Weekly news from the School of Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis
Dear colleagues,
Welcome to May.
I had the opportunity this past week to engage with and present our progress to the university’s trustees. A heartfelt note of gratitude to the trustees, who launched and have been and continue to be supportive of the School of Public Health. Thank you. Relevant to the university as a whole, it is heartening to have health at the heart of WashU’s new campaign, With You: The WashU Campaign, which launched May 1. I look forward to engaging with the friends of the school in coming years as we build toward the aspirations we have outlined in our 4×4 plan. A brief video of our 4×4 plan can be found here and on our website.
And speaking of the 4×4 plan, in my note to the broader community this morning I offer some thoughts about education, covering now the four strategic pillars of the plan. I look forward to discussing all of these together at our August 14 all-school retreat. If helpful, a reminder that together with today’s note on education, I previously covered the other three strategies, namely, excellence in science and scholarship, Public Health Plus, and local and global impact. This month’s and all of the community notes can be found here.
The past week
We welcomed two outside guests to speak in our Talking Public Health seminar series this week: Kirsten Beyer, PhD, MPH, MS, a professor in the Division of Epidemiology & Social Sciences at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and Anusha M. Vable, ScD, MPH, an associate professor at the University of California San Francisco. Recordings of their talks can be found here.
The coming week
We also welcome an outside guest for our Talking Public Health series this week. Catherine K. Ettman, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, will speak at noon Wednesday, May 7, on “Population mental health, assets, and policy: leveraging longitudinal survey and electronic health data to understand drivers of population health.” RSVP here to attend in person or over Zoom.
Among other events of interest this week, “Introduction to Context, Theme, and Key Issues in Affordable Housing,” part of a webinar series, 9 a.m. Thursday, May 8. The focus of this event, moderated by Ana Luiza Favarão Leão, PhD, of the People, Health, and Place Unit, of the Prevention Research Center, is on how housing shapes public health and climate resilience. See here for details and to RSVP.
Joining the School of Public Health
We welcome four new faculty and one secondary faculty member this week.
Health economist Abigail Barker, PhD, joins the School of Public Health as a research associate professor from the Brown School. She studies health insurance markets, Medicaid, rural health, payment policy, and health reform, with an emphasis on understanding how to successfully integrate market principles and system-level, investment-oriented solutions into the health-care sector.
Health communication expert Matthew Kreuter, MPH, PhD, joins WashU Public Health as the Kahn Family Professor of Public Health, also from the Brown School. He develops and evaluates community-based health information systems and is the founding director of the Health Communication Research Laboratory, which aims to eliminate health disparities by increasing the reach and effectiveness of health information to underserved populations.
Epidemiologist Lindsey Filiatreau, MPH, PhD, joins the school as an assistant professor from WashU Medicine. She studies disparities in mental health, substance use and HIV treatment outcomes among people living with HIV in resource-constrained settings. Her research is aimed at finding and implementing evidence-based interventions to minimize such disparities.
Rachel Tabak, PhD, RD, joins the School of Public Health as an associate professor from the Brown School. She works on chronic disease prevention and promotion of physical activity and healthy nutrition. She studies the effect of interventions, policies, and environments on health, and dissemination and implementation science.
Cancer epidemiologist Kim Johnson, PhD, a professor at the Brown School, joins the School of Public Health as a secondary faculty member. She studies how factors associated with access to care influence outcomes in pediatric, adolescent, and young adult cancer patients. Her research integrates data-driven methods to evaluate disparities, improve survival, and inform policies that enhance equitable care delivery.
Public Health Ideas
A video of my conversation with Debra Haire-Joshu, PhD, associate dean for faculty affairs and the Joyce and Chauncy Buchheit Professor in Public Health at Washington University. We discussed a paper Debra co-authored, “Advancing healthcare equity through dissemination and implementation science.”
Grant opportunities
We are excited to announce the launch of the Cultivate Grants Fund. The Food and Agriculture Research Mission (FARM), one of WashU Public Health’s Innovation Research Networks, has opened applications for the first round of these grants. The fund supports research into practical, scalable innovations that contribute to sustainable transformation of agricultural and food systems and improved public health. Read more about the grants and how to apply here.
Student news
Of note, a story in the Record about soon-to-graduate Brown School MPH student Mayah Clayton and her commitment to equity and her community.
A paper of interest
School of Public Health faculty Debra Haire-Joshu and Rachel Tabak were published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity for their paper “Cross-sectional associations between inner setting determinants of self-efficacy and intent to deliver a healthy eating and activity curriculum embedded in a community setting.”
From the associate dean for administration
You are invited to upcoming Shared Business Services training sessions through May. These are designed to support your work with financial transactions at the university. Please also mark your calendars for SPH’s next Compass session, noon to 1 p.m. May 12 in 333A Goldfarb Hall.
Also this week
This week, in The Healthiest Goldfish, some thoughts on letting go of habits and ideas that do not serve us in this moment, here.
I hope this new month unfolds well for everyone.
Warmly,
Sandro
Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH
Margaret C. Ryan Dean of the School of Public Health
Eugene S. and Constance Kahn Distinguished Professor in Public Health
Vice-provost for Interdisciplinary Initiatives
Washington University in St Louis
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