Washington People

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.

Mike Dyer, supervisor of the greenhouse on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis, has the job many of us probably wish we had —  but only because we think he spends the day pottering around watering plants. Instead, his job requires everything from the mechanical and engineering skills needed to suppress the greenhouse’s voracious appetite for energy; extensive knowledge of insects; and the ability to grow any plant he is handed under the conditions specified. It’s not exactly relaxing, but he enjoys it that way.

Enola Proctor, PhD, has spent her academic career focused on one central question: How can we ensure the highest quality of care for all individuals in need? Her work is hugely important in speeding the adoption and delivery of critical medical care and in reducing disparities in health care.

Amy Suelzer, PhD, director of Overseas Programs in Arts & Sciences, came to Washington University in St. Louis for graduate studies in 1990, and stayed. Today, she helps guide students through the myriad study abroad programs, hoping they have the life-changing experience she did.

Watching his grandparents struggle at the end of their long lives hasmotivated Chris Carpenter, MD, an associate professor of emergency medicine at Washington University School of Medicine, to work countless hours to improve emergency room care for older adults and to help create a new medical subspecialty — geriatric emergency medicine.