All News Stories

First, let me send my thoughts and prayers to all of you who have family, friends and loved ones in the Ukraine. There is nothing I can say or do to reduce the fear and sadness many of you are feeling. I simply hope you know that I care and am thinking of you. In […]

Happy New Year? I mean it as a rhetorical question. Without a doubt, we are starting this year in a tough spot. COVID cases are surging with the widespread introduction of the Omicron variant across the US. Unlike prior surges, we are hit hard with not just hospitalizations, but also large numbers of faculty and […]

“What’s your why?” It’s a question I suspect a lot of people are asking themselves these days and it’s a question I think most of us don’t ask ourselves enough. Your why is the reason for your life’s work, your calling, convictions, and career mission. It is where and how you spend your time and […]

But what’s your ultimate goal, you’ll say. That goal will become clearer, will take shape slowly and surely, as the croquis becomes a sketch and the sketch a painting… – Vincent van Gogh to Theo van Gogh, June 1880. On Friday, October 29th, we celebrated the White Coat Ceremony with our new first year students […]

I hope you will indulge me in a little bragging— I know, it’s counter-culture to Wash U and the Midwest in general, but I think it’s necessary. There are a lot of things I could choose to brag about in education right now, but I am going to start with Admissions (and hopefully explain how […]

I am a person who likes my rituals. Every morning I get up (I’m an early riser), make my coffee, feed the pets and then sit in front of my computer and read. Most weekdays, I read my email, whatever documents I need to review for my meetings that day and edit anything that others […]

This is a very tough time. We caught a glimpse of freedom, of recovery from this pandemic, and now it feels torn from us again. The Delta variant of COVID-19 is a difficult adversary, made more difficult by the political division we are experiencing as a country and as a world. I am disheartened, as […]

Those of you who are or have been athletes likely know something about the performance-recovery cycle. Basically, this is the idea that to maximize performance, you need to stress your body intentionally and enough to result in the adaptations it takes to get you to the next level. However, just as important in this cycle […]

All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom; justice; honor; duty; mercy; hope. ~ Winston Churchill I love this quote from Winston Churchill. Of course, it comes from war times, but, at least to me, it feels a bit like we have been through a war of […]

“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” Isaac Newton This month marks the end of an era- the last rendition of the pre-clinical Legacy Curriculum. I want to take a moment to honor this important event and recognize those who have gotten us to this point. While the […]

Trauma – depending on your context, this word may evoke different connotations or have different implications. We want to recognize that the dual pandemic (systemic racism and COVID-19) coupled with escalating violence and national rhetoric laced with racism are tantamount to trauma for many in our community. While the challenges of the last year are […]

I am going to do something I rarely do—share a personal story. I am writing this while returning from vacation, my first in more than a year and the first real vacation my husband and I have taken alone in over 20 years. Unfortunately, while I was away, my grandmother passed away, likely from complications […]

Looking Ahead As an anchor institution and major economic driver in St Louis, Washington University School of Medicine is uniquely equipped to help heal some of the wounds of our nation that are currently on full display. Now is an opportunity to own the role our actions have played in leading to this moment and […]