Recent News

June 7, 2004 Contact: Megan Fellman at (847) 491-3115 or atfellman@northwestern.edu Nano Diagnostic Method Could Rival PCR EVANSTON— Since the advent of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) nearly 20 years ago, scientists have been trying to overturn this method for analyzing DNA with something better. The “holy grail” in this quest is a simple method[…]

Opera Buff Shares Passion with Students “Culture” for medical students doesn’t have to take place just in the laboratory. Thanks to the Feinberg School of Medicine’s participation in Lyric Opera of Chicago’s College Opera Circle, students are learning that their arts education isn’t over even when the “clinically obese” woman sings. A record number of[…]

June 10, 2004 Regulatable Gene Therapy May Advance Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease CHICAGO— Northwestern University neuroscientists have overcome a major obstacle in gene therapy research. They’ve devised a method that will safely deliver and regulate expression of therapeutic genes introduced into the central nervous system to treat Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. The method,[…]

Feinberg School Leads NU in Research Funding With $168.2 million in research funding in 2003, the Feinberg School of Medicine surpassed all other academic units in drawing research dollars to Northwestern. The medical school’s award total constitutes 51 percent of all research funding to the University, which totaled $328.1 million. Funding from research awards granted[…]

Chicago VA Renamed to Honor Former Secretary The VA affiliate in the McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University has undergone a name change. On May 25, 2004, the VA Chicago Health Care System was renamed the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center. The late Jesse Brown served as executive director of American Disabled Veterans before being[…]

Orthopaedics Faculty Member to Join NASA’s Newest Astronaut Class Robert L. Satcher, MD, PhD, assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery at the Feinberg School of Medicine, describes himself as part scientist, part explorer, and part humanitarian. As a member of NASA’s newest class of astronaut candidates, the 38-year-old says he can now fulfill all three ambitions[…]

Cancer Walk Draws 4,000 Survivors, Friends Approximately 4,000 cancer survivors, family members, and friends participated in the 11th annual Cancer Survivors’ Walk and Celebration on June 6. Organized by the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, the five-mile lakefront walk, which began at Grant Park in downtown Chicago, included 1,000 cancer survivors[…]

May 19, 2004 Mechanism Found That May Protect Kidneys in Early Stages of Diabetes CHICAGO— A group of Northwestern University researchers has identified what they believe is a built-in biological mechanism that prevents kidney damage in the early stages of diabetes associated with obesity. Their study was led by Daniel C. Batlle, MD, Earle, del[…]

Job Fair Slated for May 26 The Feinberg School of Medicine hopes to repeat the success of last year’s job fair, which brought more than 1,800 resumes for 107 positions, with the fourth annual “open house recruitment event” on May 26 from 3–6 p.m. in the Method Atrium of the Chicago campus, 300 East Superior[…]

May 3, 2004 $11 Million Grant Funds Lung Injury Research CHICAGO— Northwestern University has received an $11 million Program Project Grant (PPG) from the National Institutes of Health to define the mechanisms that cause changes in the alveolar epithelium during lung injury. Jacob I. Sznajder, MD, Dr. Roy Patterson Professor of Medicine and chief of[…]

Diverse Paths Highlighted for New Graduates Speaking to a crowd of more than 2,000 people at Northwestern’s 146th medical school Graduation Convocation, a newly degreed Suneel M. Udani, MD, of Naperville, Illinois, grinned broadly on the stage of Navy Pier’s Grand Ballroom, and said, “Congratulations to my fellow classmates, their families, and friends.” He paused,[…]

May 12, 2004 People More at Risk If Parents Had Heart Attack or Stroke CHICAGO— A study published in the May 12 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association provides the strongest evidence yet that cardiovascular disease in parents—particularly at an early age—is a major predictor of their children having a heart attack[…]

May 3, 2004 Contact: Pat Vaughan Tremmel at 847/491-4892 or atp-tremmel@northwestern.edu Warden to Talk About DNA Revolution CHICAGO— Rob Warden, executive director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law, will speak May 12 and 13 about “DNA and Justice” in the Center for Genetic Medicine’s Silverstein lecture series. Warden will[…]

April 26, 2004 Medical Alumni Honored During Reunion Weekend At the Reunion Ball on April 24, the closing event of the Feinberg School of Medicine’s annual Alumni Weekend, pediatric endocrinologist Ora Hirsch Pescovitz, MD (shown here with Dean Lewis Landsberg, MD), received this year’s Distinguished Alumni Award. She credited Northwestern for instilling in her a[…]

  In this year’s U.S. News & World Report rankings of research-oriented medical schools, Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine has moved up one place from last year, from 21st to 20th, tying with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The criteria for ranking research-oriented schools are research funding (30 percent), student selectivity[…]

April 9, 2004 ENH Center Studies Genetics of Schizophrenia Evanston Northwestern Healthcare, a member of the McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University, has established a new Center for Genetics in Psychiatry, headed by Pablo V. Gejman, MD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Gejman holds one of the[…]

April 12, 2004 Accepted Students Take a “Second Look” at the School Approximately 150 prospective students accepted to the Feinberg School’s incoming Class of 2008 will take a second look at the school as part of “Second Look Weekend.” The annual revisit weekend for accepted students begins with a welcome reception on Thursday evening, April[…]

April 8, 2004 Broadcast Media: Tamara Kerrill Field at (847) 491-4888 or attlk@northwestern.edu Stem Cells Used in Bone Marrow Research CHICAGO— Researchers at Northwestern University have devised a method to induce embryonic stem cells to develop into bone marrow and blood cells. Injecting the stem cells into the bone marrow cavity of mice whose bone[…]

April 8, 2004 Trauma Highly Prevalent Among Delinquents CHICAGO— Almost every boy and girl currently detained in a juvenile facility in the United States has experienced at least one major trauma, and a large proportion of these children have post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a study in the April issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.[…]