Class Notes

Rebecca S. Silverman, LA07, earned a master of public health degree from the University of Illinois Chicago in May 2021.

Daniel Mamah, GM07, was tapped for the Dr. John M. Anderson Excellence in Mental Health Award by the St. Louis American Foundation/St. Louis Children’s Service Fund for his significant contributions in the field of behavioral health. He is the founder and director of the Washington Early Recognition Center at the School of Medicine, which identifies and treats young people in the early course of their illness. There is no charge for the clinic’s services.

Rebecca Lester, SW07, earned a 2021 Eileen Basker Memorial Prize Honorable Mention from the Society for Medical Anthropology for Famished: Eating Disorders and Failed Care in America (University of California Press, November 2021). Lester is a professor of sociocultural anthropology at WashU.

Anne Wynter, LA06, has written two more books for children: Hands On! and One Big Day (Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins, January 2022). Both are board books illustrated by Alea Marley.

Alona (Banai) Fisher, LA06, and Tim Fisher, LA06, met serendipitously in Chicago 12 years after graduating from WashU. The two married in 2019 and welcomed a son, Miles Aubrey Fisher, in July 2020. The family, along with their Corgi, Dennis, resides happily in Seattle, where Tim works in transfer pricing at Amazon and Alona cares for Miles and works on contract with the Chicago Area Runners Association and Sustainable Ballard.

Keith Beutler, GR05, a history professor at Missouri Baptist University, penned George Washington’s Hair: How Early Americans Remembered the Founders (University of Virginia Press, November 2021). The book follows 19th-century antiquarians, free Blacks, educators and evangelicals as they tried to hold on to the founding era while making sense of their own.

K. Alex Smith, LA04, has served as medical director at LifeServe Blood Center since 2015. When not spending time with his family, he enjoys community service and advocacy. Elected to the Waukee School District board in 2019, Smith also holds several positions with the Iowa Association of School Boards and serves on the National Alliance on Mental Illness Iowa Advocacy Committee.

Craig Pirner, LA04, joined Crate & Barrel as the leader of talent and organizational development. Previously, he spent 16 years with Advisory Board, a health-care research and consulting firm. Pirner continues to live in Chicago with his partner, Mark.

Merissa Nathan Gerson, LA04, authored Forget Prayers, Bring Cake: A Single Woman’s Guide to Grieving (Mandala Publishing, August 2021). The memoir — of loss, love, New Orleans and life — doubles as a guide for those in the process of grieving. Gerson shares that her book contains the guidance and grief medicine that she wished she’d had after the 2019 death of her father.

Robyn (Jimenez) Popa, GA03, was promoted from senior project manager overseeing projects for school districts to managing principal at Pfluger Architects’ San Antonio office. She has been with the firm since 2006, when she launched her career as an architect.