People

Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: November 2022

Mallory is a CA-2 resident in the anesthesia department. As a resident, every day is different. She can be found in the ORs of one of the PODs, in the cardiothoracic or surgical ICUs, in the pain clinic, or on the labor and delivery floor of at Saint Louis Children’s Hospital. Wherever she is assigned, she can be found learning any one of the many aspects of anesthesia from the amazing faculty, fellows, and co-residents here at WashU.

She grew up in Lake Villa, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago. She attended undergrad at Notre Dame and medical school at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Even though she moved to St. Louis in the middle of a pandemic, she has made this her home and enjoys experiencing the city with her fellow residents. In her free time, she enjoys reading, biking in Forest Park, and relaxing by the pool. She is also a big fan of the Chicago Blackhawks hockey team, which can sometimes be challenging while living in the hometown of one of their biggest rivals!

She is very grateful for the experiences and training she has received thus far at WashU and cannot wait to see where the future takes her.

Medical School: Duke University School of Medicine

Residency: WashU Medicine — Anesthesiology (ASAP Scholar)

Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: August 2022

Melissa was born and raised on the sunny island of Jamaica. She worked briefly as a high school teacher in Kingston, before deciding to follow her dream of becoming a physician-scientist. After studying Biochemistry at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, she worked as a lab tech/manager in a cancer lab in Boston. She considers herself a Bostonian at heart. She migrated south to Duke University where she earned an MD and PhD in Pharmacology and Molecular Cancer Biology. There, she accidentally became a vascular biologist. At the same time, as a medical student, she discovered her love of all things cardiac anesthesia.

At WashU, she is in the ASAP Residency Research Track and has successfully completed her fellowship in cardiothoracic anesthesiology. She is currently in the dedicated research phase of her program, where she hopes to blaze the trail for anesthesiologists participating in life-saving basic and translational cardiovascular research. Her current project focuses on uncovering the mechanisms of inherited dilated cardiomyopathies, with the goal of developing precision medical therapies that extend and improve the quality of life for heart failure patients. She is a big proponent of interdisciplinary and team science, and enjoys her current collaborations with cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, biophysicists, and informaticians.

Outside of work, Melissa loves to travel and learn about diverse cultures, and hopes one to day to visit every continent. She is a tennis enthusiast and has been to all four Grand Slams. She’s always up for a game, as long as it’s >50F and not actively precipitating. She also likes to garden, paint, and spend time with her husband Shanti and seven-year-old daughter Gabi.

Medical School: A.T. Still University of Health Sciences-Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine

Department of Anesthesiology FAS Employee of the Quarter: June 2025

Abby has been in the St. Louis Metro area all her life but moved to St. Louis City in 2019. She has been with WashU Medicine for almost seven years. She has been with the Department of Anesthesiology for a year and a half and has loved every minute of it. Outside of work she loves learning history, reading, traveling, and spending time with her 3 cats.