Charles Kircher, MD, MBA
Welcome to St. Louis and WashU! I am a relatively recent arrival to St. Louis but this is certainly not my first rodeo in the city. My first trip here was to visit my college girlfriend in 2004, but neither one of us knew at the time that we’d be living and working here as adults with kids, dogs, and an old house with its associated never-ending Honey-Do list.
So yes, I have been around St. Louis for most of my adult life, even though there were several interludes along the way. This includes 2 years working in Boston, followed by my 1st stint as a St. Louisan for med school here at WashU. I still remember a former mentor of mine telling me to stay here if I wanted to train in critical care…of course, I didn’t think I wanted to do it, so I left for residency in Cincinnati. And, naturally followed that up with a Neurocritical Care fellowship. Turns out life always has other plans in store for us even if we think we have it all figured out. After 4 years on faculty at UC College of Medicine, I joined our group in 2023 and couldn’t be happier to be here.
At work, I wear many hats including part-time stroke physician (in person and telestroke care), part time Neuro-ICU attending, community and academic EM physician, clinical researcher, and system leader for the stroke program throughout our 14 affiliated hospitals. This combination of roles is really only available at a few institutions, and I hope I can share with you some insights into how to work across departments and even at the system level to improve patient care.
At home, I am married with two wonderful children, two dogs and spend my time coaching ice hockey, volunteering in Cub Scouts, and generally driving around the St. Louis area to practice, rehearsals, and games. In my downtime I enjoy sports, the outdoors, home renovations, and cooking. I am a big proponent of work-life integration and love that EM gives me the opportunity to grow professionally and be at home for important moments with my family.
I’m happy to meet in the office or at any number of wonderful coffeeshops & restaurants in the area. As a mentor, I hope to help new faculty settle in to a professional niche in EM and keep a fulfilling home life (regardless of what home looks like for you). We made the move very recently, navigating a home search, school placements, and rebuilding our villiage in a new city. Let me know how I can help and again, welcome!