Later this year will mark the end of my 12-year tenure as Executive Vice Chancellor for Medical Affairs and Dean of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Filling this role has been the greatest honor and privilege of my career. As I prepare to step aside for our school’s new Dean, David H. Perlmutter, MD – a familiar face to those who knew him when he served on the Department of Pediatrics’ faculty a few years ago — I find myself reflecting on the advances I’ve been fortunate enough to witness while at this wonderful institution.
Nearly a decade ago, the University launched a strategic planning process that identified four themes: improving human health; preparing future leaders; inspiring and growing innovation and entrepreneurship; and enhancing quality of life. While our work toward these goals remains ongoing, I can say with great confidence that the talented and dedicated faculty, staff and students at the School of Medicine have welcome and embraced these challenges.
The school remains at the forefront of biomedical research — despite hurdles presented by cuts in federal research funding. Over the past 12 years, the school has ranked fourth among all medical schools in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding. Such support has been key to the advances in research our scientists have made and aim to make.
In that time, the first sequencing of a cancer genome in a human occurred here, a critical step toward understanding the genetic underpinnings of cancer. Further, our scientists have contributed significantly to understanding the root causes of Alzheimer’s, and they’ve become leaders in stroke care and research to improve stroke diagnosis and treatment.
And, as noted in this issue of Missouri Medicine, the school is a leader in Radiation Oncology — and across the spectrum of cancer research and treatment. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) recently awarded Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine an “exceptional” rating. This rating — NCI’s highest — was based on a rigorous review of the research programs at Siteman, including genomics, cancer imaging, cancer prevention and disparities, immunology and immunotherapy, and early-phase clinical trials.
Among the work reviewed: vaccines against breast cancer and melanoma, now in clinical trials; high-tech goggles that help surgeons see cancer cells during surgery; and community-based research to understand and eliminate cancer disparities in our region.
Regarding the School of Medicine’s Department of Radiation Oncology specifically, it is a national leader in developing and delivering cutting-edge treatments for cancer patients. Among its newest and most innovative such treatments is proton therapy, which targets tumors more precisely than other forms of radiation, making it ideal for treating pediatric cancer patients and adults with tumors in sensitive locations, such as the brain. At Washington University Medical Center, the S. Lee Kling Center for Proton Therapy is well into its second year of operation.
Cancer Goggles in Use
High-tech glasses developed at the School of Medicine help breast surgeon Julie Margenthaler, MD, MSMA member since 1988, visualize cancer cells in a patient. The cancer cells glow blue when viewed through the eyewear, wearable technology used during surgery for the first tme in February 2014, at the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine.
Photo credit: Robert Boston
Research Initiatives
The venture of which I am most proud is BioMed 21, the University’s research initiative to translate basic research findings into advances in medical treatment. BioMed 21, which includes faculty from the Schools of Medicine, Engineering, and Arts & Sciences, brings together basic scientists and clinical researchers from different disciplines to tackle important questions in medicine. As with most of the research on the Medical Campus, BioMed21 efforts are funded by the NIH.
Among other achievements involving the School of Medicine was the launch of the Institute for Public Health (IPH), a universitywide initiative that addresses health issues affecting our region and beyond. Gun violence, cognitive decline as we age, the influence of diet on disease are just a few of the areas IPH explores and seeks to change for the better.
The School of Medicine also recently celebrated the dedication of the McDonnell Genome Institute, which was established with a gift from longtime philanthropists and civic leaders James S. and Elizabeth H. McDonnell. Their gift is funding innovative research to understand the genetic origins of cancer and other diseases, with the aim of developing more effective diagnosis and treatment for patients.
Most recently, the school announced a partnership with a campus neighbor, the St. Louis College of Pharmacy. The collaboration is the Center for Clinical Pharmacology, an effort that will have the two institutions working together to find better, safer, and more effective ways to use prescription medications to improve health.
And I would be remiss if I did not mention the CORTEX innovation district, a collaboration of Washington University, Saint Louis University, BJC Healthcare, the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and the Missouri Botanical Garden. CORTEX’s goal is to develop a 187-acre Central West End area into one of the nation’s leading research districts and biomedical powerhouses. The entrepreneurial efforts alone that it has drawn are exceptionally encouraging and have some referring to St. Louis as the next Silicon Valley.
In regard to our faculty practice, Washington University Physicians has experienced significant growth in recent years. Last year, it earned $874 million in revenue, and it has gained 8 to 10 percent annual growth in the last decade. Among the most recent additions involving our faculty physicians is the St. Louis Children’s Specialty Care Center in west St. Louis County. The center, which is co-owned and operated by the university and SLCH, opened its doors this summer.
Shaping the Future
Meanwhile, the School of Medicine has remained true to its mission of shaping the finest physicians. The school is at the top nationwide in student selectivity, a measure of medical student undergraduate grade-point averages and MCAT scores. And it consistently has remained a top 10 medical school, according to annual rankings by U.S. News & World Report.
Our students are a continual source of amazement and promise. Among them are dedicated and compassionate future physicians, brilliant scientists in the making, energetic community volunteers — and students who still manage to write plays, perform in musical ensembles, and inspire a love for science in high school students who otherwise might never consider a career in science or medicine.
Their numbers also include entrepreneurs that we encourage, mentor and oftentimes celebrate for bold ideas they turn into realities. MD/PhD student Avik Som, MSMA member since 2011, founded IDEA Labs, a bioengineering design and entrepreneurship incubator at the University in which students, faculty, staff and outside entrepreneurs team up to tackle unmet needs in health care delivery and clinical medicine. Problems posed to the group are solicited through its website and in partnership with the St. Louis Metropolitan Medical Society.
Howard Hughes Fellows
Four students at the WU-SOM are among 68 students nationwide selected for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Medical Research Fellows Program. They are (from left) Kow Essuman, Julia Wagner, Amy Xu, MSMA member since 2012, and Jessie Ge. The annual initiative is designed to develop the next generation of physician-scientists by giving students a full year of mentored research training with some of the nation’s top biomedical scientists.
Photo credit: Robert Boston
IDEA Laboratories
WU students Bret Gao (left) a biochemistry and economics major, and Kenny Kim, a biomedical engineering major, work to make compression stockings that are easier for patients to put on. MD/PhD student Avik Som, MSMA member since 2011, founded IDEA Labs, which sparks entrepreneurial innovations designed to improve medical care. Problems posed to the group are solicited through its website and in partnership with the St. Louis Metropolitan Medical Society.
Photo credit: Robert Boston
IDEA Labs (its name stands for Innovation, Design & Engineering in Action) was founded in 2013, but as of this year it has led to 31 prototypes, 16 provisional patents, nine national competition winners and finalists, and 17 startups. Further, its teams have raised $2 million in outside investments. To label what these entrepreneurs do as inspiring is an understatement.
It’s difficult to step down from my position as Dean. But it is because of these students and the faculty and staff who help shape them that I know the School of Medicine will continue to thrive in terms of the research and future leaders in medicine it sparks, and the comprehensive, continually improving patient care we provide.
Our challenges will continue, of course. Our leaders recognize their responsibility to join in the chorus of national voices in urging legislators to restore — and grow — NIH research funding. There are far too many important discoveries within reach to simply adjust or settle for less.
As health providers and fellow citizens of the state of Missouri, we all need to work toward solutions to help the state’s nearly 300,000 low-income people who don’t have health insurance. Missouri has the opportunity to make significant strides in improving the health and well-being for a large number of vulnerable individuals if we take advantage of the tools made available to us through the Affordable Care Act. The decision to expand health insurance coverage, including Medicaid, has implications for the health care industry, small businesses and local economies, but most importantly for low-income individuals, most of whom are working but at risk of falling deeper into poverty if they get sick.
And on a more personal level, we need to continue to build a more diverse workforce and student body at the School of Medicine and in other medical institutions if we are to best serve not only the St. Louis region and our state but our society as a whole.
I plan to step down, but I don’t plan to walk away. Though I have not yet decided what my role at the School of Medicine will be, there are many initiatives at the University that I care deeply about and want to help advance.
As always, we invite you to share any suggestions you might have on how the school can better serve the state of Missouri and more effectively work in partnership with our state’s fine medical institutions and physicians.
If you would like to learn more about our school’s initiatives in research, patient care, and education, please visit our website at http://medicine.wustl.edu.
Photography Credit
The photo of Dr. Shapiro was taken at the School of Medicine in Ellen S. Clark Hope Plaza by Tim Parker.
Biography
Larry J. Shapiro, MD, a Pediatrician and MSMA member since 2006, is the Executive Vice Chancellor for Medical Affairs and Dean of the Washington University School of Medicine.
Contact: shapirol@wustl.edu
