Dear Colleagues,
As leaders at WashU, we greet you all warmly, and especially welcome all the research learners at various stages in your scientific journeys, who have joined us in our research environments. We are all delighted that such exceptional masters’ students, doctoral students, medical students, postdoctoral students, and other research learners contribute here at WashU to cutting edge knowledge generation, to which we are all so deeply committed. We want you all to know that we are equally committed to providing all our researchers with a rich and rewarding experience in scientific environments that are safe and conducive to learners, and collaborative for all members of our teams.
To our faculty members, laboratory leaders, and principal investigators, we ask that you reinforce this positive message and help to ensure that all those who are new to our research environments feel the support and encouragement that reflect our culture. We should all remember that it can be difficult and stressful to perform at a high level in unfamiliar settings. Please encourage our teams and show patience to our learners, who are doing their very best to acquire challenging scientific skills, while simultaneously gaining insights into new team dynamics, often in complicated and rapid paced research settings.
To all the learners in our diverse research settings, we thank you for choosing to hone your scientific expertise at our medical school. Whoever you are and wherever you come from, we will do our utmost to ensure that you feel valued here with a true sense of belonging, and that you thrive and grow. Please know that if you have any concerns, our doors, and the doors of other leaders in our institutions, are always open.
We would also like to take this opportunity to remind everybody of our SAFE (Supporting a Fair Environment) initiative. This web-based reporting tool allows any member of our community to report a professionalism accolade or concern. We would love for you to report accolades about colleagues who have enriched your learning experience. Of course, we also encourage you to use the SAFE portal to report concerning behavior that you have either witnessed or experienced.
We thank you all sincerely for everything you do to advance scientific and medical knowledge, and for one another. We wish you success and fulfilment as you settle in here.
With very warm wishes,
Eva Aagaard
Senior Associate Dean for Education, Vice Chancellor for Medical Education, WUSM
Opeolu M. Adeoye
Chair, Department of Emergency Medicine, WUSM
Michael S. Avidan
Chair, Department of Anesthesiology, WUSM
Craig A. Buchman
Chair, Department of Otolaryngology, WUSM
Lisa Tabor Connor
Associate Dean for Occupational Therapy, WUSM
Richard J. Cote
Chair, Department of Pathology and Immunology, WUSM
Gammon Earhart
Associate Dean for Physical Therapy, WUSM
Victoria J. Fraser
Chair, Department of Medicine, WUSM
Benjamin A. Garcia
Chair, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, WUSM
Dennis E. Hallahan
Chair, Department of Radiation Oncology, WUSM
Dineo Khabele
Chair, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, WUSM
Jin-Moo Lee
Chair, Department of Neurology, WUSM
Eric J. Lenze
Chair, Department of Psychiatry, WUSM
Mark E. Lowe
Vice Chancellor for Research, Washington University
Todd P. Margolis
Chair, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, WUSM
Steven Mennerick
Interim Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, DBBS, Washington University
Regis J. O’Keefe
Chair, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, WUSM
John A. Olson
Chair, Department of Surgery, WUSM
David H Perlmutter
Executive Vice Chancellor for Medical Affairs and Dean, WUSM
David W. Piston
Chair, Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, WUSM
Linda J. Richards
Chair, Department of Neuroscience, WUSM
Renée Shellhaas
Associate dean for faculty promotions and career development, WUSM
Gary A. Silverman
Chair, Department of Pediatrics, WUSM
Lilianna Solnica-Krezel
Chair, Department of Developmental Biology, WUSM
Ting Wang
Incoming Chair, Department of Genetics, WUSM
Sean Whelan
Chair, Department of Molecular Microbiology, WUSM
Pamela K. Woodard
Chair, Department of Radiology, WUSM
Gregory J. Zipfel
Chair, Department of Neurosurgery, WUSM