Dr. Nikita Melnikov joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine as an Instructor in July 2025. Originally from the southern seaside town of Taganrog, Russia, his upbringing fostered his joyful, passionate, and caring personality. During high school, he focused on foreign languages and natural sciences, presenting his projects at regional science competitions. […]
Dr. Brian Kocak joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine as an Instructor in July of 2025. He was born and grew up outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and he attended the University of Pittsburgh for undergraduate and medical studies. He graduated summa cum laude with dual degrees in philosophy and microbiology […]
Dr. Adam Kneepkens joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine as an Instructor in July 2025. He was born and raised in Duluth, MN, before attending Saint Louis University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in political science and biology. While at SLU, he was a member of the University Honors Program, […]
Dr. Parneet Kaur Hari joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine as an Instructor in Medicine in July 2025. She was born in Bathinda, a small town in the state of Punjab, India, in 1996. She has always been driven by curiosity and compassion, which naturally steered her toward the world […]
Dr. Richard Van Besien joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine as an Assistant Professor in July 2025. He first came to St. Louis for undergrad at WashU. Medical school brought him back to his home state to attend the University of Maryland on a full merit scholarship. While […]
Dr. Osler Guzon joined the Department of Medicine in the Cardiovascular Division as an Assistant Professor in July 2025. He is a board-certified preventive cardiologist with clinical expertise caring for patients with cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic syndrome, pericardial diseases, and obesity-linked conditions such as diabetes and obstructive sleep apnea. Promoting nutrition and a healthy, active lifestyle as a […]
Dr. Fred Karaisz joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology as an Instructor in July. In residency, he loved teaching medical students and residents, particularly in bedside procedures, including lines, lumbar punctures, and paracenteses. These experiences translated well in gastroenterology, where he discovered my passion for therapeutic endoscopy. He hopes to work in […]
Dr. Sopiko Gogia joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine as an Instructor in July 2025. She earned her medical degree from the American MD Program at Tbilisi State Medical University in 2020. During medical school, she actively participated in several community serving projects. After graduation, she worked as a junior […]
Dr. Edward Daniel joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine as an Instructor in July 2025. He was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. He attended Harvard University where he obtained his degree in Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology with a minor in Music, graduating cum laude in 2012. Afterwards, he attended the […]
Dr. Adnan Al Najada joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine as an Instructor in July 2025. This role marks an important milestone in his career, following the completion of his internal medicine residency at Unity Hospital in Rochester, New York. Originally from Jordan, Al Najada earned his medical degree from the […]
Dr. Eugenia Miranti joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases as an Assistant Professor in July 2025. She received her medical degree from Northwestern University. Dr. Miranti specializes in clinical infectious disease and healthcare epidemiology. She is particularly interested in ambulatory infection prevention and emerging infectious diseases.
Dr. Olufunto Olusanya joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases as an Assistant Professor in July of 2025. She is a physician, implementation scientist, and epidemiologist with over 17 years of clinical experience and 12 years of impactful research expertise. Dr. Olusanya’s expertise allows her to investigate innovative methods blending community […]
Dr. Temitope Ojo joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases as an Assistant Professor in July of 2025. She graduated from the New York University School of Global Public Health with a PhD in Public Health. She has authored several publications on global implementation research, including developing situationally tailored tools to assess […]
Dr. Kyle Moylan joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Palliative Medicine as an Associate Professor in July of 2025. Dr. Moylan is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Geriatric Medicine and Palliative Care. After completing his internal medicine residency and geriatric fellowship at Washington University, he served as chief resident before joining the Division of […]
Dr. Gassan Kassim joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology as an Assistant Professor in July of 2025. He graduated from medical school as valedictorian at the University of Debrecen in Hungary. He completed his internal medicine residency at Mount Sinai in New York City. He completed his gastroenterology and hepatology fellowship training […]
Dr. Megan White joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology as an Assistant Professor in July of 2025. She completed her medical education at Saint Louis University and further honed her expertise through residency and fellowship (both in gastroenterology and transplant hepatology) training at Washington University in St. Louis as well as an […]
Dr. Quazim Alayo joins the Department of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology as an instructor in July 2025. He earned his medical degree from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, followed by advanced training in global health science at the University of Oxford and immunology at Harvard Medical School. Under the mentorship of Dr. Dan Barouch, […]
Dr. Sambhawana Bhandari joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Rheumatology as an Assistant Professor in July 2025. She provides comprehensive care to patients with autoimmune diseases, participating in general rheumatology, Rheumatology-Oncology, myositis, and CTD-ILD clinics. Dr. Bhandari’s research focuses on clinical outcomes in patients with rheumatic diseases, including database studies on ICI-induced […]
Dr. Wei Zou joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Bone and Mineral Diseases as an Associate Professor in July 2025. He has more than two decades of extensive research experience on bone biology. His research was initially focused on understanding the mechanisms by which inflammatory factors such as LPS and TNF-α regulate osteoclast differentiation. […]
Dr. Shannon Coombs joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine as an Instructor in June 2025. She grew up in Elmsford, New York before attending Howard University in Washington, DC where she graduated summa cum laude with honors distinction with a Bachelor of Arts in History as well as being inducted into […]
Dr. David Zhang joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine as an Instructor in June 2025. He was raised in San Antonio, Texas. He attended Washington University in St. Louis, where he studied physics and graduated with college honors. During his time in college, was inducted into the physics honor society, […]
Dr. Soophia Naydenov joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine as a Professor in January 2025. She is dedicated to excelling in clinical care, educational initiatives, and administrative leadership. Her mission is to enhance PE patient care across all treatment stages, from acute care to long-term follow-up, through innovative and […]
Dr. Ugonna Nwankwo joined the Department of Medicine in the Cardiovascular Division as an Associate Professor in June 2025. He was previously Director of adult congenital heart disease at Saint Louis University and SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s hospital. He earned his medical degree at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and completed a combined residency […]
Dr. Mengcheng Shen joined the Department of Medicine in the Cardiovascular Division as an Assistant Professor in May 2025. He earned his PhD from the University of Alberta, where his research focused on extracellular matrix remodeling in aortic aneurysm and heart failure. He completed his postdoctoral training and was subsequently promoted to Instructor at the Stanford Cardiovascular […]
Dr. Autumn Holmes joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases as an instructor in March of 2025. Her research interests include understanding how the cell types that are susceptible to RNA virus infection influence infection outcomes in the host. Specifically, she is interested in how events that occur during early virus […]
Dr. Bin Liu has held research positions at The University of Arizona and Washington University, advancing from Research Scientist III to Senior Scientist before being appointed as an Instructor. Their research contributions have been recognized through numerous awards, including the AHA Cournand & Comroe Early Career Investigator Award Competition Finalist (2024) and First Place Poster […]
Dr. Chinenye Udokwu received her medical degree from University of Nigeria, Nigeria in 2011. She completed a one-year internship in the same institution. She later obtained a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree from Boston University, Boston in 2016. She then subsequently completed her internal medicine residency at St. Lukes’ Hospital, Chesterfield, St Louis, Missouri […]
Dr. Mark Milunski joined the Department of Medicine in the Cardiovascular Division as a Professor in January 2025. He earned his MD degree from the Albany Medical College of Union University in 1984, where he received several awards and honors for academic achievement, including election to Alpha Omega Alpha as a third-year medical student. He […]
Dr. Maria Aponte Farias joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Bone and Mineral Diseases as an Instructor as of January 2025. Dr. Aponte’s key research interests focus on the intersection of endocrinology, metabolic diseases, and bone health. She is particularly dedicated to exploring metabolic interventions for diabetes, obesity, and related comorbidities, aiming to […]
Molly Keppell, BS, MS, joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Oncology as an Instructor in January 2025. She was raised in southern Illinois and attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. While there, she earned her B.S. and M.S. in Crop Science. Her research there focused on diseases of sweet corn and […]
Dr. Brooks Brodrick joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Allergy and Immunology as an Assistant Professor in January 2025. She received her Bachelor of Science in Microbiology from the University of Texas at Austin. She then went on to complete both her MD and PhD as part of the NIH-Funded MSTP program […]
Dr. Vishwanath Jha joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Hematology as an instructor in December 2024. He is an accomplished postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Jaehyung Cho’s laboratory at Washington University School of Medicine, specializing in hematology, focusing on thrombosis and platelet activation. His innovative research has led to a groundbreaking discovery: intracellular ERO1α […]
Dr. Dmitri Kotov joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases as an Assistant Professor in December 2024. He earned his PhD in the lab of Dr. Marc Jenkins at the University of Minnesota, where he studied how T cell receptor signaling impacts CD4+ T cell fate commitment. Pivoting from researching fundamental […]
Dr. Nongnooch Poowanawittayakom joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases as an Assistant Professor in November 2024. After she earned her medical degree from one of the most prestigious institutions in Thailand, Mahidol University, Siriraj Hospital, she came to the United States to continue her training in Internal Medicine and Infectious […]
Dr. Claudia Villatoro Santos joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism & Lipid Research as an Instructor in October 2024. She earned her medical degree from Francisco Marroquin University School of Medicine in Guatemala City, Guatemala in 2014. She then earned a postgraduate Master of Science (“MSc”) in Epidemiology at the University of […]
Dr. Ishmael Aziati joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases as an Instructor in November 2024. He has been involved in collaborative research for the past decade studying emerging and reemerging infectious viral diseases. After graduating with a BSc. (Hons) in Biochemistry in 2010 from the University of Ghana. He joined the WHO […]
Dr. Emily Cole joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Dermatology as an Assistant Professor in October 2024. Her education and training includes an undergraduate degree from Brown University, BS, in Cognitive Neuroscience. She graduated from Yale School of Public Health, MPH, Chronic Disease Epidemiology. Dr. Cole attended medical school at the University […]
Dr. Crystal Azu has joined the Department of Medicine in the Cardiovascular Division as an Assistant Professor in September 2024. Dr. Azu earned her BS in Neuroscience & Behavioral Biology from Emory University, and her MD from the University of Chicago in 2017. She also holds an MPH degree with a concentration in International Health & Health […]
Dr. Sandeep Panikar joins the Department of Medicine in the Division of Oncology as an instructor in October 2024. With over a decade of research experience in cancer biology, molecular imaging, drug delivery systems, and nanotechnology, Dr. Panikar specializes in leveraging molecular imaging techniques to advance cancer detection and treatment. His expertise spans Surface-Enhanced Raman […]
Dr. Nathan Frogge has joined the Department of Medicine in the Cardiovascular Division as an Assistant Professor in October 2024. He serves as faculty in the Interventional and Structural Cardiology Section and our West County Clinic, and as Director of Clinical Outreach and Expansion. Dr. Frogge received his BA in Environmental Studies and an MBA […]
Dr. Wooten joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases as a professor in September 2024. She holds the positions of ID Fellowship Program Director, Vice Chief of Medical Education, and Director of Educational Programs. She earned a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and a master’s degree in health and […]
Dr. Ece Cali Daylan joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Oncology as an assistant professor as of August 2024. She earned her medical degree and PhD in Medical Biology from Hacettepe University, Turkey, before relocating to the United States for advanced training. She completed her internal medicine residency at St. Elizabeth’s Medical […]
Dr. Xiaoqing (Cathy) Cheng joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Oncology as an Instructor in October 2024. She received a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology from Wuhan University in 2017. Her PhD training including the mitochondrial dynamics and the mechanism study between epigenetic regulation and liver tumorigenesis. As an expert in the field […]
Dr. Katharine Foster joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Allergy and Immunology as an Assistant Professor in September 2024. She is interested in the wealth of immune reactions both beneficial and detrimental that medications can elicit and their interplay with a patient’s overall health, including drug allergy, microbiome changes, and immunomodulatory effects. […]
Dr. FNU Meena joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine as an Instructor in September 2024. She was born and raised in Hyderabad, Pakistan, and received her medical education at Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro, Pakistan, which is one of the oldest and top-ranked medical universities in the […]
Dr. Aaron Greenspan joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology as an Assistant Professor in July 2024. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brandeis University in Waltham, MA followed by a Doctor of Medicine from University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, PA. He remained in Pittsburgh for an Internal Medicine Residency. […]
Dr. Erin Dyer joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine as an Instructor in August 2024. She grew up in Oxford, Mississippi and attended college at the University of Mississippi, where she graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and a Bachelor of Arts in Chinese […]
Dr. Katherine (Katie) Goodenberger joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine in July 2024. Katie grew up in Clayton, Missouri and attended Washington University where she graduated with a Bachelor’s degree before moving to New York for her graduate degree in Biological Anthropology. In her first career, she studied the fossil […]
Dr. Fan He joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Hematology as an Instructor in September 2024. Under the mentorships of Dr. Stephen Oh and Dr. Jorge Di Paola, Fan studies molecular mechanisms underlying hyperinflammation in MPN and novel therapeutic vulnerabilities against it using patient samples, genetic mouse models, omics approaches (such as single […]
Dr. Kai Jones joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology as an Assistant Professor in August 2024. Originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Dr. Jones earned the BA in Biology from Washington University in 2015 and the MD degree from Washington University in 2019. Between 2019 and 2022, she completed Internal Medicine Residency Training […]