Cassandra D. Fritz, MD

2024 Dean’s Impact Award Recipient

Cassandra D. Fritz, MD, has introduced innovative changes that impact residents and fellows and elevate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) throughout the Department of Medicine. Through her work within IDEAS @ DOM (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Allyship and Social Justice), Fritz mentors and sponsors 20 residents to develop a strategic DEI plan for the internal medicine residency program. Fritz is also dedicated to mentoring underrepresented in medicine (URiM) trainees, mentoring all the URiM residents in the internal medicine program, along with the department’s gastroenterology fellows, as an associate program director. After an internal needs assessment found that dedicated mentorship for URiM residents was lacking, she built URiM mentorship families, which match each URiM intern with both a URiM upper-level resident and a URiM faculty member. She has been instrumental in developing a mentorship lecture series titled, “How Did I Get Here?” which highlights URiM faculty and their journey through medicine. Her efforts in this area have been highlighted by the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine. Recently, in 2023, she developed the Gateway to Residency Program, a boot camp for medical students from disadvantaged backgrounds to learn tips and tricks prior to internal medicine application season. In its inaugural year, a cohort of 15 medical students participated, receiving mentorship from both a current WashU Medicine URiM resident and a faculty member.