News and Announcements
Stella Hoft, Ph.D., successfully defended her dissertation work titled "Defining Inflammatory
and Metaplastic Phenotypes that Contribute to Gastric Carcinogenesis" on Dec. 13,
2024, passing with distinction. Next, she will continue pursuit of her medical degree
and return to third year of medical school in January 2025. When she finishes the
program, she hopes to become a physician scientist focusing her research within pediatric
immunology.
Di (Andy) Wu, Ph.D., successfully defended his dissertation work, "Estrogen loss activates
memory T-cells that is physiological postpartum but pathological postmenopause increasing
bone fragility," on Nov. 15, passing with distinction. Wu is ready to return to the
clinics and complete his medical training in January.
Elisabeth DeMarco, Ph.D., successfully defended her dissertation work, "Comorbidities
of Aging: Internalizing Psychopathology in People with Parkinson’s Disease," on Nov.
4, passing with distinction. She is excited to return to caring for patients in January
and build on her dissertation work in future projects. |
This yearly event highlights our trainees' research with opportunities to discuss
their abstracts with faculty and students. A light reception followed the presentations.
This yearly event highlights our trainees' research with opportunities to discuss
their abstracts with faculty and students. A light reception followed the presentations.
This yearly event highlights our trainees' research with opportunities to discuss
their abstracts with faculty and students. A light reception followed the presentations.
Monica Goodland successfully defended her dissertation June 20, 2024, becoming the
first doctor in her family. The dissertation is titled, “Temporal A3 adenosine receptor
activation and signaling prevents mild traumatic brain injury-induced memory impairment.”
Goodland expects to publish two manuscripts from the project and said she looks forward
to continuing memory research with the intention of identifying interventions for
preventing and reversing impairment. |
Valerio Rasi, Zach Grese, Jess Bourque, Emily Cybulla and Meghan Murray, 2024 graduates
of the M.D./Ph.D. program. Best wishes for each of you. Your dedication and compassion
will make a difference for so many. Congratulations!
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Congratulations to Alex Piening, Ph.D., for two recent publications. First, "Obesity-related
T cell dysfunction impairs immunosurveillance and increases cancer risk" found in
Nature Communications.
Read this article
The second paper, "Overall survival in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma treated with
concomitant systemic therapy and stereotactic body radiation therapy or systemic therapy
alone" was in collaboration with the Department of Radiation Oncology and was the
basis of my trip to the 2023 European Society for Medical Oncology Congress in Madrid,
Spain.
Read this article
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Lou Vinarcsik, M.D./Ph.D trainee, defended her dissertation in the health care ethics
department on May 15 and her committee unanimously voted to pass her with distinction!
Vinarcsik is excited to get back to patient care in June and is determined to find
a spare minute every now and then to keep writing.
Congratulations to Alex Piening, Ph.D. Piening successfully defended his dissertation
titled: "Obesity-related T cell dysfunction impairs immunosurveillance and increases
cancer risk” under the direction of Ryan Teague, Ph.D. Piening will rejoin medical
school as a third-year student in June. |
An image from our M.D./Ph.D. program Match Day bowling celebration. Congratulations
on your new adventures Zack, Jess, Valerio, Meghan and Emily. We are so excited for
you! |
Congratulations to Zachary Grese, M.D., Ph.D. Zack is excited to be staying at SSM
Health/Saint Louis University School of Medicine where he matched in psychiatry. |
Meghan Murray, M.D., Ph.D., Match Day!
It's a bittersweet moment for Meghan as she completes the last of her night shifts
in the SSM Health/SLU Hospital emergency department. She will be starting the psychiatry
residency program at Washington University in Saint Louis this summer. Congratulations! |
Congratulations to Jessica Bourque, M.D., Ph.D., Jess matched into her first choice
at Massachusetts General Hospital in the Internal Medicine/Stanbury Physician-Scientist
Pathway! |
“Skills on Working in Diverse Teams” was the theme for the third annual M.D./Ph.D.
Retreat. Our trainees engaged in community team building and individual exercises
with special highlighted activities led by M.D./Ph.D. students, Emily Cybulla and
Lou Vinarscik. Our retreat provided a constructive, enjoyable learning experience
for our M.D./Ph.D. students while continuing to form positive community relationships.
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Please welcome our two newest M.D./Ph.D. trainees, JJ Adler and Yasser Hussaini. We
are excited to have you in the program and look forward to your successes.
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Congratulations to our newest 2023 M.D. Ph.D. graduate, Michelle Bach and her family.
Michelle will be attending Emory University -PSTP Psychiatry. We wish you nothing
but the best! |
From left are Stella Hoft, G3, SLU SoM APSA Co-President; Emily Cybulla, M4, SLU APSA
Travel Grant Awardee; Ren Ernst, M4, SLU APSA Travel Grant Awardee; Poorva Sheth,
M1, SLU APSA Travel Grant Awardee; Elisabeth DeMarco, G2, SLU SoM APSA Co-President.
Elisabeth DeMarco, G2 trainee in health and clinical outcomes research presented her
research at Joint Meeting.
Elisabeth DeMarco, G2 trainee in health and clinical outcomes research presented her
research at Joint Meeting.
Stella Hoft, G3 trainee presented her research representing the DiPaolo lab.
Emily Cybulla,Ph.D., M4 presented her research at the AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting.
SLU was well-represented at the recent joint meeting of the American Physician Scientist
Association, American Society for Clinical Investigation, and Association of American
Physicians. Students from the M.D./Ph.D. program, M.D. program, and undergraduate
APSA members had a great time connecting with and learning from peers, presenters,
and attendees.
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Congratulations to our M.D./Ph.D. student, Michelle Bach, M.D., Ph.D., for matching
Psychiatry PSTP at Emory University. Michelle's plan is to continue research by focusing
on public trust and patient experiences of neuromodulation.
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Congratulations to Alex Piening, third-year M.D./Ph.D. student, for his first authorship
paper. “The goal of this study was to identify the impact of immunotherapy on COVID-19
immunity in previously vaccinated cancer patients. After analyzing antibody and T
cell responses before and after immunotherapy, we found that immunotherapy did not
significantly alter humoral or cellular immunity to SARS-CoV-2. These results provide
immunological data that support other clinical studies demonstrating the safety of
COVID-19 vaccination in cancer patients receiving systemic therapies.” |
In August, M.D./Ph.D. students attended a day and a half retreat, "Navigating Diverse
Career Paths”. The retreat kicked off with a presentation by Dr. Christine Jacobs
and conversations with other faculty members. A keynote speaker, panel discussions
on different M.D./Ph.D. career paths and activities were key aspects of the retreat
as well as building community within the program. |
Jessica Bourque, Ph.D., successfully defended her dissertation entitled "Life and
Death of Tolerogenic Dendritic Cells" in June. She will miss the Hawiger lab but is
excited to return to the medical school as a M3 in July. |
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Zachary Grese, Ph.D., successfully defended his dissertation "The role of RNA-binding
in TDP-43 liquid-liquid phase separation and function” via Zoom in May. He will miss
Dr. Ayala's lab but is excited to continue medical school as a third-year student
in June. Congratulations.
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Meghan Murray, Ph.D., successfully defended her dissertation, “Synthetic Ligands Targeting
R.o.R. and R.E.V.-E.R.B. To Treat Inflammatory and Metabolic Diseases” in May. Meghan
will return to medical school in June as a third-year student. Congratulations, Meghan.
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Congratulations to Valerio Rasi, Ph.D., on his successful dissertation defense “Mechanistic
Investigations of Granzyme A-mediated T.B. Protective Effects” under the direction
of Dr. Hoft, Valerio will rejoin medical school as a third-year student in June. |
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Congratulations to Catherine Cai on matching to New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center-NY.
Catherine says, "I am simply elated to be moving to one of the best cities in the
world to train at one of the best hospitals in the country. The M.D./Ph.D. journey
is a long and often lonely one, but it makes Match Day that much sweeter for us. I
am grateful for my family here in the M.D./Ph.D. program and for the support I received
from the School of Medicine."
Best of luck for a bright fulfilling career.
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M.D./Ph.D. candidate Nick Steinauer successfully defended his dissertation "Role of
the Hematopoietic Corepressor CBFA2T3 in Acute Myeloid Leukemia" in April, under the
mentorship of Jinsong Zhang. He is excited to begin his M3 year of medical school
in June.
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Stephen Grote, Ph.D. successfully defended his dissertation, "Neuronostatin: a Novel
Factor in Glucose Counterregulation" on April 15 via Zoom call. He will be returning
to medical school as an M3 in June.
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Daniel Pike successfully defended his dissertation: "Neutrophil-Derived Bioactive
Lipids in Sepsis" in April. He loved working in the Ford lab and will miss being a
part of it, but he is excited to start the next chapter in his training and rejoin
medical school in June.
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Congratulations to Kevin Bockerstett, Ph.D., for successfully defending his dissertation
"The Role of Inflammation in Gastric Carcinogenesis." via a Zoom call during the COVID-19
crisis. Kevin will rejoin medical students as an M3 student to finish his training
as a medical student.
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Saint Louis University School of Medicine Virtual Match Day 2020. Congratulations
to Ananthi Rajamoorthi, M.D., Ph.D., on matching to her first choice at New York Presbyterian
Children's Hospital/Columbia University Pediatric Physician- Scientist Program. Best
wishes for an exciting future.
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Congratulations to our newest 2019 M.D./Ph.D. graduates, left to right, Kostia Malley
University of Nevada Reno School of Medicine - Internal Medicine, Anit Behera University
of Chicago Medical Center - Neurology, Dr. Jane McHowat (M.D./Ph.D. Program Director),
Dr. Andy Lechner (M.D./Ph.D. Program Director Emeritus), Andrew Jones Barnes - Jewish
Hospital - Internal Medicine, Ray Kreienkamp, St. Louis Children's Hospital - Pediatrics. |
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Nick Steinauer, M.D./Ph.D. student in Dr. Zhang's lab, recently published a paper
in Blood Advances. Congratulations. Steinauer, N., Guo, C., Huang, C., Wong, M., Tu,
Y., Freter, C. E., & Zhang, J. (2019). Myeloid translocation gene CBFA2T3 directs
a relapse gene program and determines patient-specific outcomes in AML. Blood Advances, 3(9), 1379 LP – 1393.
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In the News
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