Where Different Audiences Find Information on the WashU Medicine Website

Updated

WashU Medicine's homepage organizes its content around audience type. The "Information for Our Community" section lists eight audience groups—prospective students, current students, faculty, staff, alumni & friends, administrators, researchers, and job seekers—each with its own entry point. If you know which group you belong to, start there; if you don't, use the site search or the A to Z index described below.

Audience Entry Points

The homepage presents these groups as a single set of links under "Information for Our Community." The site describes the section as a welcome to anyone "part of our community or … interested in joining us," so the links serve both current members and people exploring the institution.

Audience What the entry point is for
Prospective Students Exploring admissions and areas of study before applying
Current Students Navigating resources while enrolled
Faculty Finding faculty-facing information and services
Staff Finding staff-facing information and services
Alumni & Friends Staying connected after graduation
Administrators Administrative offices and services
Researchers Research programs, ongoing discovery, and investigator resources
Job Seekers Employment opportunities

The same audience list appears again in the footer, so you can reach these sections from the top or bottom of any page without returning to the homepage.

Directories, Calendar, and Contact

Beyond the audience links, the homepage and footer expose several lookup tools:

  • Directories — listed in both the header navigation and the footer, for finding people and units.
  • A to Z Index — an alphabetical listing of departments, programs, and administrative offices, useful when you know the name of a unit but not where it sits in the menu.
  • Calendar — for events; the homepage's Announcements section also carries time-sensitive items such as campus events, policy updates, and construction notices (for example, a weekly farmers market listed with day and hours).
  • Maps & Directions, plus Street & Pedestrian Closures, for getting to and around the medical campus.
  • Contact and Media Contacts, depending on whether you need general or press inquiries.

Using Search and the A to Z Index

The site provides a search function ("Skip to search" appears at the top of the page) alongside the menu. A practical approach:

  1. If you know the exact name of a department, program, or office, go to the A to Z Index first—it avoids guessing which menu category a unit was filed under.
  2. If you know the topic but not the unit, use site search with a specific term (a program name, a service, a person's role) rather than a broad word like "research," which will return many sections.
  3. If you know your audience role, skip both and use the "Information for Our Community" links, which are curated for that group.
  4. If you need a person, use Directories rather than search.

Related Sections Worth Knowing

The main navigation also splits the institution's work into About (mission, leadership, facts, history, and why St. Louis), Education (areas of study, financial support, and traditions such as the White Coat Ceremony, Match Day, and Commencement), Research (research firsts, ongoing research and discovery, BJC investigators, and Nobel Prize winners), Patient Care (hospital partners, patient stories, and clinical trials), Impact (cancer, neurosciences, pediatrics, microbiome, and aging), and News. If your question is about a specific condition or treatment rather than the institution, the "Find a Doctor" link in the header is the intended starting point.