Profiled

Malgorzata, known as Gosia, was born in Wroclaw, Poland, and was raised there until her family moved to Chicago at the age of 15. Her family then moved to the St. Louis area for better work and living opportunities. Gosia self-taught most of her English language while adjusting to the high school life. It was then that she, with guidance of her mother, focused her education on the medical profession. She graduated from SLU with a BSN and BA and went on to pursue her MSN in nurse anesthesia at Webster University.

Gosia has been at Barnes since 2005 as her only -- and what she expects to be her only -- hospital and university to work for. The ortho department is favored by Gosia as she enjoys the challenges of the trauma cases that the hospital sees. She has since volunteered as a pod leader to be a voice for her fellow anesthetists and enjoys the opportunity to teach, consult and guide.

After living and working in the Central West End and having the unique ability to walk to work, she and her new husband moved to Fenton to raise a family that now includes older sister Ava and younger brother Lukas. They have moved into their forever home but have never forgotten their travels as Gosia has a great respect for the outdoors with hobbies of fishing, hiking and an extraordinary resume of summiting 4 out of the 7 summits which includes the elusive summit of Mount Everest in 2013.

Anuradha moved to St. Louis in 2018 and joined the Department of Anesthesiology as an international specialist. She enjoys working in the diverse department and has made many good friends here -- so much so that she considers the department as an extend family!

She values the work culture in the department and really enjoys teaching residents.

Outside of work, Anuradha enjoys reading, cooking (experimenting) and listening to music. She values family time and finds spending time playing with her daughter (Anvi) a great stress reducer.

Melissa was born at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and grew up right around the corner from the medical campus. She has been with the School of Medicine for just over 5 years. She is the manager of credentialing and scheduling and has an excellent team she is incredibly proud to be a part of. Melissa initially planned to be an artist and went to art school after high school, but instead ended up spending 17 years in the medical field at another local University where she obtained an undergraduate degree in Humanities, another in Education, and a Masters in Teaching. She has a 16-year-old son who will be a junior at Ladue this year and wishes he could be preparing for another football state championship right now. She loves to craft, hike with her dog, cook, and travel as often as possible. Fun fact: she has a sister (by marriage) also named Melissa Bowman.

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.

Dr. Brown-Shpigel is an instructor in trauma and general divisions under the Department of Anesthesiology. She is the Center for Advanced Medicine Outpatient Surgery Center’s POD leader. In this capacity, she manages the operative board schedule, coordinates with surgeons on what cases are appropriate for the location, and works with the nursing management on perioperative process quality improvement programs. She has a special interest in trauma anesthesiology and critical care. She will be taking a sabbatical to return to training for a Critical Care Medicine Fellowship in 2021-2022 with anticipation of rejoining the Washington University Department of Anesthesiology.

Brown-Shpigel notes, "Did you know there are well over 60 different hikes you can do within 60 miles of St. Louis? I find my life balance by spending as much time as possible outdoors when I am away from work so I'm working my way through these great outdoor experiences. I have an 18 month old toddler and two doggies who love to tag along. Even though I have only been in St. Louis 6 years, I really feel like we have found our home."

Sarah is an Assistant Professor and serves as a Pain Psychologist in the Pain Management Center, where she can be found surrounded by a large number of plants. She also provides assessment and treatment services with the bariatric surgery team. She grew up in St. Louis (Pattonville) and attended Washington University as an undergrad. After working in the WUSM psychiatry department for a bit, she then obtained her PhD in Clinical Psychology at UMSL. Her pre-doctoral internship was completed at the Oklahoma City VA/OU Medical Center, and she did her fellowship at the St. Louis VA Medical Center.

Despite having no natural athletic ability or aptitude, she continues to stubbornly sign up for endurance events such as marathons, ultramarathons, duathlons, and triathlons. Her best girl, Scarlett the Bluetick Coonhound, is a wonderful training partner. Her fiancé, Kevin, cooks her delightful dinners and has reluctantly become a fan of true crime documentaries.

Medicine before coming to St. Louis for residency. He is one of the current CA-2 residents and will be the second anesthesiologist in his family after his dad. His fiancé, Keerthana, is currently a urology resident at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. They plan to dive into the hectic world of wedding planning this coming year. In his free time, Brendon enjoys playing the piano and guitar, making trips up to Milwaukee, watching plenty of Netflix, and traveling whenever he can.

Christina has worked at WashU since May 2010, and has been with the department in the Research division since 2013. She currently manages procurement, expenses, onboarding of new employees, visas, and office management. Christina is originally from St. Peters, MO, and found her passion for traveling during high school when she had the opportunity to travel to Quebec/Montreal, Canada, and Egypt. She also participated in two mission trips to Reynosa, Mexico, and spent the summer of 2002 in Sevilla, Spain with the Center for Cross-Culture Study. Christina attended Missouri Baptist University where she studied Business Administration and Spanish. She lives with her son, Dominic, and German Shepherd/Rhodesian Ridgeback mix, Jonah. Aside from traveling, she also enjoys history and any water-related fun.

Kathleen has been a Physician Assistant in the Surgical ICU at Barnes/Washington University since 2017. Originally from Sacramento, California, Kathleen lived in the Bay Area of California for six years to complete her undergraduate degree at Santa Clara University and then worked as an EMT. She then moved to St. Louis in 2014 to start her Physician Assistant program at Saint Louis University. She quickly fell in love with St. Louis and it's Midwest feel (without the up-North winters) and began working at Washington University soon after gaining her Physician Assistant Master of Medical Science degree.

The Surgical ICU has been the perfect job for Kathleen as she loves to stay busy and work in a fast paced environment. Her co-workers are amazingly supportive and have truly become close friends. She appreciates the challenges that her patients' present and has enjoyed occasionally working at Christian Hospital Northeast whenever needed, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kathleen, her boyfriend (Jeremy) and Jack Russell (Maggie) live in the Central West End and love eating, drinking and playing through the city. She especially loves to spend her free time biking (road and mountain biking), golfing (poorly), going to concerts and having get-togethers with friends and family. She's never met a party she didn't want to host! Fun fact: even though she grew up in California, she only cheers for Michigan sports since her parents are both Michiganders. Go Blue!!

Kathleen was named the Q3 2020 APP of the Quarter because she is an excellent team player and a creative problem-solver who is dedicated to delivering high-quality patient care.

Shea Carver is a resident physician in the Department of Anesthesiology at WashU. She grew up on a farm in the Flint Hills of Kansas and first became interested in medicine while shadowing a physician in her hometown’s rural primary care clinic. She graduated from Newman University and completed medical school at the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Kansas City. Her partner is also a resident physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine. Shea and her partner enjoy going to the dog park with their husky, antique hunting, trying new restaurants, and exploring St. Louis. A fun fact about Shea — she is a former FFA state champion in dairy cattle judging!