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Black pediatric patients believed to have neurological conditions are falling through the cracks. Half of Black pediatric patients completed the necessary genetic tests for diagnosis and treatment. That puts them well behind white pediatric patients at 75%. This is just one disparity highlighted in a new study from Washington University’s School of Medicine. WashU Medicine neurology professor Dr. Christina Gurnett said these tests are necessary to unlock treatment options.

The Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement has awarded its 22nd annual Gerry & Bob Virgil Ethic of Service Award to eight members of the WashU community who are making a positive impact in the St. Louis region. The annual honor, established by Bob Virgil, former dean of Olin Business School, and his wife, the late Gerry Virgil, celebrates students, faculty, staff, alumni, retirees and volunteers for Washington University, who go above and beyond their professional responsibilities in their service to St. Louis, inspiring others to create a healthier, more just and vibrant St. Louis. 

It wasn’t until 1961 that Washington University in St. Louis’s architecture program saw its first Black graduate – renowned modern architect Charles E. Fleming, who passed last July. From the start, he was destined to break barriers through his craft.

In 2024, The Philanthropy Lab national organization granted $62,500 to nonprofits in the St. Louis region through their Ambassador Board. In January, WashU undergrad Kate Kirchdorfer attended The Philanthropy Lab’s Ambassador Board meeting and nominated EarthDance, an organic farm school situated in Ferguson, Missouri, to receive a $25,000 grant. 

The Gephardt Institute awarded $11,100, through the St. Louis Impact Fund, to nine St. Louis Fellows and Civic Scholars to support their goals to make deeper impacts in the community-engaged work they began last summer. These Partnership Extension Grants help students extend their time with the organizations they partnered with during the summer to continue making tangible change in the region. 

New this year, the St. Louis Fellows Program will offer a specific opportunity to help address gun violence in the region. The forthcoming Arnold Family Fellow — created through a vision and gift from Jane Arnold JD ’93 and her children — is part of the new class of St. Louis Fellows and will be granted to a student who applied for the program with an expressed interest in addressing gun violence. 

After a record number of applications, a packed week of back-to-back interviews, and a rigorous selection process, the Gephardt Institute announces its largest class of St. Louis Fellows in the program’s nearly 20-year history. “WashU is in St. Louis and for St. Louis,” said Executive Director Stephanie Kurtzman. “The St. Louis Fellows Program offers a transformative pathway for students to contribute to the progress and vitality of the St. Louis region, and prepare for a lifetime of civic leadership wherever they live and work in the future. Student interest in this opportunity is at a record high, and thanks to generous contributions from our supporters, we’re pleased to expand the program once again to meet the burgeoning interest of both students and our St. Louis community partners.”

WashU Pledge scholarships, first announced in 2019, provide free undergraduate education to all incoming, full-time students from Missouri and southern Illinois whose families make $75,000 or less. Gateway to Success, announced two years later, is a $1 billion investment in student financial aid and support that has allowed WashU to adopt need-blind admissions, meaning that an applicant’s financial situation no longer factors into admission decisions.

At a critical juncture for agriculture and public health, Washington University in St. Louis is launching the Food and Agriculture Research Mission (FARM), an ambitious initiative that aims to address challenges in agricultural production, food distribution and access to nutritious foods by developing practical, scalable solutions for global impact. “The urgency of this moment cannot be overstated,” said WashU Chancellor Andrew D. Martin, who has long advocated for this initiative. “Hunger, malnutrition and environmental degradation are not distant threats — they are present crises demanding immediate, coordinated action. “We have the opportunity to interrupt these consequences by applying innovative solutions to seemingly intractable problems,” he added. “Together, with our partners in St. Louis and beyond, we will transform how we grow food, nourish communities and sustain the environment — because the health of regional, national and global populations depends on it.”

A new Washington University program seeks to use business principles to improve health care systems and operations, and spur new innovations. Launched late last year, the Business of Health initiative leans on research originating at WashU’s Olin Business School to solve industry challenges, help students launch careers on the business side of the health care field, and turn fresh ideas into real-world solutions.