Dr. Hinyard is the Executive Director of the Advanced HEAlth Data (AHEAD) Institute and the Chair of the Department of Health and Clinical Outcomes Research at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine. Her research focuses on health disparities and health equity, health related quality of life, and psychosocial needs of cancer patients. She has also conducted research on the relationship between gender and asthma exacerbations, quality of life assessment, diabetes, and narrative cancer communication. You can find out more about Dr. Hinyard’s work at our Lunch with a Researcher event on March 3rd. Find out more here.

Dr. Matifadza Hlatshway is Associate Program Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. Hlatshway has been appointed to the City of St. Louis Board of Health where she will help advise on programs of essential public health, including COVID-19 pandemic response, communicable disease mitigation, and health and racial justice. We are excited to announce she will be a panelist for our first Lunch with a Researcher event on the topic of COVID-19. Learn more about Dr. Hlatshway’s work.

This month, we’re excited to introduce you to Rachael Bradshaw, Director of the new Masters program in Genetic Counseling at Washington University School of Medicine. Bradshaw is also a genetic counselor and Assistant Professor at Saint Louis University. Genetic counselors often work with cancer patients, expectant parents and parents of young children who may have been diagnosed with inherited genetic conditions. Learn more about her work here.

Dr. Jeffrey Millman is Assistant Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering at John T. Milliken Department of Internal Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine. His team’s goal is studying and developing a cure for diabetes. Dr. Millman is leading the field in the discovery and development of novel therapies using human stem cells. Specifically, developing replacement cells and tissues that can secrete insulin in response to blood sugar levels to precisely control blood sugar. Learn more here.

Dr. Barbara A. Pahud is a pediatric infectious diseases physician who has spent her career focusing on vaccine preventable diseases, immunization development, safety, and efficacy, vaccine education for physicians and healthcare workers. She is the Director of Research, Infectious Diseases at Children’s Mercy Research Hospital in Kansas City. You can learn more about her work or watch her recent presentation on COVID-19 vaccines.

We are pleased to introduce you to Dr. Sheila Grant, associate vice chancellor of Research & Strategic Initiatives for the University of Missouri and a professor in the Department of Biomedical, Biological and Chemical Engineering at the University of Missouri. You can learn more about the work she is doing here or you can join her at our WISER Columbia Virtual event on September 22 at 8 a.m.

Meet Chanté Summers, Senior Associate Scientist at Pfizer Inc. in the Bioprocess Research and Development Division of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Chanté works with a multidisciplinary team to research innovative technologies for the development of mid- to late-stage therapeutics. She leverages her technical background in organic chemistry to develop biochemical processes for production of clinical trial material. Through small-scale laboratory studies and statistical analysis, Chanté applies her findings to deliver robust and efficient strategies for heightened process performance at large scale. Chanté has supported therapeutics across Pfizer’s portfolio including gene therapies, antibody drug conjugates, and vaccines. We are excited to have Chanté join us as a panelist for on November 11th for our WISER Week. Learn more here.

Meet Dr. Cynthia Rogers, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. Rogers and her team are studying the effects of home environments on children born prematurely and the impact of adverse psychosocial environments on brain development. Her work will help improve long-term outcomes for children born prematurely as targeted interventions can be used to modify factors leading to impairment. Learn more about her fascinating work here.

We are excited to introduce Dr. Yuksel Agca as our feature researcher. Dr. Agca is an Associate Professor of Veterinary Medicine at University of Missouri Columbia. He and his team of researchers induced menopause in rats to study cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease with hormone depletion. According to Dr. Agca, “These animal models can be useful for future testing to examine the impact of a variety of other factors, such as alcohol, smoking, diet, exercise, hypertension or previous traumatic brain injuries.” Learn more about his work here.

Learn about their work here.

Dr. Philip Payne is the founding director of the Institute for Informatics (I2) at Washington University, where he also serves as the Robert J. Terry Professor and Professor of Computer Science and Engineering. The Institute of Informatics is doing critical work to help guide the State’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and building a rapid response to public health data management. In addition, Dr. Payne is part of the leadership team building a national synthetic data COVID-19 resource. You can follow him on twitter @prpayne5 and learn more about his work here.

Dr. Tom Curran has been working on the frontline of cancer research and developmental neurobiology for more than 30 years and continues to contribute as a scientist, administrator, leader and mentor in the research community. In 2016, he became the Executive Director and Chief Scientific Officer of the Children’s Research Institute, Children’s Mercy, Kansas City with the ambition of establishing a world class center for pediatric translational research. His goals for the Children’s Research Institute are to develop a strong focus on pediatric translational research and developmental therapeutics throughout the region. Learn more about him and the Children’s Mercy Research Institute here.