Culture Leaders

Whitney joined the department right before COVID-19 hit St. Louis in the winter of 2020. With the switch to work from home, she joined the group of wellness champions to try to find creative ways to connect with co-workers virtually and to encourage them to prioritize their own self-care.

"Personally, I love a good hike to see something beautiful in the natural world," says Whitney. "I think it's important to support each other, to remind each other that wellness is more than exercising and fad diets, and to remind one another that it's not about being perfect. Just try!"

Meet Elizabeth Schappe, one of our Wellness Champions and CRNA pod leaders in PVT. Elizabeth serves the PVT ORs and the OB anesthesia team. She recently won a grant from the Washington University Wellness Program for exercise equipment for the department and hopes to have an exercise room in PVT by the end of 2022.

Aside from work, Elizabeth spends most of her free time exploring the outdoors with her husband and three children.

My name is Ilesha Shah, and I am originally from Phoenix, Arizona. I did a BA/MD program in New Jersey and then made my way to WashU for residency. My plans for after residency are to pursue a chronic pain fellowship and hopefully have my own practice one day! In my free time, I like to travel with my husband, work out, and cook.

I'm Alex Shero and I have been a nurse practitioner with the SICU for almost four years.

My goals as a wellness champion are:

1. 1. Focusing on how to make individuals in our department feel included in our group

1. 1. Participating in regular self-care

1. 1. Finding new resources to promote mental health.

I am excited to support our hard-working APPs with social and wellness opportunities

My name is Jenny. I am a graduate student at Goldfarb School of Nursing in the DNP- Nurse Anesthesia program as well as a former BJH 4400 Trauma/Surgical ICU nurse.

I enjoy spending my free time cooking new recipes, taking walks around Forest Park, and planning my next trip. The most unique places I’ve traveled to are Iceland and Thailand!

I am enthusiastic about wellness for healthcare workers. Specifically, I am passionate about student registered nurse anesthetist (SRNA) wellness because of the nature of the intense and stressful training. Meghan Woodham and I have championed a Wellness Committee within our program to bring awareness to this issue and improve the well-being of all future SRNAs. We plan on incorporating wellness initiatives and regular programming into the curriculum going forward at Goldfarb School of Nursing.