Clinical
- Perioperative care for ~135,000 procedural cases annually across 5 BJC hospitals and 5 freestanding ambulatory centers.
- Partnership in patient care with all WashU Medicine clinical departments
- Leadership role in perioperative and procedural safety at BJH
- Support of BJH Level I trauma Center and a top US transplant center
- ICU and telemedicine ICU care across BJC hospitals
- Comprehensive pain management across 4 BJC hospitals
- Preoperative assessment and optimization of 56,000 patients
- The Pediatric Anesthesiology Division specializes in simulation-based education and training, delivering innovative teaching practices that are shared locally, nationally, and internationally. Examples include: Annual International Pediatric Fellowship Bootcamp and the MOCA Simulation at SPA
- Level 1 Trauma Center for Children, focusing on disaster preparedness:
- Multidisciplinary live simulation at SLCH (Nov. ’24) Multidisciplinary live simulation at SLCH (October ‘25)
- Mass casualty incident simulation (November ‘25)
- Three CRNAs named finalists for Excellence in Nursing Awards (learn more)
- Prewitt receives 2025 Excellence in Nursing Award (learn more)
- Mehta appointed Associate Division Chief, General Anesthesiology (learn more)
- Zoller appointed Associate Director of Clinical Anesthesiology at Barnes-Jewish Hospital (learn more)
- McMillan appointed Associate Clinical Director at Progress West Hospital (learn more)
- Sanzalone named to Newsweek’s 2025 List of America’s Leading Doctors in Pain Management (learn more)
- Six APPs named finalists for 2025 March of Dimes Heroes in Action Awards (learn more)
- Abby Bisch, DNP, CRNA, is the winner for the Advanced Practice – Adult category
- Brian Torres, DNP, CRNA, is the winner for the Education category
Research
- Ranked #1 in the country for NIH funding among anesthesiology departments (learn more)
- 164 funded research projects, including 88R grants, 14 U grants, and 8 K grants within the department
- 35 privately funded research grants including 1 new Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) award
- Departmental science spans translational continuum
- Emphasis on developing transdisciplinary and research centers
- Robust research collaborations across WashU & WashU Medicine
- Seminal scientific publications
- Goodin funded by NIH to develop new postdoctoral training program (learn more)
- $5 million NIH grant to find causes of chronic pain after surgery (learn more)
- Gereau, Copits, and Mwirigi featured for groundbreaking chronic pain research, advancing precision treatments and non-opioid therapies to improve patient care (learn more)
- Compound harnesses cannabis’ pain-relieving properties without side effects (learn more)
- Female sex hormone protects against opioid misuse, rat study finds (learn more)
- New research reveals safer pain relief without opioid side effects (learn more)
- Researchers discover new method to reverse opioid overdoses without triggering severe withdrawal (learn more)
- Yoshida receives prestigious FAER Research Fellowship Grant to investigate immune-driven chronic pain (learn more)
- Predicting pain with machine learning (learn more)
- Single atom editing in morphine structure could lead to safer painkillers (learn more)
- Mouse study links chronic pain to disrupted sleep patterns (learn more)
- $4.87 million grant supports development of sepsis diagnostic device (learn more)
- $5 million funds innovation of more-potent opioid overdose antidote (learn more)
- Novel technologies underway to help those with spinal cord injuries move (learn more)
- Personalized brain modeling of anesthetic effects to predict antidepressant response (learn more)
Education
- Matched largest residency class in department history
- Match Day 2025: Anesthesiology welcomes 23 new residents to WashU Medicine (learn more)
- 11 specialty fellowships offered (learn more)
- SRNA and APP advanced nursing training programs
- Robust participation in medical student education
- Department celebrates CRNA Class of 2024 (learn more)
- New Education Leadership appointments
- Mitchell appointed Vice Chair for Education (learn more)
- Nykiel-Bailey appointed Residency Program Director (learn more)
- Recruited new Assistant Residency Program Directors (learn more)
- Torres appointed program director at Goldfarb School of Nursing and director of CRNA education for the Department of Anesthesiology (learn more)
- Perez named assistant program director of Goldfarb’s Nurse Anesthesia Program (learn more)
- Chief Residents Announced for 2025-26 (learn more)
- Highlights from the 2025 IARS/SOCCA Annual Meeting (learn more)
- 15 WashU anesthesiology residents present at MARC 2025 (learn more)
- Residency and Fellowships celebrate 2025 graduates (learn more)
- Two anesthesiology faculty recognized by the Academy of Educators (learn more)
- ACE and LEAP Track resident highlight (ACE Track residents: Phillip Yang, Arianna Montes de Oca, Thomas Van Horn)
- SAAAPM/AAPAE Leadership: Megan Souter, Senior Program Coordinator, was elected to serve as President-Elect, reflecting her outstanding contributions and the strong reputation of our program within the national academic anesthesiology community.
- Dr. Stephen Gregory represented the department at the first annual Teachfest Royale competition hosted by the Academy of Educators (learn more)
- Two Division of Education coordinators served on the SAAAPM Council, and three administrators delivered presentations at the national conference.
- Revitalized the Resident Education Committee, comprised of 15 residents across the CA1-3 years
People & Culture
- Department leaders continue to establish and advance programs that build and transform our culture:
- Bi-monthly Health & Wellness Newsletter, The Well-being Word
- The Well-developed Podcast, focused on well-being and professional development, launched 10 new episodes (learn more)
- Take 2 for the Team: a peer-to-peer digital gratitude tool
- Semiannual Faculty Development Newsletter
- Highlights from the Third Annual Women of WUDA Retreat (learn more)
- Peers in Anesthesiology Supporting a Fair Environment (PIA SAFE) continues to thrive and support its mission.
- 70 Champions trained in upstanding, peer support and feedback.
- Three in-person PIA-SAFE training sessions
- Two 10-wk educational curriculum programs to train new champions
- Mwirigi awarded HHMI fellowship for exceptional early-career scientists (learn more)
- Obituary: William D. Owens, MD, professor emeritus of anesthesiology, 85 (learn more)
- Chanda recognized with 2025 Kenneth S. Cole Award for contributions to biophysics (learn more)
- WashU Anesthesiology Clinicians Honored at SCCM Annual Congress (learn more)
- Holzer receives 2025 Kopolow Award for Geriatrics, Psychiatry, and Neurology (learn more)
- INRC honors Tao Che with 2025 Young Investigator Award (learn more)
- Fiori named 2025 WashU Medicine Research Support Distinguished Honors Award recipient (learn more)
- Six department faculty honored with 2025 Dean’s Impact Awards (learn more)
- McKinney named recipient of 2025 WashU Medicine Dean’s Distinguished Service Award (learn more)
- Musleh honored with Humanism in Medicine Award (learn more)
- Goodin receives 2025 Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award (learn more)
- Chamessian named Rita Allen Foundation Scholar (learn more)
- Yoshida honored with national neuroscience award recognizing early-career research excellence (learn more)
- Jean Shim receives 2025 Sandy Hawes Memorial Award (learn more)
- Two anesthesiology professors named 2025 Mayday Pain & Society Fellows (learn more)
- Celebrating Inclusive Behaviors: Anesthesiology Department Recognizes SAFE Reporting Accolade Recipients (learn more)
- Moquin named 2025 ASA-SEA Distinguished Educator in Anesthesiology (learn more)
- Launch a new communication initiative, Leadership Open Hours, to make communication more accessible, engage meaningfully with individuals, and foster stronger connections across our department (learn more)
- Launched the WELCCOME Awards, an initiative established to recognize colleagues who help make our department a more collaborative, supportive, and connected community (learn more)
- 10 department members completed the Developing Expertise in Clinical Education program (Jamie Brown-Shpigel, Ludmilla Candido Santos, Derek Clary, Shourik Dutta, Erin Herrera, Lukas Matern, Abby Petersen, Nicole Shin, Chayla Vazquez, Elizabeth Wong)
Leadership
- Njoku Re-Elected to Faculty Practice Plan’s Board of Directors (learn more)
- Faculty recognized with new appointments and promotions as ABA Examiners for APPLIED Examination (learn more)
- Abraham to direct I2DB’s Center for Applied Health Informatics (learn more)
- Njoku named fellow in national executive leadership program (learn more)
- Drewry and Durko complete inaugural Pivotal Leaders Program at WashU Medicine (learn more)
- Henrichs appointed dean of Goldfarb School of Nursing (learn more)
- Pennington appointed as department’s inaugural Associate Vice Chair for Quality and Safety (learn more)
- Palanisamy appointed inaugural Vice Chair for Strategic Initiatives (learn more)
- Nykiel-Bailey joins CMEC leadership team at St. Louis Children’s Hospital (learn more)
- Drewry named inaugural Llorin-Roa Professor of Anesthesiology (learn more)
- Four faculty members (Riordan, Fritz, Kerby, Zoller) selected to participate in the Department of Medicine Leadership Training Course (learn more)
- Moquin appointed Vice Chair for Academic Affairs and Professional Leadership (learn more)
- Drs. Haroutounian and Pradhan named Russell D. and Mary B. Shelden Professors of Anesthesiology
Department Initiatives & Recognition
- ASSURE Fellowship: A Catalyst for Excellence in Science and Medicine (learn more)
- The 37th annual C.R. Stephen Lecture and Academic Showcase: A Celebration of Scientific Excellence (learn more)
- William D. Owens Memorial Lecture celebrates visionary leadership in anesthesiology (learn more)
- St. Louis Pain Research Forum Fosters Collaboration and Discovery (learn more)