ST. LOUIS — Julie Ritchey received the 2026 Gloria W. White Distinguished Service Award, the highest honor from WashU Medicine's Office of Human Resources. She serves as a research laboratory manager in the lab of John DiPersio within the John T. Milliken Department of Medicine at the school.
Ritchey began her career at Jewish Hospital of St. Louis in 1984. She worked in the WashU Department of Surgery before joining DiPersio's laboratory in 1994. Ritchey previously received the Dean's Research Support Staff Award in 2013. A ninth-floor conference room was designated the Julie Ritchey Huddle Room to recognize her contributions. In 2020, Ritchey assisted with relocating cellular therapy laboratories during an expansion of the BJC Institute of Health building.
Professor of Medicine John DiPersio noted Ritchey's overall impact. DiPersio said, "As the bedrock of my research laboratory and a pillar of the Stem Cell Biology and Cellular Therapy sections in the Division of Oncology, Julie's contributions go far beyond technical expertise; she has been essential in propelling WashU Medicine research to the forefront of oncology." He added, "Nothing gets done without Julie."
Ritchey conducts research on stem cell therapies. Her work has facilitated CAR T-cell immunotherapy treatment for cancer patients. She has also mentored researchers and assisted with training and troubleshooting laboratory experiments. Ritchey said, "I work with the best people. The award reflects that we have a very collaborative group, even outside the DiPersio lab, with all the other labs we interact with here. Everybody just has one goal: to move science forward."
No independent assessment of Julie Ritchey’s claims was available.