Professional Notes: March 2026
Professional Notes is a round-up of awards, presentations, papers, and other professional achievements of SLU faculty, staff members, and students.
Faculty and Staff
In March, Saint Louis University faculty were inducted as Distinguished Fellows of the National Academies of Practice (NAP) in Indianapolis, Indiana. Lisa Dorsey, Ph.D. (Physical Therapy and Athletic Training) was named as a Distinguished Fellow in the NAP Physical Therapy Academy and Lisa Jaegers , Ph.D. (Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy) and Selena Washington, Ph.D. were named as Distinguished Fellows in the NAP Occupational Therapy Academy. They were formally recognized by NAP President/SLU faculty member Anthony Breitbach Ph.D. (Interprofessional Education) during a Gala Celebration at the NAP Annual Meeting and Forum on Saturday, March 14, 2026.
Phyllis Weliver, D. Phil. (English) was named one of 250 new Fellows, Associate Fellows, Members and Graduate Members elected by the Royal Historical Society's Council on February 6, 2026. The Royal Historical Society, founded in 1868, represents more than 6,500 historians active in the United Kingdom and globally. Fellows are elected in recognition of their contributions to historical scholarship. Weliver's research explores literature and music history in Victorian Britain as mutually constitutive with a range of nineteenth-century discourses. She has also begun to extend her scholarly interests to Victorian book culture.
Katie Heiden-Rootes, Ph.D. (Family and Community Medicine) has been selected for the 2026 American Family Therapy Academy Distinguished Contribution to Family Therapy Award. This award recognizes outstanding contributions to the field that advance just family therapy and family-centered practices and policies and reflect cumulative achievement over a career.
Udayanbga Wanninayake, Ph.D. (Pediatrics) won the Young Investigator Award at WORLD Symposium 2026 for his work focused on developing novel therapies for Morquio A syndrome and other lysosomal diseases, under the supervision of Adriana Montano, Ph.D. (Pediatrics) and in collaboration with M6P Therapeutics LLC. The team has developed a new and improved version of the therapeutic enzyme called HP-GALNS. This new drug is designed to be better absorbed by cells and stay in the body longer.
Nathanial Nolan, M.D. (Mobile Clinic Programs) has been selected to be a Health Equity Champion by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Nolan is an Infectious Diseases physician and founder of Street Med STL, who recently joined the SLU SOM as the Director of Mobile Clinical Programs, focused on serving marginalized communities.
Clémence Gieré, Ph.D., (Pharmacology & Physiology), has received a Travel Award from the U.S. Association for the Study of Pain (USASP) to attend and present her work at the 2026 USASP Annual Scientific Meeting in Philadelphia. The USASP Travel Award recognizes early-career investigators whose research advances the understanding of pain mechanisms and promotes active participation in the national pain research community. Gieré was selected based on the scientific merit of her work and her contributions to translational pain neuroscience. At the meeting, Gieré will present ongoing work focused on sex-specific mechanisms of autoimmune pain, including the role of prolactin signaling in chronic pain associated with systemic lupus erythematosus. Her research integrates behavioral analyses, electrophysiology, and molecular approaches to address clinically relevant questions in female-predominant pain disorders.
Margaret Bultas, Ph.D. (Nursing) was reappointed to the Missouri State Board of Nursing. Members of the Missouri State Board of Nursing are tasked with protecting the public's health and safety through regulation of nursing education, licensure, and practice. Bultas was first appointed in 2023.
Nori Katagiri, Ph.D. (Political Science) was reappointed as associate editor of the journal Global Studies Quarterly (GSQ). He has held the position since 2023, and the next cycle of editorship will run through 2031. GSQ is one of the academic journals of the International Studies Association, the world’s largest association for scholars and practitioners in the field of international studies.
Cynthia Nebel, Ph.D. (Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience) was named to the Association of Medical Education Learning Specialists DIG Executive Committee.
Daniela Salvemini, Ph.D. (Pharmacological and Physiological Science) chaired a symposium at the Winter Brain Research Conference, held in Big Sky, Montana, Jan. 24–29, 2026, titled “Molecular Signals at the Neurovascular Unit: Convergent Mechanisms in Neuropathic Pain and Traumatic Nerve Injury.” In addition, she delivered an invited presentation entitled “UDP-Sugar Signaling in Neuropathic Pain.”
Katie Sniffen, Ph.D. (Physical Therapy and Athletic Training) presented at the Mid America Athletic Trainers' Association Annual Meeting & Symposium in Des Moines, IA. Presentation title: "Non-Scholastic Youth Sport Safety Best Practice Recommendations."
Kim Levenhagen, DPT (Physical Therapy and Athletic Training) presented at APTA Combined Sections Meeting Conference Anaheim, CA. on Feb. 3, 2026. The presentation was titled "Diagnosis and Assessment of Upper Extremity and Trunk Secondary Lymphedema: Updated Clinical Practice Guideline."
Eric Bellm, DPT (Physical Therapy and Athletic Training) presented "Knee-d to Knows: Lower Extremity Pediatric Conditions" at the Academy of Pediatric Physical Therapy Annual Conference (APPTAC). He also presented "Shiny vs. Simple: Upper Extremity Rehab in Overhead Athletes" at the Combined Sections Meeting for American Physical Therapy Association (APTA CSM).
Jason T. Eberl, Ph.D. (Health Care Ethics) recently presented the following papers: “What Is the True Death of a Human Being?”, Society for Christian Bioethicists; “The Catholic Debate on Brain Death”, Society of Christian Ethics; and “Illuminating Human Nature through Reflection on AI”, Association for Practical and Professional Ethics. He was also invited to deliver a lecture entitled “When Does Life Begin? Thomist versus Dualist Perspectives” to the Maritain Fellows at the University of Notre Dame.
Oluwatoyosi (Olu) Owoeye, Ph.D. (Physical Therapy and Athletic Training) and Eric Bellm, DPT, (Physical Therapy and Athletic Training) with The Translational Injury Prevention Lab, recently published "Understanding Upper Extremity Injury Prevalence and Risk in Pickleball Players: A Nationwide Survey" in the Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy. The new article is part of the Pickleball for Health Project.
Katie Sniffen, Ph.D. (Physical Therapy and Athletic Training), Katherine A. Stamatakis, Ph.D. (Epidemiology and Biostatistics), Paula Buchanan, Ph.D. (Health and Clinical Outcomes Research) and Leslie Hinyard. Ph.D. (Health and Clinical Outcomes Research) co-authored "Quality of Athletic Training Services for Lower Extremity Injuries," in Clinical Practice in Athletic Training: Vol. 9.
A collaborative study co-led by Aubin Moutal, Ph.D. (Pharmacology and Physiology) and co-authored by Liberty François-Moutal , Ph.D. (Pharmacology and Physiology) and an international network of clinical geneticists and neuroscientists had a study published in Molecular Psychiatry thta identifies recurrent and novel de novo missense variants in DPYSL5, a member of the CRMP family, in individuals presenting with developmental delay, intellectual disability, and structural brain abnormalities, including agenesis of the corpus callosum. By combining detailed clinical phenotyping with functional analyses, the work establishes DPYSL5 as a gene critical for normal brain development.
Aubin Moutal and Liberty François-Moutal also collaborated with Nicolas Dumaire (graduate student) and others on a study that demonstrates that patient-derived anti-CV2/CRMP5 autoantibodies directly target sensory neurons, increase their intrinsic excitability, and induce mechanical hypersensitivity, establishing autoantibodies as drivers, rather than simple biomarkers, of paraneoplastic pain. Importantly, this work directly addresses a long-standing gap in the field by providing functional evidence that autoantibodies against an intracellular neuronal antigen can access sensory neurons and alter their physiology.
Chris Sebelski, Ph.D. (Physical Therapy and Athletic Training) co-authored an article about her latest research in their scholarly inquiry into leadership and leadership knowledge, skills, and abilities in healthcare. Leadership Competency Framework for Physical Therapists (LCF-PT): Examining Content Validity in the Journal of Physical Therapy Education.
Ashley Doonan, Ph.D. (Doisy College of Health Sciences) and Tony Buchanan, Ph.D. (Psychology) published their research "Chronic stress and risky decision making in emerging adults: University students versus non-student peers" in the journal Emerging Adulthood.
Eddie M. Clark, Ph.D. (Psychology) and colleagues published "Residential Segregation, Housing Cost, and Smoking Behaviors in Black Americans" in the journal Social Science and Medicine.
Eric Bellm, DPT (Physical Therapy and Athletic Training) was the co-author of "Upper Extremity Return to Sport Functional Testing: A Systematic Review" in Sport Health Open.
Hossein Rafiei, Ph.D. (Nutrition and Dietetics) published the article "Efficacy of different types of intermittent fasting in improving glycemic control in adults with overweight or obesity: a systematic review and network meta-analysis."
Students
Discover BMB, the annual meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB), was held in Washington, D.C., in March 2026. Undergraduate students from across the country competed in a poster presentation and competition. Three SLU undergraduate students majoring in Medical Science and Chemistry presented their research results.
Ngan Trinh (Medical Sciences) and Rebecca Carter (Medical Sciences) are DeNardo Scholars, meaning their research and conference attendance were funded by a grant from the DeNardo Education and Research Foundation. Conference travel for Rebecca Carter and Rahul Jasthi (Chemistry) was supported by the ASBMB SLU Chapter Travel Award.
As members of the ASBMB SLU Chapter, the students participated in ASBMB events, including the undergraduate research competition, and presented their research posters at this national conference. Rahul Jasthi won First Prize in the Nucleic Acid category.
Avantika Jain, (Medicine Ph.D. student) was awarded the Student and Young Investigators Section (SYIS) Scientific Excellence Award and 200$ cash prize at the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Society- American Chapter held in Detroit, Michigan from November 9-12, 2025. This award recognizes the scientific excellence of students and young investigators working in the fields of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Avantika also gave a podium presentation titled “Comparative Effects of Hypoxic vs. Normoxic Mesenchymal Stem Cell-derived EVs On Muscle Regeneration Following Volumetric Muscle Loss (VML)“ in the session "Revitalizing Tissues: Harnessing EVs & Mitochondria.” Jain was awarded a $150 NIH R13 Travel Award to present her work at the conference.
Jain also was named a poster award winner at the American Association of Extracellular
Vesicles 2025 Conference. The conference was
hosted in Salt Lake City, Utah. Avantika received a $150 cash prize for her poster
presentation, “Comparative Effects of Hypoxic vs. Normoxic Mesenchymal Stem Cell-derived
EVs On Muscle Regeneration Following Volumetric Muscle Loss (VML).”
Lucas Handlin (School of Medicine student) and Ayush Mistry (School of Medicine student) received the 2026 Katzman Scholarship in recognition of their outstanding performance in the BMB graduate program. The $35,000 scholarship is for one year, effective July 1, 2026, and will cover their current stipend. An additional $1,000 contributed by the Chair of BMB will be available to them as a "travel award."