Siteman Cancer Center

Timothy J. Eberlein, MD, head of the Department of Surgery and director of the Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine, has been elected to the top leadership post in the American Surgical Association. He is president-elect for the 2010-11 year and will serve as president in 2011-12. 

Girls and young women who drink alcohol increase their risk of benign (noncancerous) breast disease, says a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Harvard University. Benign breast disease increases the risk for developing breast cancer. 

The National Cancer Institute has awarded Siteman Cancer Center and Washington University School of Medicine a prestigious Specialized Program of Research Excellence grant in endometrial cancer. 

When estrogen-lowering drugs no longer control metastatic breast cancer, the opposite strategy might work. Raising estrogen levels benefited 30 percent of women whose metastatic breast cancer no longer responded to standard anti-estrogen treatment, according to research conducted at the School of Medicine and collaborating institutions.

Photo by David KilperRuth Siteman displays the Harris award as Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton, Ann Liberman and Alvin Siteman look on.Whitney Harris and his late wife, Jane, established the award to reward couples who care deeply about improving the quality of life in the region.

Tiles painted by cancer patients and their familiesPatients undergoing treatment at the Siteman Cancer Center have a new option to pass the time. They can get creative and paint ceramic tiles for a display in the treatment area. Arts as Healing, a program facilitated by the School of Medicine’s Medical Photography, Illustration and Computer Graphics (MedPIC) department, is currently working on “Your Square Matters,” which allows patients and their families to paint a 4-inch square ceramic tile.

Tiles painted by cancer patients and their familiesPatients undergoing treatment at the Siteman Cancer Center have a new option to pass the time. They can get creative and paint ceramic tiles for a display in the treatment area. Arts as Healing, a program facilitated by the School of Medicine’s Medical Photography, Illustration and Computer Graphics (MedPIC) department, is currently working on “Your Square Matters,” which allows patients and their families to paint a 4-inch square ceramic tile. Already, more than 400 tiles have been completed and are on display in Siteman’s infusion center.

WUSTL and BJC will provide new help for smokers who want to quit.People seeking help to quit smoking have many options, from support groups to nicotine replacement to prescription drugs designed to lessen the urge to light up. Now Washington University researchers and BJC HealthCare are testing another one: telephone counseling.

Bob BostonResearchers prepare for a leukemia clinical trialA new state-of-the-art research facility dedicated to helping produce modified cells for treatment of cancer and other diseases recently opened at the Siteman Cancer Center. The Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) center is a haven of high-tech environmental control, comparable in some respects to the International Space Station, according to GMP Laboratory Director Gerhard Bauer.