Profiled

Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: February 2020

Ramya is a current second-year resident originally from southeast Michigan. She has slowly been moving further south to warmer climates following medical school at Ohio State University. She is currently undecided about which fellowship to pursue but is excited to complete CA-1 year to see the other subspecialties of anesthesia. Outside of work, Ramya is a foodie and enjoys exploring new restaurants both in St. Louis and abroad. She is also recently trying out rock climbing.

Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: July 2020

Kam has been a clinical nurse coordinator for the Pain Management Center since 2005. In her role as patient advocate, she guides the patients and their families in the referral process as well as providing information on chronic pain treatment modalities. Kam also acts as a physician liaison to promote practice growth and development. As new physicians join the Pain Center, she helps to build relationships with their referring colleagues which emphasizes the attending’s interests and expertise. She is blessed with a very supportive husband, and two talented children. In her spare time she enjoys distance running, biking and swimming.

Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: January 2025

Cody is a CA-1 resident in the Department of Anesthesiology at WashU Medicine. A Southern Illinois native, he earned his bachelor’s degree in physiology from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and his medical degree from the SIU School of Medicine.

In his free time, Cody enjoys swimming, playing video games, and hanging out with his cat, Iroh. A fun fact about Cody: he spent eight years coaching summer league, club, and high school swimming while completing his undergraduate and medical studies.

Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: December 2025

Amy grew up in central Illinois and received her BSN from Millikin University. After college, she moved to St. Louis where she worked at Saint Louis University Hospital in the trauma/surgical ICU. She earned her MSN from Webster University and started working for WashU Medicine as a CRNA in 2010. She floated to all of the OR pods and did OB anesthesia at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Missouri Baptist for several years before ultimately choosing POD 1 as her home. In 2022, she transferred to Barnes-Jewish West County and is one of the core CRNAs at the surgery center.

Outside of work, Amy enjoys traveling, reading, trying new restaurants, staying active, and spending time with friends and family.

Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: March 2025

Andy is currently an intern in the Department of Anesthesiology. A St. Louis native, he grew up in south city before completing both his bachelor's degree at WashU and Medical Doctor at WashU Medicine, and joining the residency program in 2024. Andy is passionate about education and equitable access to care, himself a product of WashU's medical education outreach programs. He is still open to many subspecialty paths, and has developed a particular interest in pediatric anesthesiology. He is certain, however, that medical education will remain a large part of his career, and is involved with projects in anesthesiology education at WashU and UM.

Outside of the hospital, Andy tries to stay active and outdoors - favorites include biking, hiking, skiing, and taking walks to look at historic architecture. He has been a member at the Missouri Botanical Gardens for two decades and religiously attends its events. Andy has 2 cats, bakes sourdough bread, and is a tea snob. He and his partner enjoy spending time with family, especially their niece and nephews.

Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: July 2024

Richard Benzinger, MD, PhD, currently serves as Interim Vice Chair for Education for the Department of Anesthesiology. He grew up in Pittsburgh, PA, where he learned to drive cars with manual transmissions on hilly streets. He received his BS in biology from the California Institute of Technology in 1993, followed by a PhD in neurobiology and an MD from the University of Chicago. He joined our department as a resident in 2001, couples-matching with his wife Tammie, who is now the Hugh Wilson Professor of Radiology.  Dr. Benzinger has made invaluable contributions to our team, including serving as Chief Resident, the William Owens Research Fellow in Anesthesiology, and the residency program director from 2011 to 2018.  Clinically, he is a member of the liver transplant team and works in the CPAP clinic. Outside the OR, he enjoys working on his house, traveling, and caring for his collection of geriatric cats.

Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: November 2023

Andrea Bigogno is a board-certified Adult Geriatric Acute Care Nurse Practitioner who has worked in Surgical Critical Care within the Department of Anesthesiology since 2015. Andrea immigrated to St. Louis with her family from Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1994. She started her nursing education at the University of Missouri-Columbia and received her Bachelor of Nursing from Goldfarb School of Nursing in 2009. Andrea worked in the Surgical/Trauma/Burn ICU at BJH as a nurse and graduated from her alma mater with her Master of Science in Nursing in 2015. As a provider, she loves being able to build connections with her patients and their family members.

Outside of work, Andrea spends the majority of her time with her awesome husband, Tony, as they juggle their busy schedule with their three wonderful children, Johnny (7), Dominic (5), and Mila (4). Andrea is a self-proclaimed gym rat and bookworm, and in her free time spends her time at the gym or with her nose buried in a book.

Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: February 2024

Abby Bisch is a CRNA and Co-Director of the Mentorship Program at WashU Medicine in the Department of Anesthesiology. She floats to all pods and recently started rotating to the OB floor. She hails from Ottawa, KS, and went to Kansas State University where she studied Food Science, and Industry and Non-Profit Leadership. She earned her BSN at the University of Saint Mary, in Kansas City, KS. She gained ICU experience in Dallas, TX, at Baylor, Scott, and White Medical Center. Finally, she earned her DNP at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX.

It was at K-State where she fell in love with her now-husband, Aaron. Together they have an almost two-year-old son, Luka, and a 6-year-old Shiba Inu, Kairo. They are also expecting identical twin girls this April (feel free to send all name ideas via email)! Abby loves traveling, camping, baking, trying new restaurants, drinking bourbon, playing Settlers of Catan, and doing house projects.

Department of Anesthesiology – APP of the Quarter: June 2023

Michelle joined the Department of Anesthesiology in 2015 as a nurse practitioner (NP) with critical care medicine. Her NP career initially began in 4400 Surgical/Burn/Trauma ICU but with the growth of the division, her career also expanded to 7800 SICU, eICU, Memorial Hospital Belleville, 8200 COVID ECMO, and a small amount of time at Christian Hospital Northeast to provide additional support during the COVID pandemic. Additionally, in 2019 she accepted an APP Leadership position at Memorial Hospital, Belleville.

Michelle says she is “grateful for the opportunity to take care of patients and families during some of the darkest days of their lives”, citing this as “a constant reminder that both humbles and inspires me to be grateful for everything I have each day.”

Within our department, she finds great joy in the expansion of our critical care APP group, citing these new opportunities to learn and work alongside such a diverse group of highly intelligent, culturally diverse, and engaged colleagues as a personal motivator to continue to improve her practice each day.

Michelle was named the Q2 2023 APP of the Quarter! Her nominator says, "Michelle is a great teammate, leader, patient advocate, and friend. She truly cares about our ICU as one that not only delivers quality care to our patients, but that's great to work in as well."

Outside of work, Michelle is engaged with her spouse, young family (children ages 8, 5, 2), and dog.  She has newly adopted yoga as a daily practice both to challenge her body physically and to release some of the emotional stress brought on by caring for critically ill patients.

Fun fact, Michelle grew up in a small town in southern Illinois - so small that the entire town’s population is less than half that of the BJH patient bed capacity.

Department of Anesthesiology Featured Member: November 2025

Kara began her career in healthcare at Retina Specialists after moving from central Illinois to Missouri following college. There, she worked as a certified ophthalmic scribe and research coordinator. During that time, she discovered her passion for working with medical trainees—particularly retina fellows—which led her to join WashU Medicine in February 2020, just before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kara now serves as the Fellowship Coordinator for Anesthesiology Critical Care, with her role also extending into Surgery Critical Care—and she proudly claims those six surgery fellows as her own.

She finds her work deeply rewarding and often says she’s making an impact by helping to train the next generation of ICU physicians. Known affectionately as the “mom” of the ACCM and SCC fellows, Kara is recognized for her kindness, encouragement, and practical wisdom. As she likes to say, “Everyone needs someone rooting for them, no matter how old they are.”

Outside of work, Kara stays busy with her two sons, ages 10 and 8, who are active in multiple sports—especially wrestling, where both have earned state medals at a young age. At home, her family also fosters pets in need, and they currently care for a foster cat through The Cat Network STL. Kara encourages anyone looking for a furry companion to consider adopting through the organization.