People

Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: April 2024

Bobbie Brown is a graduate student in the DBBS program, training under Dr. Rob Gereau and Dr. Bryan Copits. Bobbie moved from her hometown Little Rock, Arkansas, to St. Louis to begin her undergraduate studies at WashU in 2013. Throughout undergrad, she researched voltage-gated potassium channels with Dr. Larry Salkoff and Dr. Celia Santi. In 2017, she earned her bachelor's degree in physics.

For her graduate research, Bobbie is working on optogenetic tool development. Optogenetics involves the use of light-sensitive proteins (opsins) that allow for light-mediated modulation of cellular processes; her research is focused on using opsins to regulate neuronal activity. Along with research, she has helped teach undergraduate classes including "Molecular Biology of Genetic Disorders," "Neurophysiology Lab," and "Biophysics of Consciousness." Bobbie is also involved with leadership in the department's ASSURE summer research program.

Outside of the lab, Bobbie enjoys listening to music, playing instruments, exploring outdoors, watching scary movies, teaching (or attempting to teach) her cat Momo to walk on a leash, watching basketball, facilitating local queer-Christian community, discovering new personal allergies, and architectural photography.

Medical School: Florida State University
Internship: Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri

Medical School: University of Texas, Houston
Internship: Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas

Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: February 2025

Joel Brown is a Research Nurse Coordinator with DoCTR. He graduated from SIU-Carbondale and went on to work with the Knight Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at WashU. He then went back to school and graduated from Goldfarb School of Nursing in December 2020. He started his nursing career in the cardiothoracic surgery step-down unit at BJC. He is from Mascoutah, Illinois, is a huge Marvel junkie, loves golfing, and is a big fan of the St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Blues, and Dallas Cowboys!