School of Medicine

Philip E. Cryer, MD, a professor emeritus and former longtime director of the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism & Lipid Research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, died Feb. 24, 2024, at a hospital in St. Louis following a heart attack. He was 84.

Celina Jacobi, MD, an instructor in child psychiatry, and Lisa Zickuhr, MD, an assistant professor of medicine, have been named the 2024-26 Carol B. and Jerome T. Loeb Teaching Fellows at the School of Medicine.

Hong Chen and Jonathan Silva, both faculty members in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, have been named senior members of the National Academy of Inventors. They will be inducted in June.

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that brain waves help flush waste out of the brain during sleep. The findings could lead to new approaches for treating Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological conditions.

Renée Shellhaas, MD, the David T. Blasingame Professor of Neurology at the School of Medicine, has been elected to the American Epilepsy Society board of directors.

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis is one of seven U.S. institutions joining a new national clinical trials network launched by the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to investigate emerging technologies for cancer screening, with the goal of reducing cancer-related illnesses and deaths.

Justin B. Serugo, a senior research technician in the Department of Pathology & Immunology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, died Feb. 6, 2024, in St. Louis following a battle with liver cancer. He was 44.

Neurologist Yo-El Ju, MD, a physician-scientist whose discoveries have illuminated the complex relationship between sleep and neurodegenerative disease, has been named an inaugural Barbara Burton and Reuben M. Morriss III Professor at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Three early-career scientists at the School of Medicine have been honored with the Young Physician-Scientist Award by the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI). They are Tarin M. Bigley, MD, PhD; Jeffrey W. Brown MD, PhD; and Drew J. Schwartz, MD, PhD.

GatewaySeq, a genetic test that identifies cancer mutations in solid tumors and that was developed by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been approved for reimbursement by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.