Notables

Now in its 23rd year, the Gerry and Bob Virgil Ethic of Service Award has recognized a new cohort of WashU leaders who are committed to a healthier, safer and stronger region. The awards collectively have honored 160 educators, staff members, students and alumni.

During WashU Medicine’s 2026 Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Week, 22 faculty, staff and students were recognized with Drum Major Awards for embodying King’s work and words.

Chris Stone, director of disability resources at WashU, received the inaugural World of Good Award from his alma mater, Central College in Pella, Iowa. In his role, Stone works to support disabled students in meeting their academic and personal development goals.

Four WashU researchers have been named senior members of the National Academy of Inventors: Rajan Chakrabarty, Vijay Ramani, Christina Stallings and Zhude Tu.

The 2026-28 Carol B. and Jerome T. Loeb Teaching Fellows at WashU Medicine have been named. They are Salim Chahin, MD (left), an associate professor of neurology, and Ram K. Rohatgi, MD, an assistant professor of pediatrics and of radiology.

Alvitta Ottley, a computer science researcher at WashU, was appointed to a United Nations panel on artificial intelligence.

WashU’s St. Louis Fellows Program has received a 2026 Excellence in Civic & Community Engagement Programming Award from Campus Compact, the largest and oldest higher education association dedicated to higher education civic and community engagement. 

Denise M.S. Willers, MD, a clinician renowned for patient-centered care and academic excellence, has been named the new director of the WashU Medicine Division of Academic Specialists in Obstetrics & Gynecology.

She will shape the intellectual agenda of the first new institute at the WashU School of Public Health.

WashU sophomore Courtney Lucas II has been selected by the Institute for Responsible Citizenship for its Washington Program, a selective, two-summer program for talented Black male college students.