Campus & Community

Saria Bechara, a doctoral student in social work at the WashU Brown School, has been named a 2026 Excellence, Equity and Inclusion Fellow by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.

Mark R. Rank, WashU’s Herbert S. Hadley Professor of Social Welfare, is a winner of the NYC Big Book Award in the sociology category for his book “The Random Factor: How Chance and Luck Profoundly Shape Our Lives and the World Around Us.”

Pamela Barmash, interim chair of Jewish, Islamic and Middle Eastern studies in WashU Arts & Sciences, has been elected president of the National Association of Professors of Hebrew.

Angela Coonce, chief of the WashU Police Department, will be inducted as an inaugural member of the new Harris-Stowe State University Athletic Hall of Fame. She was selected for excellence and leadership on and off the basketball court at her alma mater.

Thomas Ciesielski, MD, an associate professor in the John T. Milliken Department of Medicine at WashU Medicine, has been named the 2026–27 Presidential Fellow in Healthcare Safety and Quality by Joint Commission, a national accrediting organization.

A movie trailer, local TV spot and documentaries produced by WashU Medicine Marketing & Communications recently won medals in the Telly awards, an international contest honoring excellence in TV and video production.

Four members of the WashU community have been selected for Focus St. Louis’ fall 2026 Emerging Leaders cohort.

Gregory Zipfel, MD, head of the Taylor Family Department of Neurosurgery at WashU Medicine, has been elected president of the Society of Neurological Surgeons. His election continues a tradition of WashU Medicine leadership of the society dating back to 1920.

Marilyn and Gary Ratkin are the recipients of the 2026 Jane and Whitney Harris St. Louis Community Service Award. The award recognizes couples who contribute to the culture and welfare of the greater St. Louis community in an outstanding manner.

Timothy J. Ley, MD, a professor of medicine and of genetics at WashU Medicine, led the team that sequenced the first cancer genome. The American Philosophical Society is the nation’s oldest learned society, founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1743.