Notables

As part of her travel to universities across the country, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon visited WashU Sept. 16.

Sara Malone and Lindsay Stark, both of WashU Bursky Public Health, become inaugural faculty scholars of the Ryan Institute for Interdisciplinary Health Solutions.Their projects will examine housing as a health intervention and improve transitions from pediatric to adult care for children with chronic illnesses.

David M. Holtzman, MD, of WashU Medicine, was recognized by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke for impactful mentorship of future scientists.

WashU Medicine researcher Makedonka Mitreva was honored with the Ward Medal from the American Society of Parasitologists for her use of genetics and genomics to understand parasitic worms.

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.

Four students will serve as delegates to the WashU Board of Trustees for the 2026-27 academic year. Student delegates serve as non-voting participants in board meetings for a one-year term, providing a student perspective. 

Six WashU Medicine nurses were recognized with 2026 Excellence in Nursing awards from St. Louis Magazine, and an additional 12 were selected as finalists.

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.”

Naomi Kim-Yu, a doctoral candidate in English and a Lynne Cooper Harvey Fellow in American culture studies, both in WashU Arts & Sciences, has won a Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship.

Vincent Mellnick, MD, has been named senior vice chair and division director of academic practice and Malak Itani, MD, has been named section chief of abdominal imaging. Both are faculty members in WashU Medicine Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology.