Recent News

October 20, 2003 Aphasia Confused With Alzheimer’s CHICAGO— Alzheimer’s disease is the single most common cause of dementia, a chronically progressive brain condition that impairs intellect and behavior to the point where customary activities of daily living become compromised. More than 4 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease. Its high prevalence may lead people to believe[…]

October 1, 2003 Contact: Megan Fellman at (847) 491-3115 or atfellman@northwestern.edu Research May Aid Cancer Diagnosis EVANSTON, ILL.— Scientists at Northwestern University have developed an ultra-sensitive technology based on gold nanoparticles and DNA that can detect prostate specific antigen (PSA) when present at extremely low levels in a blood sample. This promising new protein-detection method[…]

October 7, 2003 Drug May Block Crohn’s Inflammation CHICAGO— An investigational drug under study by Alan L. Buchman, MD, associate professor of medicine at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine, may block the intense abdominal pain, diarrhea, bleeding, and other symptoms of Crohn’s disease, a condition of unknown cause that affects up to 1 million Americans.[…]

October 3, 2003 No Link Between Fat, Stroke Risk CHICAGO— Unlike its scientifically established relationship to heart disease, dietary fat does not seem to be associated with risk for stroke, according to an article in the October 4 issue of the British Medical Journal. Ka He, MD, instructor in preventive medicine at the Feinberg School,[…]

NU Named Udall Center of Excellence for Parkinson’s Research With a $5.5 million award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Northwestern has become the first Morris K. Udall Center of Excellence for Parkinson’s Disease Research in the Midwest. Directed by D. James Surmeier, PhD, Nathan Smith Davis Professor and chair of physiology at the[…]

Poster Session Highlights Medical Student Research From signal transduction and malignant transformation of cells to functional magnetic resonance imaging of the heart and patient-physician communication in the hospice setting, Northwestern medical students made the most of research opportunities available through the Medical Student Summer Research Program. On October 30, 42 Feinberg School students presented their[…]

Medical Student Research Day Slated Last summer 44 medical students participated in research projects that took them into laboratories, operating rooms, and clinics with Feinberg School of Medicine faculty preceptors. On October 30, 42 students will display the results of their work at a poster session in the Method Atrium. From 4–6 p.m., the student[…]

Residents Practice Life-Saving Skills on “Cosmo” “Code Blue!” Most people have heard the term countless times on television dramas about hospitals and doctors, usually indicating a patient has gone into cardiac arrest. Because internal medicine residents are the first to respond to cardiac arrests at Northwestern-affiliated hospitals, Diane B. Wayne, MD, assistant professor of medicine[…]

In Memoriam (Lucita “Lucy” Rita) Lucida “Lucy” Rita, MD, GME ’64, associate professor emeritus of anesthesiology, died September 30 of subdural hematoma; she was 79. Born in Manilla, she completed her medical education at the University of the Philippines and obstetrics and gynecology residencies at St. Francis Hospital in Honolulu and Franklin Square Hospital in[…]

Volunteers Needed for Clinical Trials Do you want to improve your health and at the same time aid medical progress? Consider participating in a clinical trial at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine or one of its affiliated teaching hospitals in the McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University. Clinical trials are carefully constructed research studies[…]

September 18, 2003 Beta Blockers Effective Against Malaria Parasites CHICAGO— Hormones that regulate cardiovascular function have been discovered to influence malaria infection. As a consequence, beta-blockers, which are safe, inexpensive, and commonly prescribed drugs used worldwide to treat high blood pressure, are effective against the deadliest and most drug-resistant strain of malaria parasites. These findings,[…]

In Memoriam (Theodor Braun) Theodor Braun, MD, PhD, professor emeritus of physiology, died August 28. He was 76. A resident of Skokie, Illinois, Dr. Braun was born in Uzhorod, Czechoslovakia, and earned his MD degree in 1951 and CSc degree (equivalent to an American PhD) in physiology in 1964 at the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences[…]

September 8, 2003 Contact: Megan Fellman at (847) 491-3115 or atfellman@northwestern.edu Findings May Lead to Design of New Drugs EVANSTON, ILL.— Scientists at Northwestern University have acquired new insight into how a specialized sensor protein that acts as an early warning system detects dangerous amounts of the “coinage metals”—silver, gold, and copper—inside cells. For the[…]

Medical Faculty Members Honored for Teaching This year’s Founders’ Day Convocation on August 29 offered the essential ingredients for an official opening of an academic year: a hearty welcome for the Class of 2007; words of wisdom by J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD, Irving S. Cutter Professor and chair of medicine; and recognition of the[…]

Recruitment Publication Wins AAMC Award Highly regarded by premed students and advisers, the Feinberg School’s primary recruitment publication for the MD degree program will receive national recognition on November 8, when it will receive an Award of Distinction from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) at the group’s annual meeting in Washington. Published in[…]

Feinberg School Welcomes MD Class of 2007 This week the Feinberg School welcomes the 170 medical students of the Class of 2007. Orientation Week is filled with introductory sessions about the school, professionalism in medicine, and the curriculum as well as myriad social events. These include tours of Chicago, visits to its renowned museums, and[…]

August 12, 2003 Genetic Risks Missing from Patient Charts CHICAGO— Standard history-taking in internal medicine practices may not fully capture patients’ risks for developing certain diseases, and internists may lose opportunities to provide preventive medical recommendations, according to a study from the Feinberg School of Medicine. Researchers on the study included Theresa M. Frezzo, MS,[…]

August 19, 2003 Contact: Megan Fellman at (847) 491-3115 or atfellman@northwestern.edu Protein May Be Factor in Alzheimer’s Disease EVANSTON— Researchers at Northwestern University have discovered for the first time in humans the presence of a toxic protein they believe to be responsible for the devastating memory loss found in individuals suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. An[…]

August 22, 2003 Risk Factor Almost Always Present in Most Heart Attacks CHICAGO— Results of a large-scale study from the Feinberg School of Medicine dispute claims that, at least half the time, fatal and nonfatal heart attacks occur in individuals who had shown no previous evidence of at least one coronary heart disease (CHD) risk[…]