Mary V. Mason, MD ’94, HS ’98, MBA ’99

Mary V. Mason, MD ’94, HS ’98, MBA ’99, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer-Corporate Health Initiatives, at Centene Corporation, is honored for her impact on health care delivery in the United States and elsewhere.

Centene provides health care insurance to more than 12.3 million government-assisted and low-income beneficiaries. Since joining the company, Mason has spearheaded the development of many clinical programs aiming to strengthen health outcomes for pregnant women, patients with opioid dependence, and other diseases. “Start Smart for Your Baby” significantly increased birth weights and decreased premature births. Mason also developed an award-winning book series for Centene covering childhood obesity prevention, diabetes, asthma, foster care and other topics. She was an on-air health expert at KMOV-TV from 2001–10.

Independently, Mason launched and franchised Little Medical School, which has exposed more than 350,000 children to health care careers through its award-winning after-school programs, summer camps and other events since 1999.

At the university, she has served as a voluntary attending physician for internal medicine residents at the Internal Medicine Residency Clinic and at Casa De Salud, a St. Louis clinic that focuses on immigrants who have no access to health insurance.  She currently is an adjunct lecturer at the Olin Business School on managed care, a member of the School of Medicine Admissions Committee and the Washington University National Council for Public Health and served on the Washington University Alumni Board.

Recognizing Mason’s success in the intersection of business and health care, the St. Louis Business Journal awarded her the 40 under 40 Award in 2008 and named to Most Influential Business Women Class of 2016.

Mason earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in 1990 and a medical degree from Washington University in 1994. After an internship and a residency at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, she served as chief resident in internal medicine from 1998–99 while also obtaining an MBA from Washington University.  From 1999–2001, she served as associate medical director for the Washington University Physician Network.  In 2001 she joined HealthCare USA, Missouri’s largest Medicaid/HMO and she became Chief Medical Director in 2004.  She joined Centene Corporation in 2006 as National Medical Director, achieving her current position in 2017.   She is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and member of Alpha Omega Alpha.

The Washington University Medical Center Alumni Association is pleased to present its Alumni Achievement Award to Dr. Mason.