Dr. Ann Lutzeier Peick was selected for induction into the Hall of Fame to honor her 40-year career as a General Surgeon. A member of Roosevelt’s Class of 1970, she was President of her senior class, Secretary of the Student Council, was on the City-Wide Student Council, a member of the Pep Club and chaired the Athletic and Election committees.

Dr. Peick became interested in medicine, making deliveries to nearby doctors while working at Knight Drug Store, on Grand Ave. She graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia (Mizzou) with a B.A. degree in Biology (Cum Laude) in 1976. After an additional year of research, she was accepted into the University of Missouri-Columbia’s Medical School, earning her Medical Degree in 1981. Dr. Peick was one of ten women admitted into this class along with 100 men. She and four others graduated. Dr. Peick did her residency at the school’s hospital for the next four years specializing in General Surgery and was designated as Chief Resident. Dr. Peick was a pioneer in this field. According to the American Medical Association, general surgeons make up about 3% of all physicians. There were an estimated 17,400 general surgeons in 1980, with women accounting for only 234 of them (1.4%). In 2025, 22.6% of the 30,000 general surgeons are women.

Dr. Peick was active at Mizzou, obtaining a NIH grant in biology, was President of the medical school’s freshman class, Treasurer of the Student Council and was a member of the Missouri State Medical Association. From 1986-1987, Dr. Peick held the distinction of being Clinical Surgeon at Mizzou and Staff Surgeon at the nearby Harry S. Truman Veterans Administration Hospital. From 1987-1989, Dr. Peick was Attending Surgeon and Assistant Professor of Surgery at the University of Arkansas’s Medical School and the McCellan Veterans Administration Hospital, both in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Dr. Peick moved to Poplar Bluff, MO in 1989, where she was on staff at the Doctors Regional Medical Center, Lucy Lee Hospital and Pershing VA Department of Surgery until 1998. From 1996-1998, Dr. Peick served as Medical Director of the Southeast Missouri Area Health Center. This agency served twenty-five Missouri counties focusing on health education for thousands of residents. She helped educate medical students about rural medical practices and was the first to initiate problem-based learning in a rural setting.

Dr. Peick returned to St. Louis in 1998 to serve as Director of Trauma at St. Anthony’s Medical Center (now Mercy South) until 2009. She developed procedures to have trauma staff readily available to operate on critically ill or injured patients withing twenty minutes of arrival at the hospital. The previous standard was fifty minutes. This requires the coordination of many specialties within the complex. She performed surgeries for the Department of Trauma Services at St. John’s Mercy Medical Center from 2009 to the 2020.

During this 40-year career, Dr. Peick performed thousands of surgeries. The vast majority were urgent, with patients coming to emergency rooms with a variety of health issues. Dr. Peick takes special pride in her work in Poplar Bluff. Their hospitals were Level 3 trauma centers, meant to treat moderate injuries. Since St. Louis had the closest Level One and Two trauma centers (150 miles away), she often performed major surgeries rather than risk patients dying in an ambulance on their way to St. Louis.