Sarah Bauer Huang, MD, PhD, has been appointed head of the Section of Neonatal Neurology, effective July 1, 2025. Chris Smyser, MD, will step down from this position to focus on his role as associate director of the Division of Pediatric and Developmental Neurology.
Smyser joined the faculty at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in 2009 and went on to establish the Neonatal Neurology Clinical Program. Under his leadership, the program expanded its reach within WashU Medicine and beyond. Smyser was named a Fellow of the Child Neurology Society (FCNS) in 2024 in recognition of his contributions to the field, adding to his long list of accolades. As associate director of pediatric and developmental neurology, Smyser will continue to direct faculty development and recruitment, finance and research activities within the division.
Bauer Huang, associate professor of Neurology and of Pediatrics, will succeed Smyser as section head of Neonatal Neurology. She completed her residency in child neurology at the University of Washington before joining WashU Medicine as a neonatal neurology fellow in 2017, then a faculty member in 2018. Bauer Huang serves as a member of the St. Louis Children’s Hospital Ethics Committee and the Child Neurology Society Ethics Committee, as well as a liaison with the state’s Office of Childhood for the Missouri Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
In addition to leading the neonatal neurology section, Bauer Huang will continue serving as director of the Baker Family Fellowship in Neonatal Neurology and the neurology director of the Autism Clinical Center and Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Clinic. However, she will step away from her role as associate program director of the Pediatric Neurology Residency Program. The Department of Neurology would like to thank her for invaluable service in this role over the last several years and looks forward to the continued growth and success of the Section of Neonatal Neurology under her guidance.