Dr. Kathleen Bickel has joined the Department of Anesthesiology as faculty with a split appointment in the Division of Regional and Ambulatory Anesthesia and the Division of Basic Research.
Welcome Dr. Kathleen Bickel

Department of
Dr. Kathleen Bickel has joined the Department of Anesthesiology as faculty with a split appointment in the Division of Regional and Ambulatory Anesthesia and the Division of Basic Research.
New research authored by members of the Wayland Cheng lab reveals the effect of nanodiscs on the structure of ion channels, crucial for pain and anesthesia drugs.
Jose Moron-Concepcion, PhD, a professor of anesthesiology, neuroscience, and psychiatry, was installed as the Henry Elliot Mallinckrodt Professor of Anesthesiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis on Thursday, September 28, 2023.
Vivian Gonzalez-Perez, PhD, a highly accomplished scholar whose research focus is ion channel biophysics and physiology, is being promoted from research instructor to tenure track assistant professor on July 1, 2023. Her appointment marks a significant milestone in her career, as she prepares to make further groundbreaking contributions to the scientific community.
According to the latest data compiled by the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research, the Department of Anesthesiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis ranked No. 3 among the nation’s top anesthesiology departments in terms of research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
In a recent study published in Nature Communications on November 17, 2022, Wayland Cheng, MD, PhD, and colleagues solved the structure of a pentameric ligand-gated ion channel in an open-channel conformation using single particle cryo-electron microscopy.
The Department of Anesthesiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis ranked #2 nationwide among anesthesiology departments in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Dr. Baron Chanda received a grant from the NINDS to to study cells’ ion channels as potential targets for new drugs to treat disorders affecting the brain, heart and muscles.
The department received over $16.1 million in federal funding from the NIH, and six faculty ranked in the top 50 for total NIH funding to individual anesthesia principal investigators.
Meaghan Creed, PhD, Wayland Cheng, MD, PhD, and Jordan McCall, PhD, recently received their first R01 or R35 research grants from the National Institutes of Health.