Mark J. Manary, MD

Mark J. Manary, MD ’82, is a highly regarded pediatric emergency room physician internationally known for his research on malnutrition in children. He is currently professor of pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine.

Two experiences in missionary medicine set the course for Manary’s career: After completing his medical training in 1985, he spent two years in Tanzania as a medical officer at a mission hospital, and the next two years on the Cheyenne Indian Reservation in South Dakota as acting clinical director with the U.S. Public Health Service; in both locations, he witnessed first-hand the health problems poverty imposes on children.

Manary then came to St. Louis and joined the Washington University faculty in 1989. Throughout his career, Manary has returned to Africa to study and practice tropical pediatrics, including two years as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Malawi’s College of Medicine. His studies established peanut butter as a practical, high quality food that effectively combats malnutrition. Manary developed and clinically trialed a ready- to-use, peanut butter-based, therapeutic food that is saving tens of thousands of children’s lives in southern Africa. In conjunction with the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Manary is now studying improved cassava plant as better food for the poorest people in sub-Saharan Africa. For his work, Manary has been honored with the American Association of Medical Colleges’ Academic Humanitarian Physician of the Year Award.

Manary, who became a professor in 2005, is also a highly respected educator and mentor of medical students and residents studying pediatric emergency medicine. The Washington University Graduate Student Senate honored him with the Outstanding Graduate Student Mentor Award in 2006. Manary received his bachelor’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1977. He earned his medical degree from Washington University in 1982 and completed his medical training with an internship and residency at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

The Washington University Medical Center Alumni Association is pleased to present Dr. Manary with its Alumni/Faculty Award.