Anitha Vijayan, MD, elected to national medical honor society, AΩA.
Anitha Vijayan, MD, FASN, professor of medicine in the Division of Nephrology at Washington University in St. Louis and medical director of Acute Dialysis Services at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, has been elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha (AΩA) Honor Medical Society.
The only national medical honor society in the world, the AΩA was organized in 1902 to promote excellence in academic scholarship, honor leadership, and encourage the highest standards of professionalism in the medical field. Today, there are more than 183,000 members in over 130 chapters in medical schools throughout the United States. The AΩA seeks those who demonstrate through their actions their motto: Be Worthy to Serve the Suffering.
Vijayan earned her medical degree from the University of the West Indies and completed her residency in internal medicine at St. Luke’s hospital in Chesterfield, MO, and nephrology fellowship at WashU. She joined the Division of Nephrology here as an instructor in 1999 and was promoted to professor of medicine in 2012. With a clinical and research focus on improving outcomes in patients with acute kidney injury (AKI), she has published extensively in the area of renal replacement therapy and biomarkers in AKI.
Vijayan is a member of WashU’s Medical School Admissions Committee, the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee, and is an elected at-large member of the Faculty Practice Plan, which is responsible for overseeing the medical school’s clinical practice activities. 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.
For the past two years, Vijayan has participated in the Annual Update in Nephrology Conference, a collaborative effort between WashU and Guatemala nephrology social services to combat an epidemic of chronic kidney disease in Latin America.
She has served on the American Society of Nephrology’s AKI Advisory Group and was co-chair of one of the work groups of the Nephrologists Transforming Dialysis Safety Project (NTDS), an initiative that tackled the means by which to eliminate infections in dialysis facilities. She is on the steering member of the ASN AKI!NOW committee, which was launched to identify promising interventions and treatments for persons suffering from AKI.
The AΩA Chapter at WashU, founded in 1905, has a current membership of more than 400 distinguished physicians. Dr. Vijayan was nominated for the AΩA by Victoria Fraser, MD, chair of WashU’s Department of Medicine and Benjamin Humphreys, MD, PhD, chief of the Division of Nephrology.
The AΩA Banquet planned to honor those elected was cancelled in compliance with WashU’s initiative to help limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Please see the official AΩA Banquet program to read the accomplishments and future plans of the newly elected students, faculty, alumni and graduate trainees.