Dr. Victoria Soncasie joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Victoria Soncasie joins the Department of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine as an Instructor with a secondary appointment in the Department of Pediatrics in the Division of Hospital Medicine as of July 2026. Dr. Soncasie grew up in St. Louis prior to attending Truman State University in Kirksville, MO, where she […]

Dr. Urvi Holmes joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Urvi Holmes joins the Department of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine as an Instructor as of July 2026. Originally hailing from Charlotte, North Carolina, Dr. Holmes moved to St. Louis in 2014. She completed her undergraduate education at Washington University in St. Louis, where she graduated magna cum laude with degrees […]

Dr. Basant Eltaher joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Basant Eltaher joins the Department of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine as an Instructor as of July 2026. Dr. Eltaher was born and raised in Egypt and completed her medical education at Ain Shams University Hospital in 2019. Following medical school, she completed a one-year internship at Ain Shams University Hospital. […]

Dr. Hajar El Amri joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Hajar El Amri joins the Department of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine as an Instructor as of July 2026. Dr. Hajar practices as a hospitalist at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Dr. Hajar was born and raised in Morocco and earned her medical degree in Casablanca. During medical school, she developed an early interest […]

Dr. Zurabi Zaalishvili joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Zurabi Zaalishvili joins the Department of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine as an Instructor as of July 2026. Dr. Zaalishvili completed his internal medicine residency at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio, from 2023 to 2026, where he distinguished himself through excellence in patient care, teaching, and quality improvement. He […]

Dr. Jennifer Diaz joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Jennifer Diaz joins the Department of Medicine in the Division of Oncology as an Instructor as of July 2026. Dr. Diaz completed MD/PhD training at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where her projects incorporated bioinformatics, computational genomics, and molecular genetics. She completed Internal Medicine Residency at UCLA before coming to the […]

Dr. Zanetta Chang joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Zanetta Chang joins the Department of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases as an Instructor as of July 2026. Dr. Chang completed her MD, PhD training at Duke University, where her thesis work in the Heitman lab focused on drug resistance in Mucor. She then joined WashU as part of the Physician-Scientist Training […]

Dr. Ko Harada joins the Department of Medicine

Ko Harada, MD, PhD

Dr. Ko Harada joins the Department of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine as an Instructor as of July 2026. Dr. Harada is a board-certified internal medicine physician and geriatrician, with broad training across inpatient medicine, geriatric medicine, and clinical research. Dr. Harada received his medical degree from Okayama University School of Medicine […]

Dr. Ibrahim El Mikati joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Ibrahim El Mikati joins the Department of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine as an Instructor as of July 2026. Originally from Beirut, Lebanon, he was raised in a household that valued education and hard work. He earned his Medical Doctor degree from the American University of Beirut (AUB) in 2021 after […]

Dr. Joshua Nordman joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Joshua Nordman joins the Department of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases as an Assistant Professor as of July 2026. Originally from northern Illinois, he attended medical school at University of Illinois before completing his residency and infectious disease fellowship at WashU. Dr. Nordman’s primary interests are in clinical infectious disease, with particular […]

Dr. Michael Bern joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Michael Bern joins the Department of Medicine in the Division of Oncology as an Instructor as of July 2026. Dr. Bern’s research focuses on understanding mechanisms of therapy resistance in Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). ~25% of AML patients fail to achieve a remission with standard of care intensive induction chemotherapy. These “Primary-Refractory” (P-R) patients […]

Amir Mahmoud joins the Department of Medicine

Amir Mahmoud joins the Department of Medicine in the Division of Hematology as an Assistant Professor as of July 2026. His clinical practice and academic interest emphasize high risk thrombotic disorders, including thrombotic microangiopathies, antiphospholipid syndrome, and cancer-associated thrombosis. Leveraging his experience in managing complex hematologic conditions in high-volume tertiary-care settings, his clinical philosophy prioritizes […]

Dr. Annie Lien joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Annie Lien joins the Department of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine as an Instructor as of July 2026. Dr. Lien was born in Taiwan and later raised in New Jersey. Dr. Lien attended Johns Hopkins University, where she earned her bachelor’s degree with a major in Public Health Studies. During her […]

Dr. Jennifer Hyde joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Jennifer Hyde joins the Department of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases as an Associate Professor as of July 2026. Research in the Hyde lab is centered on efforts to define virus-host interactions, with a particular focus on how viral encoded RNA and RNA structures contribute to immune evasion, pathogenesis, and transmission. In […]

Dr. Hunter Cochran joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Hunter Cochran joins the Department of Medicine in the Division of Oncology as an Assistant Professor as of July 2026. Dr. Hunter Cassidy Cochran completed her undergraduate education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and earned her medical degree from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Dr. Cochran subsequently completed internal medicine residency training […]

Dr. Maheen Khan joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Maheen Khan joins the Department of Medicine in the Division of Nephrology as an Assistant Professor as of July 2026. Dr. Khan is a skilled nephrologist and an outstanding emerging clinician-educator who brings commitment, compassion, and clinical excellence to her patient care and teaching. Dr. Khan earned her medical degree from Dow Medical College, […]

Dr. Ehsan Sha’ban joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Ehsan Sha’ban joins the Department of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine as an Instructor as of July 2026. He earned his Doctor of Medicine degree in 2022 from The Hashemite University in Jordan, where he developed a strong academic foundation in internal medicine and an early interest in the comprehensive care […]

Dr. Matthew Schroeder joins the Department of Medicine

Dr. Matthew Schroeder joins the Department of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology as an Assistant Professor as of July 2026. A native St. Louisan, Dr. Schroeder received his medical degree from St. Louis University School of Medicine. He subsequently completed internal medicine residency at the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas, Texas. Following residency, […]

Dean’s Medals honor six individuals whose impact advances medicine and improves lives (Links to an external site)

David Perlmutter, MD, executive vice chancellor for medical affairs, the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Distinguished Professor and the George and Carol Bauer Dean of WashU Medicine, recognizes the inaugural Dean’s Medal recipients honored in 2025 on the Medical Campus. (Photo: Erin Leu/WashU)

Six individuals whose work has transformed patient care, advanced scientific discovery, strengthened medical education and expanded WashU Medicine’s impact around the world have been honored with the 2026 Dean’s Medals. The annual awards recognize extraordinary contributions to WashU Medicine and celebrate leaders whose achievements embody the institution’s interconnected missions of patient care, education and research.

Researchers find a common weakness in major gut pathogens (Links to an external site)

WashU Medicine researchers and collaborators at the University of Missouri identified a shared vulnerability across diarrhea-causing bacteria including E. coli (shown) and Shigella, a finding that could potentially lead to a single combination vaccine against these pathogens.

The bacteria enterotoxigenic E. coli and Shigella together cause hundreds of millions of infections each year and are among the leading causes of diarrheal death, especially in children. Decades of vaccine development efforts have come up short, in part because the usual vaccine targets vary too much from one strain to the next.

How obesity disrupts the body’s cellular messaging system (Links to an external site)

Clair Crewe, PhD

Lead author Clair Crewe, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine in WashU Medicine’s Division of Cell Biology and Physiology and Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Lipid Research, the Crewe Lab and collaborators from the Department of Pathology and Immunology and the Center for Human Nutrition are authors of a study published May 5, 2026, in Cell Metabolism.

Dr. Will Ross Receives NKF Award of Excellence (Links to an external site)

Will Ross, MD

Congratulations to Will Ross, MD, MPH, Alumni Endowed Professor of Medicine, Nephrology, and Associate Dean for Diversity at Washington University School of Medicine, who was honored with the National Kidney Foundation’s (NKF) Award of Excellence at their 75th Anniversary Heroes Awards celebration on March 5, 2026.  

Ignacio Portales-Castillo Awarded OKRA Opportunity Program Grant (Links to an external site)

Ignacio Portales-Castillo, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine

Ignacio Portales‑Castillo, MD, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Nephrology, has been selected for funding in the third round of the George M. O’Brien Kidney Resource Alliance (OKRA) Opportunity Pool Program. He will receive $50,000 in research support for his pilot grant proposal, “Reduce Creatine in Proximal Tubule to Enhance Autophagy and Protect from Renal Injury.” 

May 2026 Kudos and Awards

Thank you, residents and interns, for all you do for one another and for your patients. Though often under-appreciated, your work does not go unnoticed. ​​​​​​​Help us highlight the kindness, clinical skills, and work ethic: submit here. Resident of the Month Dr. John Davis: “He was an absolutely remarkable senior to have on firm. He has incredible clinical […]

Genetically modified hookworms produce and deliver therapeutics (Links to an external site)

WashU Medicine researchers genetically modified hookworms to produce and deliver a therapeutic antibody inside a host, a proof-of-concept that could lead to long-lasting treatments for chronic disease or exposure to toxins in remote settings. (Image courtesy of Makedonka Mitreva)

Hookworms, intestinal parasites that infect hundreds of millions of people in under-resourced tropical regions around the globe, have evolved to survive inside the human gut for years, secreting molecules that enable co-existence with their hosts. Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have harnessed that biological mechanism for potential human benefit, […]

Millman receives grant to advance cell therapies for type 1 diabetes  (Links to an external site)

Jeffrey Millman, PhD

Jeffrey R. Millman, PhD, Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism & Lipid Research at WashU Medicine, has received research funding from Breakthrough T1D to support his project titled “Overcoming Production Barriers to Stem Cell-Islet Therapies Through Scalable Technologies.” The two-year grant supports efforts to address key challenges in bringing manufactured islet cell therapies for type […]

WashU Medicine researcher advances understanding of emerging tick-borne threats in the Midwest

At WashU Medicine, virologist Jacco Boon, PhD, Division of Infectious Diseases, is turning his attention to a growing but often overlooked public health concern: tick-borne viruses in Missouri and across the Midwest. Boon’s path to studying some of the world’s smallest—and most complex—infectious agents began long before his work in Missouri. Originally from the Netherlands, […]

Phoenix Molecular Designs Expands PMD-026 into Second Clinical Indication with Myelofibrosis Trial at WashU Medicine (Links to an external site)

Amy Zhou, MD, a hematologist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, sees a patient at Siteman Cancer Center's West County facility in Creve Coeur. Zhou treats patients with various blood disorders and conducts clinical trials investigating possible new therapies for such patients.

SAN DIEGO, California – VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 27, 2026 – Phoenix Molecular Designs (PhoenixMD), a clinical-stage precision oncology company developing first-in-class RSK kinase inhibitors, today announced the expansion of its lead asset PMD-026 into a second clinical indication with the initiation of Dauntless-3, an investigator-initiated Phase 1 trial in myelofibrosis at Washington University School […]

Zhiyu Dai, PhD, Receives 2026 Werner Risau Early Career Investigator Award in Vascular Biology (Links to an external site)

Zhiyu Dai, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine

Congratulations to Zhiyu Dai, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine, who was selected for the 2026 Werner Risau Early Career Investigator Award in Vascular Biology. This distinguished award was established in honor of Dr. Werner Risau, an investigator who formulated key concepts for the regulation of angiogenesis, challenged the prevailing dogmas about angiogenic factors, and proposed […]

Dr. Anuja Java Highlights Complement‑Mediated Kidney Disease at ISN’s 2026 World Congress of Nephrology in Yokohama (Links to an external site)

Anuja Java, MD

Transplant nephrologist Anuja Java, MD, associate professor of medicine at WashU Nephrology and Director of Kidney Transplant at the John Cochran VA Medical Center, was invited for the third consecutive year to speak at the International Society of Nephrology’s World Congress of Nephrology (WCN’26), held this year, March 28–31, 2026, in Yokohama, Japan.

Researchers augment infection surveillance tool with AI, find enhanced patient safety (Links to an external site)

Abby Sung, MD

WashU Medicine infectious diseases researchers have developed a practical use of artificial intelligence to enhance patient safety, while potentially reducing costs and improving efficiency at hospitals. Abby Sung, MD, an assistant professor of medicine, and colleagues in the Division of Infectious Diseases, WashU McKelvey School of Engineering AI for Health Institute, and Barnes-Jewish Hospital (BJH) found that a large language model (LLM) can strengthen a semi-automated surveillance tool used by infection prevention. 

Celebrating our 2025-2026 Graduates and Award Recipients (Links to an external site)

CRTC graduates and faculty

Throughout the academic year, scholars work relentlessly to elevate their learning and support their peers, mentors show up day after day ready to provide guidance to their mentees, and course directors engage scholars in labs and classrooms with dynamic training. This strong community is central to the success of programs at WashU Medicine, and it […]

Fan He Receives Evans MDS Young Investigator Award

Grant will support innovate research on inflammation and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) Fan He, PhD, Instructor in Medicine, Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology, has been awarded a Young Investigator Award (YIA) from the Edward P. Evans Foundation to support innovative research investigating inflammatory mechanisms that drive myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). MDS is characterized by ineffective blood […]

Faculty join Infectious Diseases Society of America Fellowship in 2026 (Links to an external site)

Faculty join Infectious Diseases Society of America Fellowship in 2026

Nicolo Cabrera, MD, Joseph Cherabie, MD, MSc, and Adriana Rauseo, MD, Assistant Professors of Medicine, and Aaloke Mody, MD, Associate Professor in Medicine, have joined more than a dozen other Washington University School of Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases faculty members as Fellows of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). They are among 166 new fellows this year to receive […]