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Zipfel Elected President of the Society of Neurological Surgeons

Head of Taylor Family Department of Neurosurgery is a national leader in the treatment and research of brain tumors and cerebrovascular disorders

Gregory J. Zipfel, MD, the Ralph G. Dacey Distinguished Professor of Neurosurgery and head of the Taylor Family Department of Neurosurgery at WashU Medicine and a research member of Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and WashU Medicine, has been elected president of the Society of Neurological Surgeons.



Zipfel has led the Taylor Family Department since 2019 and is the neurosurgeon-in-chief at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. He also treats patients at The Brain Tumor Center at Siteman, where he specializes in complex tumors of the skull base, including meningioma, schwannoma, acoustic neuroma, craniofacial tumors and chordoma/chondrosarcoma.

Zipfel also specializes in the treatment and research of cerebrovascular conditions such as stroke — work that has led to the development of new treatments to reduce brain injury after brain aneurysms rupture. Additionally, he studies vascular contributions to dementia.

The Society of Neurological Surgeons is the oldest neurosurgical society in the world and was founded to advance the quality of care for neurosurgical patients through education and research. WashU Medicine’s connections to the society go back to Ernest Sachs, MD, a faculty member who was the first professor of neurosurgery in the U.S. and a founding member of the organization in 1920. All five chairs of the WashU Medicine Taylor Family Department of Neurosurgery — including Zipfel’s predecessor and mentor Ralph G. Dacey Jr., MD, who also treated patients at Siteman — have served as president of the society. Zipfel serves as president until the society’s 2027 annual meeting in May.

As a mentor himself, Zipfel is strongly committed to neurosurgery education and is the principal investigator of the National Institutes of Health-funded National Neurosurgeon Research Career Development Program. He also serves in leadership roles with the Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation and the Emerging Investigator Mentoring Program of the American Academy of Neurological Surgery.

Faster Aging in Younger Generations Linked To Rise in Early-Onset Cancer

Immune system aging linked to earlier lung cancer; fat tissue aging linked to earlier colorectal cancer

Cancer is often considered a disease of aging. Older adults are at higher risk because they have had more time to accumulate cellular damage that can trigger tumor formation. But as cancer rates in younger adults rise, with each successive generation facing higher risks than the one before it, researchers are asking whether cellular damage is accumulating faster in recent generations, accelerating their body’s biological aging.

A new study led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis provides evidence that younger generations are indeed aging faster biologically than their older counterparts. The causes remain under investigation around the world, including global efforts led by research members of Siteman Cancer Center, based at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and WashU Medicine, and Cancer Grand Challenges, a global initiative co-founded by the National Cancer Institute and Cancer Research U.K.; but importantly, the new research links this accelerated aging to an increased risk of early-onset cancers in younger generations. In general, early-onset cancers are those diagnosed at age 55 or younger.

The larger the gap between biological age — that is, how old our bodies appear to be — and chronological age — which is how many years we have actually lived — the higher the cancer risk, according to the researchers. They found that people in more recent birth cohorts had larger age gaps than those in older birth cohorts, which may help explain the rise in early-onset cancer in recent generations.

Their study also identified links between faster aging in particular organ systems and increased risks for certain cancers. For instance, an immune system that appears older than its actual age was associated with early-onset lung cancer. Similarly, fat tissue that appears older than its chronological age was associated with early-onset colorectal cancer.

The study, published June 22 in the journal Nature Medicine, suggests that measures of accelerated aging could help identify individuals at higher risk of early-onset cancer and guide new strategies for cancer prevention and early detection.

“Our goal is to determine whether blood carries a biological imprint of a person’s past exposures, providing a window into how environmental and lifestyle factors have changed across generations,” said Yin Cao, ScD, MPH, a molecular epidemiologist and an associate professor of surgery and of medicine at WashU Medicine and a research member at Siteman. “We also tested whether blood samples collected years before diagnosis contain early biological signals that could help identify younger people at higher risk of developing cancer at younger ages. On a practical level, this approach complements our efforts to elucidate the underlying causes of rising cancer rates in younger adults.”

“Our ultimate goal is to decode how modern environments become biologically embedded to drive cancer risk, transforming prevention from broad recommendations to personalized interventions,” Cao added. “Blood-based biomarkers offer a unique opportunity to capture how a lifetime of exposures becomes biologically embedded in the body. By integrating multi-omics data, we can now detect both systemic and organ-specific signals of dysregulation, providing a much more comprehensive picture of cancer risk through these signals. This brings us closer to identifying risk earlier and developing prevention strategies that are tailored to an individual’s biology.”

Biological aging

Cao’s team has been at the forefront of identifying individual factors that influence cancer risk across the life course, such as obesity, metabolic dysregulation, alcohol consumption, sedentary behavior, poor diet quality and cesarean delivery. Although these discoveries have revealed important clues to the origins of cancer at younger ages, the contribution of any single factor is modest.

With that in mind, Cao and her colleagues have sought ways to capture the influence of multiple risk factors operating together to spur cancer development. With support from Cancer Grand Challenges, Cao, as co-lead of Team PROSPECT, has been able to go after this problem.

For the current study, Cao’s team analyzed data from more than 154,000 young adults in the UK Biobank, a large biomedical dataset containing biological, health and lifestyle data, and from more than 10,000 individuals in the U.S. participating in the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) All of Us Research Program, an effort to build a comprehensive health dataset on more than 1 million people living in the U.S.

To estimate the level of biological aging — or age gap — the researchers, including first author Ruiyi Tian, a doctoral student in the Cao lab, examined aging at two levels: across the body as a whole, known as systemic aging, and within individual organs, known as organ-specific aging. For systemic aging, the researchers used established measures, including clinical biomarker-based measures such as PhenoAge and the Klemera-Doubal Method, as well as a metabolomic age score.

PhenoAge, for example, measures nine blood biochemistry markers such as albumin, made by the liver, and creatinine, a waste product removed by the kidneys. For organ-specific aging, the researchers used blood proteomic data, which measure levels of multiple proteins linked to specific organ systems, to estimate biological aging in individual organs.

The researchers calculated the average age gap for each birth cohort and used standard deviation to describe how much each group differed from the study average. Standard deviation is a measure of how spread out data points are around the average. The researchers found that individuals in the UK born between 1965 and 1974 had systemic aging that was 23% of one standard deviation higher compared with those born between 1950 and 1954, after accounting for chronological age. In other words, people in the younger birth cohort showed a modest shift toward older biological profiles than people in the older birth cohort when at the same chronological age. The researchers observed a similar pattern in the U.S cohort. Participants born between 1990 and 1999 had systemic aging that was 92% of one standard deviation higher compared with those born between 1965 and 1969.

This increased systemic aging in the younger group was associated with an 8% increased risk of early-onset solid cancers, especially lung, gastrointestinal and uterine cancers. When participants were divided into three groups based on their level of systemic aging, those with the most advanced systemic aging had 15% increased risk of early-onset solid cancer compared with those with the least advanced systemic aging. According to the analysis, the increased risk persisted even after controlling for inherited genetic risks of cancer and genetic susceptibility to accelerated aging. By zooming into organ-specific aging, the researchers found that advanced immune system aging was associated with increased risk of early-onset lung cancer, and advanced adipose (fat) tissue aging was associated with increased risk of early-onset colorectal cancer.

“If we can identify younger people with the highest cancer risk when they are still healthy, we can focus on prevention and early-detection strategies for the individuals who will benefit most from early interventions,” Cao said.

This research is part of Team PROSPECT, a Cancer Grand Challenges team co-led by Cao. Cancer Grand Challenges is a global research funding initiative co-founded by Cancer Research UK and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) that brings together world-leading researchers to take on cancer’s toughest challenges.

“Right now, we don’t have a definitive answer to what’s driving the rise of early-onset cancers around the world, but studies like this are helping us piece together the bigger picture, showing that cancer may be influenced not just by changes inside individual cells, but by wider changes happening across the body as a whole,” said David Scott, PhD, director of Cancer Grand Challenges.  “Research on this scale is possible through Cancer Grand Challenges, which brings together scientists from different fields around the world to tackle these complex questions together.”

Cao and her colleagues are leading efforts to transform the understanding of why cancers are increasingly striking younger generations. Their next frontier is to decipher how environmental, lifestyle and societal changes leave lasting biological imprints, including accelerated aging and other markers of heightened susceptibility. By illuminating the pathways through which risk accumulates across the life course, they seek to uncover the origins of early-onset cancers and redefine opportunities for prevention. In parallel, their work will enable more precise approaches to identify those at greatest risk and intervene earlier, shifting the paradigm from reacting to disease to preventing it before it begins.

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Tian R, Zong Y, Ren D, Tica S, Hong D, Odulyale O, Buenrostro J, Govindan R, Cao Y. Biological aging and generational shifts in early-onset cancer risk. Nature Medicine. June 22, 2026. DOI: 10.1038/s41591-026-04448-w.

This work was part of the PROSPECT team supported by the Cancer Grand Challenges initiative funded by Cancer Research UK, grant numbers CGCATF-2023/100043 and CGCATF-2023/100037; the National Cancer Institute of the NIH, grant numbers OT2CA297577 and OT2CA297576; the French National Cancer Institute; and the Bowelbabe Fund for Cancer Research UK. The project was also supported by grants from NIH/National Cancer Institute, grant number R37CA246175; the NIH/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, grant number P30DK052574; the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center through the Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Further support was provided by a pre-doctoral fellowship in the Cancer Biology pathway supported by NIH Molecular Oncology Training Grant T32CA113275 to Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis; the Pediatric Gastroenterology Research Training Program grant T32DK077653 to Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis; the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences, grant number UL1TR002345; and the Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.

Skin Cancer Risk Often Comes From Everyday Sun Exposure, Not Just Severe Burns

Routine outdoor work, driving, hobbies and missed spots like the scalp and ears can add up over time — so make sun protection a daily habit, not just during vacation.

One of the most common themes I hear from patients with skin cancer is not a single dramatic sun exposure — it’s years of routine, unremarkable exposure that never felt risky at the time.

Occupational exposure plays a big role. People who work outdoors — construction workers, landscapers, electricians, delivery drivers, mail carriers, farmers — accumulate significant ultraviolet (UV) exposure over time. Even pilots and cabin crew have roughly double the risk of melanoma due to chronic UV exposure at altitude.

Hobbies matter too. Activities like golf and fishing often involve hours in direct sun with little shade, and patients rarely think of them as “high-risk.”

Other Contributors to Cancer Risk

Another important contributor to skin cancer is immunosuppression. Patients with conditions like rheumatoid arthritis or inflammatory bowel disease often are prescribed medications that dampen the immune system. Organ transplant recipients are at especially high risk — approximately 100 times more likely to develop squamous cell carcinoma.

That risk often catches people completely off guard.

I hear versions of this story all the time: “I had one bad sunburn there only once … .” And that’s exactly where we end up treating a skin cancer.

Another pattern I frequently see is skin cancer along the hair part in younger women. The scalp — especially the part line — is one area of the body that is exposed most directly to the sun, but it’s often missed when applying sunscreen.

Another area to keep in mind is the left side of the body in drivers. In the U.S., we commonly see more sun damage and skin cancers on the left hand and forearm from years of incidental exposure through the car window. It’s not something people ever think about in the moment, but it adds up significantly over time.

Keeping Kids Safe in the Sun

Parents and guardians also have an important role to play here. Children’s skin is especially vulnerable to UV damage, and the habits they learn early can help lower their skin cancer risk later in life. Modeling sun-safe behavior — applying sunscreen before school, sports and outdoor play; choosing hats, sunglasses and protective clothing; and seeking shade when possible — helps make protection feel normal, not optional. Just as important, teaching kids to reapply sunscreen and to think of sun safety as part of everyday life, not just beach or lake days, can help those habits last into adulthood.

Make It a Daily Habit

For ourselves and people of any age, it’s very important to make sun protection part of one’s routine. That means:

  • Applying sunscreen on ordinary days — not just vacations
  • Covering high-risk areas people forget (the scalp part, ears, hands, even eyelids)
  • Wearing sunglasses — not just for comfort, but to protect the delicate skin around the eyes, where skin cancer surgeries can be especially challenging

Just as important is getting familiar with your own skin — and remember that you have skin from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet. Many skin cancers are first noticed by patients or their partners. Look for the “ugly duckling” — a spot that stands out — or anything that’s changing, bleeding or not healing.

Another point I always emphasize is this: There’s no such thing as a “healthy tan.” A tan is a visible sign of DNA damage in the skin.

Finally, when it comes to sunscreen, the best one is the one you’ll actually use. I encourage people to try a few (with a Sun Protection Factor, or SPF, of 30 or higher) and find something that fits easily into their daily routine — because consistency is what really makes the difference over time.

Make an Appointment

To schedule an appointment with Dr. McEvoy or another WashU Medicine dermatologist at Siteman Cancer Center, call 800-600-3606 or fill out this form, and our Patient Care Coordination Center will contact you.

Other Resources

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WashU Medicine Dermatologist Featured in HuffPost Story on Skin Cancer Risk

A new HuffPost story spotlights WashU Medicine dermatologist Aubriana McEvoy, MD, MS, FAAD, of Siteman Cancer Center, and the everyday habits that can quietly add up to skin cancer risk over time. The article,  It’s Not Beach Days That Worry Skin Cancer Doctors — It’s These Everyday Activities, explores how routine sun exposure — not just major burns — can contribute to skin damage, and why prevention matters year-round.

In the story, McEvoy highlights the risks that often fly under the radar: outdoor jobs, time spent driving, popular hobbies like golf and fishing, and missed areas such as the scalp part, ears and hands. She also explains why immunosuppression can significantly increase the risk of skin cancer, and why it’s so important to make sun protection part of a daily routine.

Here, McEvoy shares even more about skin cancer risk from ordinary sun exposure, and she offers practical advice about sunscreen, skin checks and the often-overlooked places people forget to protect.

Quick Optical Biopsy Could Be Early Detection Method for Endometrial Cancer

WashU researchers at Siteman Cancer Center combine optical coherence tomography and machine learning for rapid, accurate test

Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecologic cancer, with more than 69,000 cases diagnosed in the U.S. in 2025 and increasing up to 3% annually. Diagnosis requires an often painful and invasive biopsy that carries a risk of false negatives. A multidisciplinary research team at Washington University in St. Louis and Siteman Cancer Center, based at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and WashU Medicine, is looking to a fast, safe and noninvasive imaging method combined with machine learning for an accurate detection and diagnosis of precancerous lesions and early cancers.

The team, led by Quing Zhu, PhD, the Edwin H. Murty Professor of Engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, conducted an initial investigation using optical coherence tomography (OCT), which detects differences in how tissue reflects light and acquires high-resolution 3D images with a depth of up to 1 to 2 millimeters. With a custom catheter probe developed in Zhu’s lab, the team took images of the entire endometrial cavity in less than three minutes, creating an optical biopsy. It is the first catheter-based, 3D OCT imaging study that integrated optical functional, structural and radiomic features for endometrial assessment. Results of the research were published in npj Imaging June 3, 2026.

To obtain images from patient tissues, the team collaborated with WashU Medicine physicians led by Lindsay Kuroki, MD, MSCI, associate professor of obstetrics & gynecology, and Ian Hagemann, MD, PhD, professor of pathology & immunology and of obstetrics & gynecology. They, along with Zhu, are research members at Siteman Cancer Center, where Kuroki also treats patients. The team acquired OCT images from 57 post-hysterectomy uteri in 2025. Of these, 34 contained high-risk precancerous lesions or early-stage cancers.

The 3D OCT images provided a close view of tissue microstructure and optical properties, revealing clear differences among normal endometrium, benign endometrium, high-risk precancerous lesions, and endometrial cancer at different stages.

First authors Sanskar Thakur, a doctoral student in Zhu’s lab, and Yixiao Lin, who earned a doctorate in biomedical engineering from WashU in 2025, developed an imaging feature extraction pipeline and a machine learning model to categorize the results into two groups of normal and benign, and pre-cancer and cancer using 26 extracted imaging features. Their model achieved an exploratory sensitivity of 94% and specificity of 87%.

“Current endometrial biopsy practice has an estimated false-negative rate of about 10% (approximately 90% sensitivity), largely due to sampling limitations and interpretive variability,” Zhu said. “With our three-dimensional OCT imaging system combined with machine learning, we can image the entire endometrial cavity in 2 to 3 seconds and may have a potential to achieve higher sensitivity than random biopsy sampling.”

“There is currently no reliable screening for endometrial cancer,” said coauthor David Mutch, the Ira C. and Judith Gall Professor and vice chair of obstetrics & gynecology at WashU Medicine, a Siteman research member and principal investigator of the National Cancer Institute-funded Route 66 Endometrial Cancer Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant. “This technology, developed by Dr. Zhu and her colleagues, should allow us to better screen for this cancer and at a minimum catch it much earlier in its development,” Mutch added. “This is really novel, cutting-edge technology.”

Going forward, Zhu said the team plans to evaluate the catheter in live patients to demonstrate the translational potential of the AI-assisted OCT technology.

Thakur S, Lin Y, Xu J, Nie H, Badwan S, Wang L, Sanders BE, Thaker PH, Hagemann AR, McCourt CK, Khabele DM, Powell MA, Mutch DG, Kuroki LM, Hagemann IS, Zhu Q. Optical coherence tomography enables optical biopsy of endometrial tissue for early cancer detection. npj Imaging, June 3, 2026, https://doi.org/10.1038/s44303-026-00160-z.

This work was funded by the Developmental Research Program (DRP) of the NCI Route 66 Endometrial Cancer SPORE (5P50CA265793-03). Partial support for this work was provided by the NCI (R01CA237664) and the NIBIB (R01EB034398).

Siteman Cancer Center at Memorial Hospital Shiloh Receives American Cancer Society National Partner Award

Recognition highlights efforts to reduce transportation barriers for patients

Siteman Cancer Center at Memorial Hospital Shiloh has received the American Cancer Society National Partner Award for Road To Recovery® in recognition of the staff’s commitment to helping reduce transportation barriers for people facing cancer in St. Clair County, Ill., and the surrounding area.

Cancer care needs are significant, and transportation is one of the most common barriers patients face. Missed appointments can delay treatment and add stress during an already difficult time.

The American Cancer Society Road To Recovery® program addresses these issues by partnering with Siteman Cancer Center at Memorial Hospital Shiloh and other entities nationwide. Through the program, staff members at Siteman collaborate with volunteer drivers to provide transportation to medical appointments.

“We’re grateful to the American Cancer Society and want to give extra special recognition to its wonderful volunteers,” said WashU Medicine social worker Julie Richison, MSW, LCSW, who leads the program at Siteman Cancer Center at Memorial Hospital Shiloh. “They provide much more than just a ride — they offer reassurance and support during a difficult time.”

Siteman Cancer Center at Memorial Hospital Shiloh was recognized for these efforts during a special event June 4 at the American Cancer Society’s World Wide Technology American Cancer Society Hope Lodge in St. Louis.

Due to the program’s success, additional drivers are needed throughout the St. Louis region. Learn more about volunteering at cancer.org/drive or by calling 800-227-2345.

Targeting Tumor Metabolism to Fight Cancer

Cancer cells are ravenous eaters. Gary Patti is trying to turn their hunger against them.

By their nature, cancer cells have different nutritional needs than healthy cells.



“Cancer cells have a distinct metabolism,” said Gary J. Patti, PhD, the Michael and Tana Powell Professor of Chemistry and a professor of genetics and medicine at WashU Medicine and a research member at Siteman Cancer Center, based at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and WashU Medicine.

Understanding those differences could open new possibilities for tracking and ultimately defeating the disease. That’s why Patti and others at Siteman Cancer Center are turning their attention to a relatively new frontier of research: Cancer metabolomics, the comprehensive study of the small molecules that cancer cells either consume or produce as they attempt to grow and multiply.

Earlier this year, Patti and co-author Joe Rowles, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Chemistry and molecular oncology trainee in Siteman Cancer Center’s Cancer Biology Pathway program, explored the latest research and most pressing questions in cancer metabolism in Nature Reviews Cancer.

Patti is an internationally recognized leader in mass spectrometry, a technology that makes it possible to identify and quantify specific molecules in a sample. With more than 20 mass spectrometers in his ultra-clean lab, Patti has the power to track even the tiniest of changes in the levels of cancer metabolites — small molecules involved in cellular metabolism. The challenge is determining which of those molecules can be targeted in the fight against cancer.

“The fact that cancer cells run distinct metabolic programs gives us two big opportunities,” Patti said. Metabolites could be used as markers to identify tumors, he explained. More importantly, a deeper understanding of cancer metabolism might lead to new drugs or dietary strategies that slow tumor growth while sparing healthy cells.

Tracking the metabolic needs of cancer cells is no simple task. For one thing, cancerous cells can act very differently depending on the context. “A cancer cell in a lab dish might use completely different nutrients than the same cell that’s growing in a mouse or a human,” Patti said. “One of the defining attributes of cancer cells is that they are very flexible.”

The complexity of tumors also poses a challenge. “A lung tumor, for example, might have dozens of cell types, and they aren’t all malignant,” Patti said. “Some of them, like immune cells, can actually be helpful.” It’s hard to zero in on the metabolites associated with the cancer cells and not with the other parts of the tumor, he explained, and it’s challenging to find a healthy comparison sample for experiments. “There’s no such thing as a healthy tumor.”

Patti and his team are collaborating with WashU Medicine researchers and fellow Siteman research members — including David Mutch, MD, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology, and Yin Cao, ScD, MPH, an associate professor of surgery and of medicine — to address these challenges.

In ongoing experiments, they’re using isotopically labeled glucose to track the dynamics of tumor metabolism in patients. “WashU is a great place to do this kind of work, because the medical school has been a pioneer in developing innovative clinical tests using isotopes,” Patti said.

In many cases, it’s a cancer cell’s appetite that really sets it apart from healthy cells. “They generally consume many of the same things that healthy cells consume,” Patti said. “They just do it much faster.”

Still, a closer look at metabolomics data could lead to new dietary strategies to prevent and control cancers. “I’m very enthusiastic about the idea that we can leverage diet to improve the lives of cancer patients,” Patti said. To reach that point, metabolomics studies will have to expand to thousands of people with different diets, genetic profiles, and overall lifestyles. “We’ll need tons of data points to try to figure out how all of these different things are connected,” he said.

In 2024, Patti and co-authors reported in Nature that fructose — a sugar found in high-fructose corn syrup — can indirectly fuel tumor growth in mouse models of melanoma, breast cancer, and cervical cancer. Metabolomics studies found that the tumors were especially fond of a fructose product created in the liver.

The finding underscores the importance of close examination of the metabolic and nutritional pathways that allow cancer cells to flourish. “If you take cancer cells and put them in a dish and give them fructose, they won’t use it,” Patti said. “But if you have a tumor and you eat tons of fructose, it makes the tumor grow, in some cases, four or five times faster.”

Patti is especially alarmed by the growing rates of cancer among young people, a surge that has yet to be fully explained. “Cancers are still fairly rare in that age group, but they’re becoming increasingly common,” Patti said. “It’s happening so quickly that it can’t be caused by genetics alone. There must be a lifestyle factor, and it might come down to diet.”

Cancer metabolomics may seem like a niche area of research, but the insights could ultimately tip the fight against cancer to our advantage. “It is not a new idea to fight cancer with dietary modifications, but it’s too complicated to design interventions based on simple studies of cancer cells alone in isolation,” Patti said. “We are excited that metabolomics data from human patients can provide the knowledge needed to sort out the complexity.”

Above all, Patti noted, cancer cells are greedy. And their greed could ultimately be their undoing.

Siteman Cancer Center Radiation Therapy Recognized for Excellence

Reaccreditation by the American Society for Radiation Oncology underscores Siteman’s enterprise-wide commitment to adult and pediatric patient-centered care

The Department of Radiation Oncology at Siteman Cancer Center, based at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and WashU Medicine, has again been recognized as one of the best radiation oncology centers in the nation.

The recognition comes from its reaccreditation by the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), whose 10,000-plus members worldwide — physicians, nurses, physicists, radiation therapists, dosimetrists and other healthcare professionals — specialize in treating patients with radiation therapy.

All seven Siteman Cancer Center locations, including Siteman Kids at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, earned full reaccreditation from ASTRO’s APEx – Accreditation Program for Excellence®, through February 2030. APEx recognizes radiation oncology centers that meet rigorous standards for safety, quality and patient-centered care.

“Achieving APEx reaccreditation across all seven of our sites is a monumental operational achievement,” said Sana Karam, MD, PhD, the Elizabeth H. and James S. McDonnell III Distinguished Professor of Medicine and chair of Radiation Oncology at WashU Medicine and at Siteman Cancer Center. “It reflects the relentless commitment of our entire radiation oncology team — our physicists, dosimetrists, therapists, nurses and physicians. Maintaining this uncompromising standard of safety and quality at such a massive scale is a testament to the true collaborative spirit of WashU and Siteman.”

The Department of Radiation Oncology at Siteman has been APEx-accredited since 2017. Additionally, Siteman’s radiation oncology teams at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Memorial Hospital Shiloh earned APEx’s new radiopharmaceutical therapy designation. Radiopharmaceuticals, also known as systemic radiation therapy, this year.

Accreditation through APEx is a voluntary and rigorous multi-step process. The enterprise-wide radiation therapy center at Siteman was evaluated using consensus-based standards. Throughout the process, the Department of Radiation Oncology “demonstrated our continued focus on safety and quality and our commitment to patient-centered care, with an emphasis on effective communication, coordinated treatments and strong patient engagement,” Karam said.

Vij Named Inaugural Jeffrey S. and Prue H. Gershman Distinguished Professor

Renowned physician-scientist is national leader in research and treatment of blood cancers

Ravi Vij, MD, MBA, who has dedicated his career to advancing treatments for blood cancers, has been installed as the inaugural Jeffrey S. and Prue H. Gershman Distinguished Professor in the John T. Milliken Department of Medicine at WashU Medicine.

Vij, a professor of medicine in the department’s Division of Oncology, treats patients at Siteman Cancer Center, based at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and WashU Medicine. He was installed by Chancellor Andrew D. Martin and David H. Perlmutter, MD, executive vice chancellor for medical affairs, the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Distinguished Professor and the George and Carol Bauer Dean of WashU Medicine. The professorship was funded by St. Louisans Jeffrey and Prue Gershman, who are dedicated philanthropists and volunteers supporting local education, health and arts organizations.

“Jeffrey and Prue are deeply committed to improving the lives of the people of St. Louis, and it is a true honor that they have chosen WashU to be partners in that goal,” Martin said. “Through this professorship, their generosity will accelerate progress against blood cancers by supporting Dr. Vij’s work to bring new, more effective treatments to patients. His leadership has helped grow WashU Medicine’s reputation as a national force in stem cell transplantation and immunotherapy, and with the Gershmans’ support, that momentum will continue.”

As the principal investigator of the Multiple Myeloma Tissue Banking initiative at Siteman, Vij leads a collaborative research team studying the genetic underpinnings and cellular microenvironment of multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells in bone marrow. He has led several clinical trials of investigative therapies for blood cancers, including immunotherapy agents and novel stem cell transplant strategies, that went on to become standard treatments. He has authored over 300 scientific publications in the arena of blood cancers.

“Dr. Vij has consistently pushed the field forward, pursuing multiple promising avenues to improve outcomes for patients with blood cancers, particularly multiple myeloma,” Perlmutter said. “His work spans discovery science, clinical trials and national collaboration — advancing new therapies while building the partnerships that move the field as a whole. His ability to translate scientific insight into real-world advances continues to shape the future of care in this field.”

Vij has served on the American Society of Clinical Oncology education and scientific committees and on the myeloma committees of the Clinical Trials Network and Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology. He currently serves as senior editor of the journal Clinical Lymphoma, Myeloma and Leukemia and is a past chair of the American Society of Hematology scientific committee on plasma cell dyscrasias, a type of cell disorder linked to blood cancers. Vij has received the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation Innovator Award, the Center of Excellence Award and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Visionary of the Year Award.

A respected and effective educator, Vij has mentored 25 early-career researchers over his career and in 2007 received the Teacher of the Year Award from the Hematology and Oncology Fellowship Program at WashU Medicine.

“Dr. Vij is an expert in myeloma whose warmth and support give his patients confidence that they are in the best possible hands and getting the best treatment,” said Victoria J. Fraser, MD, the Adolphus Busch Professor of Medicine and head of the Department of Medicine. “He is widely recognized as a leader in the field for his research, his thoughtfulness as a physician and his creativity as a clinical investigator and mentor. The tremendous energy he brings to resources such as the Multiple Myeloma Tissue Banking initiative will benefit the field for years and decades to come.”

Vij completed his medical education at Maulana Azad Medical College in New Delhi, India, followed by postgraduate training at Halifax General Hospital and Royal Infirmary in the U.K. He completed an internal medicine residency at Rush University in Chicago and fellowships in medical oncology and hematology and in bone marrow transplantation at WashU Medicine. He joined the WashU Medicine faculty in 2000.

Jeffrey S. and Prue H. Gershman

Jeffrey S. and Prue H. Gershman, of Clayton, Mo., have supported numerous programs and organizations in and beyond St. Louis through philanthropy and through volunteer service for the arts, education, healthcare and community organizations.

Jeffrey is an attorney who has practiced business, real estate and tax law in the St. Louis area since 1981. He is active in the St. Louis business community as a director on the boards of Central Bank of St. Louis and Gershman Investment Corp. Prue has worked for 40 years as an educator and social worker at several institutions, most recently as the director of counseling and wellness at John Burroughs School in Ladue.

For Your Health — Health and Wellness Tips for Cancer Survivors

Most of us have been touched by cancer in some way. Maybe we have friends or family who’ve been diagnosed, or maybe you’re one of the 18 million people in the U.S. living as a cancer survivor.

Given cancer’s seriousness, its extent can certainly feel concerning, especially as the number of cancer survivors is expected to grow to over 22 million within the next 10 years.

But there is actually some good news to go along with these large numbers.



“Yes, part of this growth we’re seeing in the number of survivors is because we have an aging population and more people are being diagnosed,” said Lindsay Peterson, MD, MSCR, director of the survivorship program and the START Strong Survivorship Clinic at Siteman Cancer Center, based at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and WashU Medicine. “But part is also because people are living longer after a cancer diagnosis.”

And for this growing number of survivors, there are steps that can help improve health and well-being over the years. It’s almost never too early in the cancer journey to get started with them.

“Talking with patients about healthy behaviors — like nutrition and physical activity and weight management — at the very beginning of a cancer diagnosis not only can help them get through their treatments easier, improving their quality of life and minimizing side effects, it can also instill those healthy habits and behaviors from the very beginning,” Peterson said. “And some of those behaviors have been shown to actually improve cancer prognosis and outcomes down the road.”

Many of these steps can also lower the risk of other conditions that remain important in people’s lives beyond cancer, including stroke, diabetes, heart disease and reduced mobility.

Healthy approaches for cancer survivors:

  • Don’t Smoke. Quit if You Do. This has huge benefits for many diseases. And it’s never too late to quit. Studies show that even people with advanced cancer benefit from quitting. Visit smokefree.gov for help.
  • Be Physically Active and Eat a Healthy Diet. Focus on fruits, vegetables and whole grains — and limit red meat, processed meat and alcohol. Also, try to get some physical activity every day — even if it’s a small amount. When ready, try to build up to around 30 minutes a day.
  • Maintain a Healthy Weight. Weight can be a complex issue for survivors, for many reasons. Staying at a healthy weight, though, can have important benefits. Your doctor or clinic can help with resources.
  • Get Screening Tests and Go to Regular Checkups. It’s important to keep up with post-treatment care with your primary care doctor and oncology team. These visits are not only key to your health as a survivor but also great places to check in about your overall health.

Looking after mental well-being is also key. Almost every survivor has some type of emotional concern, Peterson added. It could be anxiety, fears of cancer returning or questions about how cancer may impact relationships. Financial issues, like bills, and practical issues, like transportation, can add to this. “I try to understand what a patient’s specific concerns are and get the person connected with resources that can help, whether that’s a counselor or social worker or support group.”

Cancer can also be isolating for many survivors. So, it can be valuable for both survivors and their family and friends to make efforts to stay connected.

“Once someone finishes treatment, everyone may now think they’re fine. So, all of the support they were getting — emotional or otherwise — goes away,” Peterson said. “And the reality is, once people are done with their cancer treatment, that’s actually when I think they need the most emotional support.”

So, friends and family can help uplift survivors by staying engaged and asking them what types of help they may need. Survivors, for their part, can help by more actively letting people know the types of help and support they may be looking for.

Programs for survivors that support healthy behaviors and other key parts of follow-up care can be central to helping survivors live longer, healthier lives. And all survivors should be given the focus they deserve.

“It’s important that we start to recognize survivorship as an integral part of cancer care — not just something we’ll try to offer, but something we need to offer,” Peterson said. “That’s when it will get the attention it needs, and we’ll be able to move the field — and the benefits it offers — forward.”

Additional resources for cancer survivors: