Profiled

Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: February 2022

Leslie has worked at WashU for 10 years, the majority of which she has worked for the Department of Anesthesiology. She currently works in the anesthesiology business office working as Senior Analyst of Finance and Planning. In her role, she oversees the account payable and payroll roles. Her duties include preparation of revenue and expense financial reports, forecasts and annual reports. Additionally, she prepares and verifies department accounting record entries and journals. Leslie also prepares presentations for quarterly division financial meetings and annual chairman presentations.

Fun fact - Leslie’s grandmother was the director of personnel in HR for 30 years. That is one of the reasons she was interested in working at WashU!

Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: April 2025

Dr. Stephanie Link joined the Department of Anesthesiology as an Assistant Professor in 2024. She completed medical training at Lincoln Memorial University, followed by an internal medicine residency and a fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at Saint Louis University. Dr. Link practices primarily at Belleville Memorial Hospital, where she was born and worked before medical school. She is grateful for the opportunity to serve the community that shaped her.

Outside of work, Dr. Link loves spending time with her nearby family and spoiling her poodle, Bentley. Her hobbies include creating art and working on a home renovation.

Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: March 2026

Qin Liu is a professor of anesthesiology at WashU Medicine. She joined the Department of Anesthesiology in 2012 following her postdoctoral training at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her research was focused on the neurobiology of pain, itch, and mechanosensation. Recently, she has developed a keen interest in the sensory biology behind sneezing, coughing, and weeping.

Qin and her husband have a seven-year-old son who is active in hockey, tennis, and chess. Most weekends, she serves as her son’s Uber driver, driving him to various hockey games and chess tournaments. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, and cooking. She has recently enrolled in tennis classes and plans to start playing tennis in 2026.

Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: July 2025

Dr. Lizzo is an assistant professor in the Division of Critical Care in the Department of Anesthesiology. She practices as an intensivist at multiple hospitals within the BJC system caring for critical patient populations in the community on the ground and in a telemedicine role. She also practices in the surgical ICUs at BJH, caring for complex patients and providing high quality medical education at the bedside with a focus on providing excellent patient centered care with compassion.

She grew up in the Chicago area and attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for her undergraduate studies. She completed a Bachelor of Science in molecular & cellular biology there while beginning her journey into medicine as an EMT, volunteering in that capacity and teaching EMS courses. After finishing her undergraduate degree, she worked as a phlebotomist before ultimately going on to complete a Master of Arts in medical sciences from Loyola University Chicago and then added medical school at University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria. She remained in Peoria for her residency in emergency medicine before going on to complete critical care fellowship at the University of Iowa, managing complex patients in multiple ICUs and doing additional training in ECMO and percutaneous tracheostomy during her training.

Dr. Lizzo enjoys traveling, a passion that began with a medical mission to San Jose, Costa Rica. Before starting her Master's, she taught English to children in Italy through a homestay program. She continues to travel internationally, immersing in local cultures, cuisines, and languages. She also enjoys decompressing with yoga, and spending time with family and friends.

Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: August 2023

Burk Loeliger, MD, is a CA-1 anesthesiology resident at Washington University. Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, he grew up close to the Chesapeake Bay with a strong love of the water along with seafood—particularly Maryland's famous crabcakes. He completed undergraduate school at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and went on to medical school at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is very excited to be starting his journey into the world of anesthesia after recently completing his internship year. He enjoys any activity that gives him time out in nature, such as hiking, swimming, and sailing. He also loves exploring the local food scene, traveling when he can, as well as reading, watching TV shows, and playing video games. Fantasy and science fiction have always been his favorite genres.

Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: October 2019

Sunny is a resident physician in her third year of training in the Department of Anesthesiology. As a resident in the ASAP research track, she is looking forward to starting her clinical fellowship in cardiothoracic anesthesia next year. Her research interests are in the areas of clinical informatics and quality improvement. Outside the hospital, Sunny enjoys cycling, hiking, and reading fantasy novels.

Department of Anesthesiology APP of the Quarter: January 2021

Becki Loveless, PA-C graduated from Quinnipiac University in 2000. She has worked in a variety of fields including orthopedics, emergency medicine, CT surgery, and most recently made the transition to critical care in July 2019. She currently works in the CTICU at BJH and in the ED at Missouri Baptist.

Becki has been active in both state and national PA organizations, currently serving as the HOD representative for MoAPA at the national AAPA conference. In addition, she has traveled throughout the country as a lecturer for the AAPA on responsible prescribing of opioids as well as the opioid epidemic. Becki was honored with the designation of Distinguished Fellow of the AAPA for outstanding dedication and achievement in the PA profession in 2015.  In her free time, she spends time being a sports mom for her two boys and traveling the world when there isn't a pandemic going on.

Becki was named the Q4 2020 APP of the Quarter! She has been in the COVID-19 unit working nights for many months without a break. She has been a wonderful resource to her colleagues regarding caring for ECMO patients, and she consistently recognizes and helps out her team when others are overwhelmed with their workloads.

Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: December 2020

John is a recent graduate Adult-Gero Acute Care Nurse Practitioner working with the Division of Critical Care in the Surgical ICU at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, the ICU at Christian Hospital, and the Tele-ICU. He was raised in central Illinois and graduated with bachelor’s degrees in Biological Sciences and Nursing from SIUE, moved to St. Louis to work as a Trauma-Neuro ICU RN at a Level I trauma center, and eventually attended Goldfarb School of Nursing to graduate with an M.S.N. His favorite aspect of nursing is the privilege of meeting and connecting with critically ill patients and their families while assisting in optimizing their chances of a safe, speedy and maximal recovery. He's forever amazed by the courage, humor, and strength in adversity displayed by ICU patients and their families, in addition to the coworkers staffing the units.

John's favorite professional interest so far, aside from the privilege of working on a bedside team caring for the critically ill, included leading a departmental Practice, Quality and Research Professional Governance Council. Professional Governance provided a conduit for a motivated and talented interdisciplinary mix of RNs, hospital leadership, and interdepartmental representatives to work together to bring Quality Improvement and Evidence-Based Practice to the ICUs with the primary goal of improving patient outcomes. Topics of personal interest include spinal cord injury care and education, therapeutic hypothermia after cardiac arrest, fever control and shivering in the ICU, and the A-F ICU liberation bundle.

Outside of work, John enjoys spending time with his wife, Kayla (who is also an NP), going on walks with their 90-lb AmStaff “Gryffin,” reading, and working out. He's fallen in love with St. Louis thanks to its delicious food, beautiful parks, and wonderful zoo and museums.

Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: March 2022

Herman is a current resident physician in the Department of Anesthesiology. Prior to residency, he studied Biology and Economics at Washington University in St. Louis before attending the University of Chicago where he obtained his MD and MBA with a concentration in operations management. He has a passion for quality improvement, patient safety, and medical device development. He also takes special pride in ensuring each of his patients feels comfortable and confident in his care before every operative case.

Outside of the hospital, you can often find him trying out new restaurants with his wife, playing tennis with friends, gardening in the backyard of his CWE home, or riding his bike through Forest Park!

Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: June 2024

Devin Macklin graduated from Xavier University of Louisiana in the spring of 2023 with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry. In the summer of 2023, he participated in the ASSURE Program, gaining valuable insight into research and anesthesiology. Following ASSURE, Devin continued to work in the department as a research technician in the Pradhan lab, where he assists in investigating novel therapeutics for migraine. In his free time, Devin loves to listen to music and podcasts, work out, and create via mediums such as writing, music production, and photography.