In St. Louis, For St. Louis

Siteman Cancer Center – based at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis – soon will open a new home for world-class cancer care. The nine-story, 657,250-square-foot building, located on the Washington University Medical Campus and dedicated exclusively to outpatient cancer care, will welcome its first patients Sept. 30. The state-of-the-art building, designed specifically with cancer patients in mind, incorporates an innovative model of care – the first for cancer care in the region.

Lisa Weingarth, senior advisor for St. Louis initiatives at WashU, has been appointed to the board of the United Way of Greater St. Louis. She is serving a three-year term on the board of directors and a one-year term on the executive committee.

Washington University in St. Louis has launched a new partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri to support high school students in the organization’s Big Futures college readiness initiative. Starting this fall, WashU Undergraduate Admissions will work with students and their families to demystify the college application and financial aid processes.

Though students had yet to return to campus, WashU’s on-campus polling place saw nearly double the voter turnout in the Missouri Primary Election this month, compared to April’s Municipal Election. Though the two elections are very different in scope, races and initiatives, the steady turnout at the WashU polling place, hosted by the Gephardt Institute and the St. Louis County Board of Elections, was a welcome sight for the university. 

A new funding program for Washington University in St. Louis-affiliated startups focuses on strengthening the St. Louis region. The WashU Venture Network Follow-on Investments is a joint effort between WashU’s Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the “In St. Louis, For St. Louis” initiative. It will award up to $150,000 each year to companies with WashU ties that previously have been awarded funding through Arch Grants, the local nonprofit that awards equity-free grants to startups. The goal is to support startups with a high probability of remaining in St. Louis after the grant period is complete.

When a WashU student becomes a St. Louis Fellow, they make a commitment to serve St. Louis effectively and responsibly, immersing themselves in the community and finding ways to contribute to positive progress in the region. As part of this commitment, St. Louis Fellows participate in Engage STL Days, during which they visit local neighborhoods and engage with community members.  

As part of the St. Louis Fellows Program, Harlem Taylor ‘27 and Daniel Niu ’26 worked at Cortex Innnovation Community this summer, supporting the organization’s mission to “accelerate inclusive economic growth in St. Louis.”  

WashU Olin Business School’s entrepreneurship program will award two $25,000 grants in December to WashU-founded or St. Louis-based startups.

In the spring 2024 semester, students in Assistant Professor Kelley Van Dyck Murphy’s Fields + Frames course created temporary public art installations in St. Louis’ Cortex Innovation District. The course was funded by a grant from the Office for Socially Engaged Practice and a teaching grant from the Sam Fox School.

To minimize the impact of man-made climate change, it is essential to significantly and rapidly decrease carbon dioxide emissions while simultaneously meeting the energy and manufacturing needs of a healthy and economically stable society. A powerhouse collaboration of universities and industry, led by the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, is embarking on a bold plan to transform manufacturing toward zero or negative emissions by converting carbon dioxide ultimately into environmentally friendly chemicals and products that create a circular economy.