Division of Nephrology’s Anitha Vijayan, MD, FASN, Professor of Medicine, and Aubrey Morrison, MBBS, MACP, FASN, Emeritus Professor of Medicine, were among four Barnes Jewish Hospital/Washington University physicians honored by the BJH Medical Staff Association at their semi-annual general meeting held Thursday, November 15, 2021, at EPNEC. The gathering was the first Medical Staff Association meeting held in person since 2019 due to COVID-related gathering limitations.
Vijayan is Medical Director of Acute Dialysis Services at BJH, BJH West County and The Rehabilitation Institute of St. Louis (TRISTL). She and Angela L. Brown, MD, Professor of Medicine, Cardiology, received the Neville Grant Award for Clinical Excellence. The award is granted annually to attending medical staff who exemplify compassion and excellence in clinical care. Named for Dr. Neville Grant, a revered physician who practiced medicine at BJH and taught at WashU for 39 years, the award was created by BJH in 1999, the year Grant retired. He died in 2009. His distinguished life is detailed in this obituary, first published in the St. Louis Beacon.
With a clinical and research focus on improving outcomes in patients with acute kidney injury (AKI), Vijayan has published extensively in the area of renal replacement therapy and biomarkers in AKI. She is a mentor to fellows, residents and medical students, and is part of the Department of Medicine Forum for Women in Medicine (FWIM) and WashU’s Academic Women’s Network mentoring programs. In 2020, Vijayan was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha (AΩA) Honor Medical Society, the only national medical honor society in the world. Read more about Vijayan’s impressive career here.
“It has truly been a privilege and an honor to be a nephrologist at Washington University and Barnes Jewish Hospital. Chancellor Danforth, in a quote included in Dr. Neville Grant’s obituary, said that Grant ‘did right by his patients.’ That is what I have strived to do in my career as well.”
Anitha Vijayan
Dr. Morrison and Michael Brunt, MD, Surgery, received the BJH 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award. Only physicians who have contributed 25 years or more of distinguished service to BJH are considered for the award. Morrison retired from WashU Nephrology in October 2020, having been at BJH for over 45 years.
“I am both humbled and honored to receive this award and am indebted to the many peers who wrote letters on my behalf, resulting in this wonderful honor and recognition.”
Aubrey Morrison
A physician-scientist, Morrison became a pioneer in the study of inflammatory processes in the body. In recognition of his research, Morrison was elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation in 1982, being the first Black physician elected to the honorary society and one of only four Black men elected to ASCI pre-2000. When he was promoted to Professor of Medicine in 1987, he was the first Black faculty member at the School of Medicine to achieve a full professorship. The Association of Medical and Dental Graduates Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland recently bestowed Morrison the 2021 Distinguished Graduate Award. Read more about Morrison’s illustrious career here.
Learn more about Drs. Vijayan and Morrison in these recent news articles:
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