy more than 2.1 million gross square feet.

Hospitals/Affiliates
Barnes-Jewish Hospital, a 1,374-bed facility, is the largest hospital in Missouri. With a premier reputation in patient care, medical education, research and community service, the hospital has been ranked among an elite group of the nation's best academic hospitals on the U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll since 1993. It is the first adult hospital in Missouri to be awarded Magnet status, nursing's highest honor for clinical excellence. Barnes-Jewish Hospital provides clinical experience for medical students in all clinical departments except pediatrics. The medical staff is composed exclusively of Washington University full-time or voluntary School of Medicine faculty physicians.

St. Louis Children's Hospital, also staffed exclusively by Washington University faculty physicians, is ranked in the top 10 nationally by Child magazine. It provides a full range of services for children and their families throughout its 300-mile service area and beyond. The school's pediatric specialty services at Children's Hospital include newborn medicine and the world's largest pediatric lung transplant program.

St. Louis Children's Hospital provides extensive community outreach services, including home care services, pediatric mobile intensive care units, clinical affiliations with regional hospitals and physicians, patient and parent support groups, educational programs for parents and children, and a free parent information phone line and physician referral service staffed by pediatric registered nurses.

Barnes-Jewish Hospital and St. Louis Children's Hospital are members of BJC HealthCare, a regional, nonprofit health care organization that provides community-based and academic health care services through 13 hospitals and more than 100 inpatient and ambulatory care sites throughout Missouri and southern Illinois. BJC, in partnership with its physicians, provides a full continuum of health care services including wellness and health promotion; primary, acute and ambulatory care; skilled nursing; long-term care; home health care and hospice care.

The Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital is an international leader in patient care, cancer research, prevention, education and community outreach. It recently received the National Cancer Institute's highest recognition as a Comprehensive Cancer Center, the only such center in Missouri and within a 240-mile radius of St. Louis. This designation also provides $21 million in NCI funding. Siteman researchers currently hold $130 million in research funding, more than 85 percent of which is from the National Institutes of Health. Siteman offers more than 350 Washington University research scientists and physicians, who provide comprehensive care for nearly 6,000 newly diagnosed and more than 30,000 follow-up patients annually. Siteman was ranked 13th-best in cancer care in U.S. News and World Report's annual hospital rankings for 2004.

Some Washington University faculty physicians provide services at other area hospitals, including Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital, Barnes-Jewish St. Peters Hospital (Siteman Cancer Center), Christian Hospitals Northeast & Northwest (cardiothoracic surgery), Metropolitan St. Louis Psychiatric Center (psychiatry), Missouri Baptist Medical Center (pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, anesthesiology), Veterans Administration Medical Center (comprehensive), and Shriners Hospital for Children (orthopedics, anesthesiology, selected pediatric subspecialties).

Central Institute for the Deaf (CID) Oral School and Outreach Center prepares children with hearing loss to succeed in mainstream educational settings, helping them learn to speak, listen and read without sign language. CID outreach services include mainstream transition assistance and professional workshops. The CID Oral School and Outreach Center is financially independent from but closely affiliated with CID at Washington University School of Medicine, which, by virtue of an agreement finalized in February 2004, operates the clinical, research and academic programs under the auspices of the Washington University Department of Otolaryngology and its Program in Audiology and Communication Sciences.