A $5 million gift from philanthropists George and Carol Bauer to Washington University establishes a named deanship for the School of Medicine. Dr. David Perlmutter, dean since 2015, is the inaugural George and Carol Bauer Dean of the School of Medicine. He also is the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Distinguished Professor and executive vice chancellor for medical affairs. 

Dr. Jeffrey I. Gordon, the Dr. Robert J. Glaser Distinguished University Professor, Pathology & Immunology, at Washington University School of Medicine, has received the Copley Medal from the Royal Society in Britain. As the director of the Edison Family Center for Genome Sciences & Systems Biology, Gordon is being recognized for outstanding contributions to science in founding and leading the field of gut microbiome research. He will be presented with a medal and a cash gift at an awards dinner this fall. The Copley Medal is the Royal Society’s oldest and most prestigious award, first given in 1731, 170 years before the first Nobel Prize. Notable past winners include Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin. 

Michal Grinstein-Weiss has been installed as the Shanti K. Khinduka Distinguished Professor at the Brown School at Washington University. She also serves in the newly created role of associate dean for policy initiatives, spearheading the expansion of the master of social policy program. Grinstein-Weiss conducts research on improving health and socioeconomic mobility for low-income households by creating scalable, evidence-based interventions to inform and shape policy, domestically and internationally. She attends Bais Abraham Congregation.

At the recent Congregation Shaare Emeth annual meeting, Michael Lefton became president of the board of trustees. The Presidential Award was presented to Andy Speller, board treasurer, for his attention to detail. The Volunteer Award was given to the members of the traffic committee for their handling of the Ladue Road closure, building renovations and parking lot issues. Chairman Rick Gans accepted on the committee’s behalf. 

Cindy Ginsburg has become president of the IntraContinental Region – Women’s League for Conservative Judaism. A member of Kol Rinah, Ginsburg is a pediatric triage nurse at Sunset Hills Pediatrics. 

Recent Ladue Horton Watkins High School graduate Charles Loitman has been selected as a semifinalist for the Presidential Scholar Program by the U.S. Department of Education. The honor is for those who have demonstrated academic achievement, leadership and service commitment. The son of Dr. Jane Loitman, he will study material science this fall at Yale University. 

Forest Park Forever has given its annual Hiram W. Leffingwell Award to Michael and Carol Staenberg. They were honored for their longtime support of and their significant role in restoring Forest Park. 

John Burroughs School junior Samantha Remis was named to the third annual United States Tennis Association Junior Leadership Team, which recognizes America’s finest junior tennis players who exhibit leadership, sportsmanship and character on and off the court. Samantha, daughter of Sharon and William, is one of 30 players nationwide named to the team. She has been ranked among the Top 10 players in the Missouri Valley section of the USTA’s 14- and 16-and-under standings. She was the Missouri state singles champion as well as the St. Louis Metro Tennis Player of the Year last year. The USTA is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the U.S.

 Jordan Krugman, an independent health insurance broker and a partner with Healthcare Solutions Team, was recently promoted to national marketing director. He will be moving to Healthcare Solutions Team’s new office on Tesson Ferry Road in south St. Louis County beginning June 15.

Randi Schenberg is the new president of JProStl, the professional association for staff who work throughout the St. Louis Jewish community. She is Crown Center’s community relations director and a member of Congregation B’nai Amoona. 

The St. Louis Fashion Fund has received a $35,000 grant from the PNC Foundation through PNC Arts Alive, a multiyear initiative dedicated to supporting visual and performing arts. The grant will support Miki’s Closet fashion truck, the cornerstone of the Saint Louis Fashion Fund’s education and community-outreach programs. Lori Sale and Fran Slutsky donated Miki’s Closet fashion truck to the Fashion Fund in memory of their mother, the late Miki Zimring. This traveling, state-of-the-art fashion display and educational forum brings fashion and design education to students, while promoting the Fashion Fund’s mission at community events. 

Yosef (Joey) Granillo, 8, was a national leader in the Continental Mathematics League and National Language Arts League competitions. A fourth-grader at the St. Louis Regional Program for Exceptionally Gifted Students (PEGS), he was first of his team and in the top 2 percent of 70,000 participants in the International Math Olympiads for Elementary and Middle School Students in Division E. He gained admission into project MEGSS, an enrichment program for mathematically gifted middle schoolers. Joey and his parents, Carole and Tony Granillo, are members of Kol Rinah.

Steve Lowy, owner and chairman of Envision, an information technology recruiting firm, has been honored by his alma mater, Washington University School of Engineering, with an Alumni Achievement Award. Lowy has sponsored endowed and annual scholarships that have supported more than 100 engineering students during the past 40 years. 

Sanford Boxerman is chairman of the newly created Digital Currency and Blockchain Technology Practice Group at Capes Sokol, the first law firm in the St. Louis area to establish a digital currency-focused practice group. This group will advise clients across all industries related to transactions involving digital currency and related technologies. Michelle Schwerin of Shaare Emeth and Michael Kahn of Central Reform Congregation will join Boxerman, who attends Kol Rinah. 

Former St. Louisan and retired psychiatrist David Shepard recently published a book of poetry entitled “Mortal Man’s Journey Toward the Light.” The poems explore life, aging and death; some are introspective, and some look out at the world, a duality that reflects the viewpoints of the prisoners he treated as much as it does his own reality. The book is available online through Barnes & Noble and Amazon.