Washington People

​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.

Sead Ademovic jokes that no one like the ticket monitor, but he plays an important role on campus. Ademovic is among more than 230 veteran employees who will be recognized May 18 at Staff Day. Staff members are invited to celebrate their colleagues at 10 a.m. at Edison Theatre, enjoy lunch at Bowles Plaza and participate in fun activities ranging from bingo to yoga. 

Regis J. O’Keefe, MD, PhD, is the new head of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. The former captain of the Yale University basketball team takes a collaborative approach to managing the department. O’Keefe, who specializes in musculoskeletal oncology, said his goal is to make those around him better.

In 1976, as a business major at Washington University in St. Louis, Ron Himes began staging theatrical performances. Thirty-eight seasons later, Himes remains founder and producing director for The Black Rep, one of the nation’s largest and most respected African-American theater companies.

Amy French, a junior majoring in economics in Arts & Sciences, is a goalkeeper for the Bears varsity team. She is also an accomplished jazz singer, and keeps busy accompanying Provost Holden Thorp, a jazz pianist in his free time, at events around the country.

Odis Johnson, PhD, joined the Department of Education in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis this semester. Here, he talks about the future of education research and policy, and how education, race and urban policy intersect.

Heather Corcoran, director of the College & Graduate School of Art in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, discusses data visualization, the importance of design to health care and art directing the Portland Trail Blazers.

​William Gillanders, MD, a physician-scientist and avid cyclist, keeps the wheels turning in the race against breast cancer. His career goal is to change treatment paradigms by making breast cancer vaccines a reality for those being treated for the disease.