Page 8 – The Source | Washington University in St. Louis

Coric named Astronaut Scholar

Julia Coric, a rising senior studying chemistry in WashU Arts & Sciences, has been selected as an Astronaut Scholar for the 2026-27 school year. She is among 79 students from 54 universities chosen for the prestigious award.

Obituaries

Helen Davis, longtime WashU campus leader, 95

Helen Davis, who worked for decades as leader of the Campus Y at Washington University in St. Louis, died May 21. She was 95.

Cancer Research

Targeting tumor metabolism to fight cancer

Cancer cells are ravenous eaters. WashU’s Gary Patti is trying to turn their hunger against them.

Advancement

Vij named inaugural Jeffrey S. and Prue H. Gershman Distinguished Professor

Ravi Vij, MD, a national leader in the research and treatment of blood cancers, has been installed as the inaugural Jeffrey S. and Prue H. Gershman Distinguished Professor in the John T. Milliken Department of Medicine at WashU Medicine.

St. Louis Region

WashU Night at the Ballpark tickets on sale

WashU Night at the Ballpark will be Aug. 30, when the Cardinals face the Pittsburgh Pirates. Each ticket will include a hot dog and soda at the game.

Data & Computer Science

Clinical AI that is more honest about what it doesn’t know

AI for Health Institute researchers at WashU developed a framework that helps clinical language models know when to be confident and when to be cautious.

Awards & Notables

WashU Medicine’s Ritchey receives Gloria White Award

Julie Ritchey, research laboratory manager of the lab of John DiPersio, MD, in the John T. Milliken Department of Medicine at WashU Medicine, received the 2026 Gloria W. White Distinguished Service Award. For more than three decades, Richey has worked to advance research on stem cell therapies.

Religion

How Thomas Jefferson’s Quran became test case for religious liberty

Tazeen Ali, an assistant professor of religion and politics at Washington University in St. Louis, says Thomas Jefferson’s Quran confronts us with the question of what the founders themselves knew they couldn’t avoid: Will the promises of 1776 stop at the edge of our own religion, or will they extend to Muslims and beyond?

Medicine

New AI tools could help eye doctors diagnose retinal disease faster

Researchers at WashU Medicine have developed an experimental system that can read and interpret 3D images of the eye’s retina as well as other types of eye scans.

Aging

Engineering enzymes with potential against ALS and Parkinson’s disease

Researchers WashU devised a new high-tech method to generate an enzyme that can break down the misfolded proteins that cause neurodegenerative disease.