Author: Elizabeth

As we reflect on another year in the Department of Medicine, I am filled with gratitude and pride for the extraordinary dedication of our faculty, staff, and trainees. While we continue to navigate challenges across academic medicine and healthcare, your resilience, compassion, and unwavering commitment to our missions have allowed us to make meaningful progress in patient care, research, education, and service.

The department is grateful for the dedication, expertise, and passion of each team member recognized this year and thanks them for their service to WashU Medicine and the Department of Medicine. The staff members recognized below reached significant service anniversaries during the 2025-26 academic year, reflecting years of commitment, professionalism, and contributions that strengthen the institution and support its missions of patient care, education, research, and community engagement.

The Department of Medicine recognized outstanding faculty and staff during its inaugural Department of Medicine Awards Ceremony, celebrating individuals whose contributions strengthen patient care, education, research, mentorship and workplace culture across the department.

BJC HealthCare and WashU Medicine are expanding access to exceptional care—informed by the latest medical advances—with the opening of the new Center for Advanced Medicine–Sunset Hills. The outpatient facility, expected to open in fall 2026, will welcome its first patients this fall and bring together WashU Medicine specialty care, BJC Medical Group primary care, and advanced diagnostic services in a convenient community setting.

WashU Medicine cardiologist Dr. Mark Huffman explains what happens to your body when scared and all red-flag heart symptoms to know this Halloween season! Huffman joins My St. Louis Live to break down scares vs. stress, who should be extra careful, and when to seek ER care

Two faculty members from the WashU Medicine Cardiovascular Division were recognized for their contributions to education during the Academy of Educators Education Day, an annual event that celebrates excellence in medical education and honors outstanding educators across the institution.

The Barnes-Jewish Hospital/WashU Medicine Echocardiography Laboratory has earned accreditation from the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC) in three key areas of echocardiographic imaging: Adult Transthoracic Echocardiography, Adult Transesophageal Echocardiography and Adult Stress Echocardiography. The accreditation was awarded following review by the IAC Echocardiography Board of Directors at its Oct. 14, 2026 meeting and recognizes the laboratory’s demonstrated compliance with rigorous national standards for quality patient care and imaging excellence.

Researchers at WashU Medicine have found that glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs), including semaglutide and tirzepatide, were associated with significantly lower risks of heart attack, heart failure and death among adults with serious mental illness, type 2 diabetes and obesity. The findings, led by senior author Victor G. Dávila-Román, MD, professor of medicine in the cardiovascular division, professor of anesthesiology, and radiology, and director of the WashU Global Health Center, were published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Mark D. Huffman, MD, MPH, the William Bowen Endowed Professor of Medicine in the WashU Medicine cardiovascular division, has been elected a Fellow of the Southern Society for Clinical Investigation (SSCI), a distinction that recognizes physicians and scientists who have demonstrated meritorious scholarship and made significant contributions to academic medicine. Newly elected Fellows will be recognized during the SSCI Reception at the Southern Regional Meeting 2027, to be held Feb. 18-20 in New Orleans.

Nathan Stitziel, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and genetics at WashU Medicine, has been inducted into the American Clinical and Climatological Association (ACCA), one of the nation’s oldest and most distinguished physician-scientist organizations. Founded in 1884, the ACCA recognizes outstanding physicians whose leadership, scientific excellence, integrity and contributions have advanced medicine and human health. Active membership is limited to 250 physicians nationwide.

The stroke incidence rate among young adults nearly doubled from 1993 to 2020 while decreasing among older adults, according to research published in Neurology. Karen Joynt Maddox, MD, MPH provides prospective for this piece in Healio

The Division of Cardiology at WashU Medicine is pleased to welcome our 2026 class of first-year cardiovascular fellows. The class includes physicians who completed residency at institutions across the country, including Mayo Clinic, Yale University, Stanford University, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Washington, Case Western Reserve University, and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, as well as several fellows who trained here at Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Alan C. Braverman, MD, FACC, Alumni Endowed Professor of Cardiovascular Diseases, section head of General Cardiology, and director of the Marfan Syndrome and Aortopathy Center at WashU Medicine, was honored during the Cleveland Clinic Comprehensive, Lifelong, Expeditious (CLE) Care of Aortic Disease Symposium, held Sept. 18-19, 2026. The symposium brought together internationally recognized experts to discuss advances in the diagnosis and treatment of aortic aneurysms, aortic dissections, aortic valve disease, genetics, imaging and lifelong aortic care.

Victor G. Dávila-Román, MD, decided early in medical school in Puerto Rico that he wanted to spend his career healing the heart, after summers spent shadowing his favorite cardiology professor. A path that ran through the U.S. Army and clinical training in St. Louis led him to the WashU faculty in 1988, where he is now a professor of medicine, anesthesiology and radiology at WashU Medicine and a secondary faculty member at WashU Bursky Public Health. Over the course of his career in patient care, his passion for cardiovascular research grew.

Karen Joynt Maddox, MD, MPH, professor of medicine in the Cardiovascular Division and professor of public health at WashU’s Bursky School, is co-author of a new study examining how social drivers of health are expected to shape the future burden of cardiovascular disease in the United States through 2050. The research, published in JACC Advances, projects substantial increases in cardiovascular disease prevalence across all demographic groups, with persistent disparities linked to education, income and insurance status.

The Cardiovascular Division is proud to announce that third-year Cardiovascular Fellow Joshua Mendoza, MD has been named a recipient of the 2026 Knowlton Incentive for Excellence Award.

The award recognizes extraordinary internal medicine physicians at Barnes-Jewish Hospital who pair exceptional clinical skill with compassionate patient care and a commitment to advancing the science of internal medicine.

Andrew M. Kates, MD, FACC, professor of medicine in the Cardiovascular Division at WashU Medicine, has been appointed to the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Board of Trustees. His four-year term as trustee will begin in April 2027 following the ACC Annual Scientific Session in Houston.

Alan C. Braverman, MD, FACC, Alumni Endowed Professor of Cardiovascular Diseases, section head of General Cardiology, and director of the WashU Medicine Marfan Syndrome and Aortopathy Center, served on the writing committee for a new scientific statement from the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association addressing cardiovascular care for tactical athletes. The statement, Clinical Considerations for the Care of the Tactical Athlete With Cardiovascular Abnormalities, was published in Circulation.

Abhinav Diwan, MD, FACC, FAHA, professor of cardiology and chief of Cardiology at the Saint Louis VA Medical Center, has been awarded a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Senior Clinician Scientist Investigator (SCSI) Award, one of the VA’s highest honors for clinician-scientists.

Anubha Agarwal, MD, MSc, Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology and co-director of the Program in Global Cardiovascular Health, is leading a multicenter randomized controlled trial in Sri Lanka that tests whether a single capsule containing all four pillars of guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) can improve mortality and recurrent hospitalization rates for patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). The trial began enrolling on Aug. 17, 2026, at 14 public hospitals across the country.

Can a single daily capsule containing all four pillars of heart failure therapy be delivered in a busy public hospital? A pilot trial led by Anubha Agarwal, MD, MSc, suggests it can. The results, now published in JAMA Cardiology, laid the groundwork for a much larger trial that opened on August 17, 2026, and aims to enroll 1,672 participants at 14 public hospitals across Sri Lanka.

Dr. Aldea completed his undergraduate study in Mathematics and English Literature at Washington University in St. Louis before attending medical school at Boston University School of Medicine. He went on to do internal medicine training with USC at Los Angeles General Hospital and completed his cardiovascular disease fellowship at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, California. He specializes in General Adult Cardiovascular Medicine with a particular interest in Sports Cardiology, Multimodal Cardiovascular Imaging (Cardiac CT Angiography, Transthoracic and Transesophageal Echocardiography), and Preventative Cardiology.

Cardiology Medical Assistant Farahnaz Tooryalai’s career journey began 7,228 miles away.

“I came from a country where war disrupted every part of life, where women and girls were denied basic rights and their voices and dreams were often silenced,” Tooryalai said. “When I left my home country, I packed an entire life in my suitcase: a suitcase of dreams, hopes and ambitions.”

Excellence, innovation, and dedication are hallmarks of our faculty, and we are proud to celebrate those whose accomplishments have earned promotion during the 2025-2026 academic year.

These promotions recognize individuals who have demonstrated exceptional leadership, advanced discovery through research, inspired learners through education, and delivered outstanding patient care. The Department of Medicine congratulates our newly promoted Professors, Associate Professors, and Assistant Professors on this well-deserved achievement.

Born and raised in Nigeria, Mahmoud has built a career spanning the United States and her home country, combining clinical care with research to improve cardiovascular health during and after pregnancy worldwide. Pregnancy places significant strain on the cardiovascular system. It can trigger or worsen conditions such as heart failure and high blood pressure, sometimes leading to preeclampsia, a serious pregnancy complication characterized by sudden high blood pressure and organ damage. These complications can threaten the health of both mother and baby, and what happens during pregnancy can also shape a woman’s cardiovascular health long after she gives birth.

Dr. Sah completed his MD and PhD in physiology and biophysics at the University of Toronto. He underwent residency training in internal medicine through the Medical Research Track at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell/Memorial Sloan Kettering, followed by a cardiovascular medicine fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School. He then completed advanced postdoctoral research training at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute laboratory of Dr. David Clapham at Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Dr. Sah joined WashU in 2018 and is currently a tenured Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology, as well as Professor of Cell Biology and Physiology.

A study co-authored by WashU Cardiovascular Division faculty members Joshua D. Mitchell, MD, MSCI, Ali Javaheri, MD, PhD, and Jonathan D. Moreno, MD, PhD, evaluated the availability and delivery of cardiac amyloidosis care across the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health system. The study also included Amen B. Zelleke, MPH, a clinical research coordinator in the Javaheri lab at the WashU Center for Cardiovascular Research, and lead author Sang Gune K. Yoo, MD, a former WashU cardiology fellow. The findings were published in JACC: Advances.

WashU Cardiovascular Division faculty members Mark Huffman, MD, MPH and Zainab Mahmoud, MD, MSc, along with cardiology fellow Aishwarya Vijay, MD, have published a perspective in Circulation addressing implementation of the newly released 2026 AHA/ACC/ADA/ASN Guideline for the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Management of Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic (CKM) Syndrome.

When Abigail Ellis began working as a cardiothoracic surgery nurse at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, she was beginning the career she had trained for—helping patients recover from complex heart procedures.

She never expected to become one of them.

In early 2025, Abigail began experiencing chest pain, shortness of breath, and fatigue. At the time, she was finishing nursing school and assumed stress and anxiety were to blame.

Aishwarya Vijay, MD, a research fellow with the WashU Cardiovascular Division, has been selected for the American College of Cardiology’s inaugural cohort for the Fuster Prevention Forum. Participants will become experts in primordial prevention and gain skills to lead a culture of prevention in their local communities.

Anubha Agarwal, MD, MSc, of the WashU Cardiovascular Division, contributed to an international expert consensus document updating the global definition of heart failure and providing a unified framework for prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

A perspective co-authored by Zainab Mahmoud, MD, MSc, assistant professor of medicine in the Cardiovascular Division; Ifeoma Obionu, PhD, MSc, a postdoctoral research associate in Global Cardiovascular Health; and Mark D. Huffman, MD, MPH, professor of medicine in the Cardiovascular Division, and Co-Director of the WashU Global Health Center, highlights emerging evidence linking malaria during pregnancy to preeclampsia, a serious pregnancy complication associated with increased long-term cardiovascular disease risk. Their article was published in Communications Medicine.

As we prepare for the start of a new academic year, I am delighted to welcome more than 40 new faculty members, along with an outstanding group of residents and fellows, to the Department of Medicine. Their expertise, talent, and dedication strengthen our collective commitment to excellence in patient care, research, education, and service.

WashU Cardiovascular Division faculty members Mark D. Huffman, MD, MPH, Victor G. Dávila-Román, MD, and Anubha Agarwal, MD, have published an editorial in JAMA accompanying a new Global Burden of Disease investigation examining worldwide trends in elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and its contribution to cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Douglas Hall joins the Department of Medicine in the Cardiovascular Division as an Assistant Professor as of August 2026.
Dr. Hall completed his undergraduate training in Biomedical Engineering at Vanderbilt University before earning his medical degree and completing his medical training at Washington University in St. Louis.

Dr. Kenji Lim joins the Department of Medicine in the Cardiovascular Division as an Instructor as of August 2026. Dr. Lim is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis, where his research focuses on understanding the roles of the immune system in cardiac homeostasis and disease.

The Department of Medicine is proud to announce that over 170 of our faculty, including 38 cardiovascular faculty have been selected for the 2026 Castle Connolly Top Doctors® list.

the Inspiration of Excellence Award to Alan Braverman, MD, and Rebecca Braverman. Dr. Braverman, Director of the Marfan Syndrome and Aortopathy Center at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital, has a personal connection to Marfan syndrome: both his father and brother died from complications of the condition. Together, Alan and Rebecca have been longtime champions of the Foundation’s mission, co-founding the annual St. Louis HeartWorks gala in 2008 and often taking their two daughters to Marfan events around the country. “It’s not a job,” said Dr. Braverman. “It’s the way our lives are.”

“We’ve got an increasing population in age, but also in prevalence of cardiometabolic disease and non-direct cardiac conditions, so more people have orthopedic issues, or cerebral vascular issues, or kidney issues, and they all make it more complex for cardiac disease and elevate the risk,” said Thomas M. Maddox, MD, MSc, a professor of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis. “On the supply side, we’ve got an aging cardiology workforce, there’s uneven geographic distribution, and people are retiring.”

William Bowen Professor of Medicine and Professor of Public Health Mark Huffman, MD, MPH, has been appointed to the advisory board of the Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Huffman received the invitation from U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Nathan Stitziel, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and genetics at WashU Medicine, has received $1.9 million over five years from the Leducq Foundation as part of an international Network of Excellence award to identify genetic pathways that drive atherosclerosis and uncover new strategies to prevent heart attacks and strokes.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in Missouri and across the nation, claiming more than 15,000 lives in the state each year.
New research suggests rising rates of high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes among women could drive more heart attacks, strokes and heart failure in the decades ahead.
Dr. Karen Joynt Maddox, cardiologist at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, said the most common risk factor for heart disease is high blood pressure.

The inaugural WashU Cardiology Forum: Educate. Innovate. Collaborate. brought together cardiologists, advanced practice providers, pharmacists, trainees and primary care clinicians from across the region on June 6 at the Hilton St. Louis Frontenac for a full day of education, discussion and professional collaboration. The forum highlighted the breadth of expertise within the Washington University Cardiovascular Division and demonstrated the division’s commitment to advancing cardiovascular care through clinical excellence, research innovation and interprofessional education.

Sonia Carlson quickly turned her HCM diagnosis into purpose. As a WashU student, she joined a research lab led by Dr. Sharon Cresci, professor of medicine and genetics and the Associate Director of the Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Center of Excellence at WashU.

Dr. Cresci said while HCM has been around for a while, in the last 10 years there’s been an explosion of interest.