2024 Lectureship

Please join us Tuesday, April 9th at 3:00 PM in Connor Auditorium, FLTC, for the 2024 Mecham Lectureship as we welcome Dr. Richard Hynes of MIT as our guest speaker! Dr. Hynes’ presentation titled “The matrix is everywhere and affects most of metazoan life.”

Richard Hynes, Ph.D.

Robert P. Mecham, Ph.D. has had a tremendous impact on the Washington University School of Medicine Department of Cell Biology & Physiology’s research and teaching environment. He currently holds joint appointments at the professorial level in Medicine, Pediatrics, and Bioengineering at the School of Medicine. We are honored that he works alongside us every day. 

He was recruited to WashU in 1977 to the Pulmonary Division, Department of Medicine, where his research focused on investigating the underlying causes of emphysema and pulmonary hypertension. After a sabbatical at NIH, he moved to the Department of Cell Biology & Physiology where his laboratory continues to study extracellular matrix structure and assembly.

Robert Mecham

Since 1977, he has held numerous national and international scientific leadership positions, and received two honorary degrees from universities in Europe. While at Washington University, he served as interim Head of the Department of Cell Biology & Physiology twice, and has trained and mentored dozens of graduate and postdoctoral fellows. He has also received Distinguished Teaching and Distinguished Mentorship Awards from Washington University, as well as the university’s highest award for faculty, the Carl and Gerty Cori Faculty Achievement Award.

All of this work at Washington University and beyond has inspired the Department of Cell Biology & Physiology to establish a distinguished lectureship in his name.

Please help us support our incredible colleague by giving a gift in support of the lectureship.


2025 Lectureship

The 2025 Robert P. Mecham Distinguished Lecturer will be Dr. Chengua Gu, Professor of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. This series will be held in April 2025.

Chengua Gu, Ph.D.