Building Design + Construction magazine recently named Sarah Dirsa as one of the top 40 construction professionals under 40 for 2013. The award is given to individuals who have distinguished themselves by their career achievements, service to their professions and communities, and active participation in charitable work. A member of Congregation B’nai Amoona, Dirsa is a project designer at HOK St. Louis and Director of HOK IMPACT and the firm’s Chair of Social Responsibility. She is also founding president of SEED Saint Louis, a nonprofit aiding socially, economically, and environmentally positive communities.

Dr. Daniel Goldberg, has joined the practice of Dalin Dental Associates in Creve Coeur. Son of Marta and Michael Goldberg, Goldberg graduated from Marquette University School of Dentistry in Milwaukee and is a member of Congregation B’nai Amoona. 

Julia Silber Ruvelson has been named Vice President of Development at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. She will join the Danforth Center staff in late August. Ruvelson, a member of Conregation Shaare Emeth, has served as Vice President of Barnes Jewish Hospital Foundation since 2006, where she managed both fundraising and annual distribution of grants and worked with the board, hospital leadership and foundation staff to expand fundraising and grant allocation activity. 

Attorney Todd Nissenholtz has joined the personal injury law firm Cofman Townsley. His practice will focus on personal injury and product liability claims related to wrongful death and catastrophic injuries. He will also concentrate on consumer class actions. Nissenholtz sits on several boards and currently chairs “High Fidelity,” independent radio station 88.1 FM KDHX’s young professional network. 

Kim Bussard, along with husband Gary, recently opened College Hunks Hauling Junk and College Hunks Moving of St. Louis, offering local moving, junk removal, donation pick-up and hourly labor services. HUNKS (an acronym for Honest, Uniformed, Nice, Knowledgeable, Students) presents clean-cut, professional movers and haulers. The Bussards are members of Congregation Temple Israel.

Former St. Louisan and Grammy and Tony Award winning record producer Kurt Deutsch produced his first film, a musical adaptation of Jason Robert Brown’s musical “The Last Five Years,” starring Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan. He produced the Tony Award winning cast album of “Pippin” as well as the original cast albums of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella,” “Hands on a Hardbody,” “Giant,” Dogfight” and the Off-Broadway revival of “The Last Five Years.” 

Dr. Michael Rauchman, a scientist at St. Louis University School of Medicine, received a $375,000 grant from the March of Dimes. This grant will fund his study to investigate how genes dictate stem cell fate during normal organ development and how disruption of specific genetic pathways leads to birth defects affecting the kidney and other vital organs. Rauchman, a member of Kol Rinah, is a professor in SLU’s Departments of Internal Medicine and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. 

Margaux Buck-Yael will be returning to Jewish Family & Children’s Service as the agency’s Community Chaplain. She served as its chaplaincy intern from May, 2011 to April, 2012. Buck-Yael is currently beginning her fifth and final year of Rabbinical School at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York and will graduate in 2014 with rabbinic ordination, a master’s degree in Talmud and Rabbinic Literature, and a certificate in pastoral care and counseling. Previously, she has served as a chaplain intern at both Barnes-Jewish and St. Luke’s Hospitals. She most recently served as a Rabbinic intern at Congregation B’nai Amoona, where she is a member. Buck-Yael is also a member of Bais Abraham Congregation.

Gayle Young will be the new Clinical Programs Director at Kids In The Middle (KITM). Young’s responsibilities in this newly created job focuses on coordination of all agency programs, quality improvement and client outcomes. Young will oversee a staff of three clinical supervisors and 12 therapists. She previously served as Director of Care Coordination at Shriners Hospital and as supervisor of a multi-disciplinary team at St. Louis ARC.

University of Missouri–St. Louis senior Eli Weigley has been named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches Honors Court for his success in the classroom during the 2012-13 year. The NABC Honors Court recognizes the talents and gifts of student-athletes off the court and the work they exhibit in the classroom. In order to be named to the Honors Court, a student-athlete must meet a high standard of academic criteria. This includes being a junior or senior varsity athlete with a cumulative grade point average of 3.2 or higher for the 2012-2013 academic year. Son of Nancy and Andy Weigley, Eli Weigley graduated from Ladue Horton Watkins High School and is majoring in business administration at UMSL.

Jamie Rosenberg, daughter of Kathi and Stuart Rosenberg, was recently named one of four National Leadership Consultants for Sigma Delta Tau (SDT). A recent graduate from the University of Kansas with a degree in speech pathology, Rosenberg was an active member of SDT, holding many board positions and serving as a member of the National Recruitment Team and National Collegiate Team. In her new post with the sorority, she will travel to different universities across the country to help train chapter women for recruitment, assist in executive board turnovers and plan future steps for each chapter.

Dr. Michael Holtzman, Seldin Professor and Director of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine, received a $3.4 million grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. This grant will fund his study on the principles in pulmonary research. Holtzman is a member of Central Reform Congregation.

Michael Fogel has become the Dining Room Coordinator at Crown Center.  In this position Fogel will coordinate the daily operations and administrative support of the kosher meal site at Crown Center. A member of Agudas Israel, Fogel recently moved to St. Louis from New York where he was a member of the development team for the start-up of a new masters program in the environmental sciences at Touro College.

Lynda Lieberman was recently appointed to a three-year term on the Alumni Advisory Board for the Finance Department at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Lieberman is a CPA with UHY Advisors, an international accounting and consulting firm.  She also holds the Accredited Senior Appraiser, Accredited in Business Valuation, Certified in Valuation Analysis, and Certified in Financial Forensic designations.

ColoRectal specialists, Dr. David Schuval and Dr. Ralph Silverman, have become a division of Signature Medical Group. This practice specializes in minimally invasive surgeries including laparoscopic and robotic procedures. It offers the latest in diagnosis and treatments for disorders of the rectum, anus and colon. Schuval is a member of Congregation B’nai Amoona.