Biology Professor Stephanie Schroeder Selected as a 2024 Emerson Excellence in Teaching Award Recipient

Biology Professor Stephanie Schroeder, who also serves as chair of the Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, was selected as a 2024 Emerson Excellence in Teaching Award recipient. She is one of more than 100 teachers in the St. Louis region being recognized by the Emerson Foundation for outstanding educational excellence.

“Congratulations to Stephanie for this well-deserved honor,” said College of Science and Health Dean Michael Hulsizer. “Stephanie is a strong advocate and mentor for undergraduates who wish to conduct research, and she frequently invites students to assist her in her research into cancer cells.” 

Professor Schroeder’s main research focuses on how gene expression changes in response to environmental challenges. She and her students have looked at conditions that increase the incidence of seizures, kidney stones and learning/memory ailments such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinsons, and exposure to volatile anesthetics. Her research has explored cancer lines in the brain, breast, liver, melanoma, ovarian and stomach. 

Besides undergraduates, Professor Schroeder also works with nurse anesthesia students in the Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice program on how anesthetic and other clinical agents affect fruit flies at young and older ages. Fruit flies are frequently used in genetics research because of their simple genetic codes and quick reproduction rates.

Professor Schroeder received a bachelor’s in Biochemistry from Purdue University and earned a PhD in Molecular Physiology and Biophysics from Vanderbilt University. She worked as a postdoctoral researcher in in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at the University of Colorado Health Science Center. Schroeder was hired by Webster as an assistant professor in 2003.

The Emerson Excellence in Teaching Awards, now in its 35th year, is one of the St. Louis region’s most recognized teacher recognition programs. Emerson will publicly recognize and celebrate this year’s honorees in a full-page commemorative advertisement in the Sunday, November 17th edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.