Washington People

Christine Berg loves a good conversation. And that’s beneficial for Washington University School of Medicine’s Program in Occupational Therapy, since Berg has talked her way into partnerships with more than 100 St. Louis social service agencies.

Edem and Pam Dzunu founded the nonprofit Baobab People to help bring together people from different backgrounds to learn about one another and to dispel misconceptions. Both work with English Language Programs in the Office for International Students and Scholars.

Gastroenterologist C. Prakash Gyawali, MD, uses complex tools to learn what’s behind patients’ symptoms and treat them more effectively.

In the years leading up to the unprecedented media coverage of transgender issues, Vanessa Fabbre, assistant professor at the Brown School, began researching the intersection of aging and gender transitions. The decisions people make about transition, Fabbre says, are a window into broader social forces: racism, sexism, classism and more.

They look like futuristic eyewear. But the goggles developed by Samuel Achilefu, PhD, and his team at the School of Medicine have a much greater purpose: They help surgeons see and remove cancer. Achilefu discusses his journey from childhood to the development of the goggles, to what he hopes is yet to come.

During her long career, Alfreda Brown has had many jobs and titles but only one goal — to help others realize their potential. As the longtime director of the Career Center, she helped students discover employment paths ​that matched their passions. Today, as a human resources consultant, she helps university staff members build their careers.​

For Kathy Grange, MD, every day is a professional adventure, solving medical mysteries and pursuing diagnoses of rare diseases. A professor of pediatrics, Grange is director of the Division of Genetics and Genomic Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics.

Rod Barnett, professor and chair of the Master of Landscape Architecture in the Sam Fox School’s Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design at Washington University in St. Louis, discusses St. Louis, emergence theory and the role of the landscape architect today.

Angela L. Brown, MD, associate professor of medicine, leads the Hypertension Clinic at Washington University School of Medicine. Brown has devoted her career to helping patients control their hypertension and to training medical professionals in how to care for such patients.

In this Q&A, Mellon Mays Fellow Kisha Bwenge discusses the dangers of commodifying identity and the impact of cultural tourism on Maasai and Hadzabe communities in northern Tanzania.