Washington People

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.

Larry J. Shapiro, MD, executive vice chancellor of medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, will step down in December after 12 years at the helm. He reflects on his tenure here and on the dedicated, inspiring students, faculty and staff he has worked with.

Nancy Staudt, JD, PhD, dean of the School of Law and the Howard & Caroline Cayne Professor of Law, talks about her return to Washington University, her collaborative work around campus and her vision for the law school.

Marilyn Siegel, MD, a professor of radiology and of pediatrics, loves solving the puzzles her field presents and the opportunities it has given her. But most of all, she loves helping patients.

Andy Maus was the guy who used to alert undergraduate students via text message they had a package in the mailroom. Now he’s working as clinical research coordinator in the lab of Ravi Vij, MD. Here’s the story of how Maus went from the medical school to the mailroom — and back again.

As a member of the Ferguson Commission, Rose Windmiller traveled across the region to learn more about the issues that divide St. Louis. Next, the commission will find ways to put its ideas into action. “This is where the rubber hits the road,” Windmiller says.

​Leah Merrifield, assistant vice chancellor for community engagement at Washington University in St. Louis, has worked at Olin Business School, in the Office of the Chancellor and in the Office of Government and Community Relations – twice. Her titles have been different, but in her 20 years at the university, her overarching goal has remained the same: to help Washington University be a more diverse and inclusive place.

Catherine Lang’s love of movement drives her life and her work. As director of Washington University School of Medicine’s Neurorehabilitation Research Laboratory, she helps stroke survivors regain what their strokes took from them.

Rohit Pappu, PhD, the Edwin H. Murty Professor of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, has learned from his students as well as his mentors. He can name every researcher he has worked with throughout his career. Pappu studies intrinsically disordered proteins and their role in neurodegenerative disorders such as Huntington’s, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.