Ram Dixit was installed as the George and Charmaine Mallinckrodt Professor on Wednesday, October 7, 2026.

The program included a welcome from Feng Sheng Hu, the Richard G. Engelsmann Dean of Arts & Sciences and Lucille P. Markey Distinguished Professor, and remarks from Philip Mallinckrodt on behalf of his parents, George and Charmaine Mallinckrodt, whose gift made the professorship possible. The ceremony featured an introduction from Joseph Jez, the Spencer T. Olin Professor of Biology and vice dean of graduate studies, and Hu performed the medallion presentation.

In his remarks, entitled “How Inner Beauty Helps Cells Get in Shape,” Dixit thanked his family and lab members, and described their research into the dynamic organization of plant cells. He reflected on the beauty and complexity of the plant kingdom, the creativity of scientific discovery, and the importance of collaboration, curiosity, and interdisciplinary thinking in advancing research.

“The intermingling and interplay of disciplines; that is really the superpower of academia,” said Dixit, who is chair of biology, one of WashU’s leading departments. 

“A thriving department of biology is absolutely essential to our success, not just for Arts & Sciences but for WashU as a whole,” Dean Hu said in his remarks. “Ram has been at the center of that success as a leader in undergraduate research programs for more than a decade, co-director of the plant and microbial biosciences PhD program, and, since 2023, chair of the department.”

The benefactors of the endowed professorship, Charmaine and the late George Mallinckrodt, have been supporters of WashU and the natural sciences for decades, said their son Philip at the ceremony. 

“My father was a humanist, a lover of nature, a man of faith, a great listener, a globalist, and a man with deep respect for education and science, and so too is my mother,” he said. “I wish Professor Dixit all the very best.” 

About Ram Dixit

Ram Dixit is the George and Charmaine Mallinckrodt Professor and Chair of Biology at WashU. His research is motivated by fundamental questions about how cells of multicellular organisms acquire, maintain, and change shape. 

The Dixit Lab investigates how plant cells grow and develop their shape by studying the molecular and physical processes that control cytoskeleton patterning and cell wall formation. The lab uses a multidisciplinary approach to understand how microtubule-associated proteins and cellular forces regulate the organization and direction of cell wall assembly. The lab also studies how plant cells detect and respond to physical forces. They are especially interested in how the cytoskeleton helps cells sense changes in their physical environment and respond to those changes.

Dixit earned a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry, magna cum laude, from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1993 and a doctorate in plant molecular biology from Cornell University in 2000. He then completed his postdoctoral training at the Pennsylvania State University and the University of Pennsylvania, and joined WashU as an assistant professor in 2008.

His scientific path reflects a longstanding fascination with microscopy and the dynamic organization of living systems. Dixit’s graduate and postdoctoral work helped establish the interdisciplinary foundation of his research program, spanning plant cell biology, cytoskeletal dynamics, and single-molecule biophysics. At WashU, he has continued to advance this integrative approach through research, teaching, and academic leadership. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in cell biology and plant biology and co-developed an interdisciplinary course, Cellular Transformations, that links biology with architecture and design. He served as the director of the Biology Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship from 2017-2023 and as a co-director of the Plant and Microbial Biosciences graduate program from 2018-2023. Since 2017, he has served as an associate director of education for the National Science Foundation-funded Science and Technology Center for Engineering Mechanobiology. 

Throughout his career, Dixit has served on the editorial boards of the Biophysical Journal and The Plant Cell. He was awarded the prestigious NSF CAREER Award in 2015 and the Fellows Award for Outstanding Achievement in Science by the Academy of Science St. Louis in 2024, and was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2025.

Dixit was born and raised in Mumbai, India, and has spoken about the formative influence of his father, an engineer with broad scientific interests, and of teachers and mentors who encouraged his early interest in biology. He lives in Brentwood with his wife, Shraddha Shah. Their 19-year-old son, Rohan, is a freshman in the McKelvey School of Engineering at WashU.

About George and Charmaine Mallinckrodt

This professorship was established in September 2013 by the London-based Mallinckrodt Foundation to recognize excellence in the field of plant biology. George and Charmaine Mallinckrodt intended to honor this area of study, which they considered vital to feeding billions of people worldwide while also safeguarding a sustainable environment.

George W. Mallinckrodt was born in August 1930. He served as a director and president of Schroders, a global asset management firm. He was also chairman of the Council of the World Economic Forum and vice president of the German-British Chamber of Industry & Commerce. He retired from his post as president of the German YMCA after 40 years of service and died in January 2021 at the age of 90.

Charmaine B. Mallinckrodt was born into a merchant banking family. She became a multilingual secretary and traveled widely with her husband during his business career. Her lifelong dedication to philanthropy extends to environmental issues and support for the education of taxonomists at London’s Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. George and Charmaine met in 1953. They married in 1958 and had four children: Claire, Philip, Edward, and Sophie. Charmaine and the children reside in London.

Over the years, George received many honors for his service and generosity. In 1997, Queen Elizabeth II made him an honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in recognition of his many years of outstanding service in banking and finance. Pope Benedict XVI bestowed on him a papal knighthood in recognition of his generosity to the Vatican Library, and he was granted the Freedom of the City of London in 2004. He also received an honorary Doctorate of Civil Law from Bishop’s University in Quebec, Canada, and an honorary Doctorate of Laws from WashU in 2011. 

George was greatly influenced as a young man by the character and generosity of his cousin, the late philanthropist Edward Mallinckrodt Jr., who transformed Mallinckrodt Inc., from a small chemical producer in St. Louis to a major manufacturer of pharmaceutical products. Before George, Edward received an honorary Doctorate of Laws from WashU in 1948. Edward’s father, Edward Mallinckrodt, received the same degree in 1918. George and Charmaine’s generous contribution for this professorship continues a long tradition of support for WashU by members of the Mallinckrodt family.