Mark Thoelke, MD, has had an incredible impact on hospital medicine, both within Barnes-Jewish Hospital and beyond. After completing his internal medicine residency and serving as Chief Resident at Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Dr. Thoelke became Director of the Gold Service in 1995, one of the earliest hospitalist programs in the nation. In 1998, he became the first hospitalist at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Dr. Thoelke played an integral role in the formation of the Division of Hospital Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine, as one of the founding members of the Division, serving as the Clinical Director in 2000. Not only was Dr. Thoelke part of one of the earliest hospitalist programs in the nation, but one of the founding members of the first hospitalist divisions in the nation. He eventually became Division Chief, facilitating the exponential growth of the division from merely 5 physicians to 84, in addition to implementing collaborations with 10 nurse practitioners. In 2020, following a highly successful tenure, Dr. Thoelke stepped down as Chief, and Dr. Michael Lin assumed the role as interim Chief.
In 2022, the division created an annual lecture series in honor of Dr. Thoelke’s excellent leadership, the Mark Thoelke Visiting Professorship. Kevin O’Leary, MD, became the inaugural Mark Thoelke Visiting Professor, followed by Michelle Mourad, MD, Marisha Burden, MD, and Daniel Hunt, MD. In 2025, the division was honored to host G. Randy Smith Jr., MD, as the Mark Thoelke Visiting Professor.
Prior to Dr. Smith’s lecture, current Division Chief Mark Williams presented Dr. Thoelke with two plaques to acknowledge his legacy and impact on the division, as well as hospital medicine. One plaque featured a photo of Dr. Thoelke, and highlighted information about his career and achievements in the bio that followed. The other plaque listed all of the previous Mark Thoelke Visiting Professors, leaving room to list upcoming speakers, as a recognition of this new tradition that will be continued for years to come. Both plaques will be displayed as a reminder of the hard work and dedication that Dr. Thoelke embodied in shaping hospital medicine into what it is today.
“A master clinician and educator, Dr. Thoelke formed the St. Louis Hospitalist Society in 2000, which later became the St. Louis Chapter of the Society of Hospital Medicine. He began a “Care of the Hospitalized Patient” CME course… His legacy continues with the Mark Thoelke, MD, SFHM Visiting Professorship in Hospital Medicine.”