Washington People

Scaphocephalus. The word refers to a condition in which the shape of the skull is markedly long and narrow. At the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia, the word is tattooed onto a 19th-century exemplar, neat cursive script fading into aged bone. Over the past several years, Patricia Olynyk, director of the Graduate School of Art, has both detailed and interrogated the Mutter exhibits through a series of large lightbox photographs.

David J. Murray, MD, chose pediatric anesthesia as a way to gain the confidence that  he could manage the very worst that might happen, no matter how bad it got. Now, he uses clinical simulation to help students and residents learn to confront emergencies.

The lab of Jospeh Jez, PhD, associate professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, crystallizes proteins so that people can see what they look like in three dimensions. But getting proteins to crystallize is difficult and involves an element of luck — so one of Jez’s main jobs is to be the lab’s unreasonable optimist.

If Debbie Monolo, assistant dean for academic affairs and registrar at the School of Medicine, stands in Forest Park, she can almost see both of her worlds. To the east lies the School of Medicine, where she has worked for 38 years. And if she looks south, she can see “The Hill,” where she co-owns a boutique and plays an integral role in the vibrant local Italian community.

Ancient clay cuneiform tablets. Books in Greek and Latin owned and marked by Thomas Jefferson. These aren’t items one might expect to see when visiting a typical library. But collecting and preserving these invaluable resources for future generations of scholars is the mission of Washington University Libraries’ Special Collections and of Anne Posega, head of Special Collections for University Libraries since 1999.

James Fleshman, MD, is a highly regarded surgeon known for developing laparoscopic techniques for colorectal surgery. In a landmark clinical trial, his research helped to establish that laparoscopic surgery is as safe and effective as conventional surgery for removing colon tumors.

Lingchei Letty Chen, PhD, associate professor of modern Chinese language and literature in Arts & Sciences, expresses creativity through writing, teaching, organizing international conferences or, most recently, helping launch the university’s new study abroad program at Fudan University in Shanghai as the program’s academic adviser. 

Breast cancer expert Matthew Ellis, MD, PhD, works with the Genome Institute at Washington University to sequence entire breast cancer genomes — the billions of “letters” making up a person’s DNA. The goal is to unlock the mysteries of breast cancer and tailor treatments to individual patients.

Perceptions and identity play a pivotal role in people’s access to and use of health and mental health care. “Helping people to be comfortable with the health-care service environment so that they seek it out when they know that they need those services is key,” says Vetta L. Sanders-Thompson, PhD, associate professor of public health at the Brown School.

Rochelle Smith has a knack for recruiting underrepresented graduate students in the sciences to Washington University. As director of diversity, summer programs and community outreach for the Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, she is known for her magnetic personality that puts students, faculty and staff at ease.