The WashU Public Health Moment |
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A holiday message from Dean Galea |
Dear Colleagues:
As we approach the end of 2025, I wanted to reach out to thank everyone who has been with us on this journey through the moment. I would like to thank our staff, faculty, students, and community members who have been a core part of building Washington University School of Public Health. I also would like to thank everyone who has engaged with us through reading The Moment, through partnership, through collaboration, through helping us advance the mission of public health in the heart of the country and throughout the U.S. and the world.
It has been an unprecedentedly challenging year for health in many ways, with challenges to the practice of public health, challenges to universities, challenges to the social fabric that shapes much of what matters to the health of populations. Moments like this call on us to rise to being our best selves, to lean in to doing what we do.
And what do we do?
We are in the business of establishing the ideas on which we can build a healthier world, of giving the next generation the tools to promote healthier, longer lives for all, and of engaging with partners across sectors and across disciplines to catalyze ideas into tangible progress toward a healthier world.
That is what we do. And what we do has never been more important than right now, at this moment. Thank you to everyone reading this for what you have done this past year, for the difference you make every day. I look forward to what we shall do together in 2026.
My very best wishes for the winter break.
Warmly,
Sandro
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With a gift from Tony and Ann Ryan, WashU is establishing the Ryan Institute for Interdisciplinary Health Solutions in the School of Public Health. The institute will convene multidisciplinary leaders to catalyze solutions with the potential to address urgent health challenges.
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A new book by Arts & Sciences Professor Carol Camp Yeakey and two of her former students, delves into the multifaceted and often contentious issues of urban redevelopment and neighborhood gentrification. Camp Yeakey is also a member of WashU Public Health's secondary faculty.
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This month, Nicole Strombom became the first student to graduate from the PhD program in Public Health Sciences at WashU Public Health. She studies how law and policy affect the health of children and women.
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As part of the Talking Public Health seminar series, Timothy McBride, MS, PhD, the Bernard Becker Professor at the School of Public Health, gave a talk Wednesday, December 10, titled “Translating Research to Policy: The Example of Medicaid.”
The seminar series will resume January 14, with a talk by Ross Brownson, PhD, the Steven H. and Susan U. Lipstein Distinguished Professor at the School of Public Health.
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WashU Medicine’s Cynthia Rogers, a member of the SPH secondary faculty, emphasizes the urgent need for more mental health services for children and youth in St. Louis as a new hospital opens to expand capacity. (Source: St. Louis Public Radio)
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WashU Public Health’s Tim McBride explains why contract disputes between health systems and insurers are becoming more frequent and contentious. (Source: KMOV-TV)
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Dunnica Sobering Support Center in St. Louis offers 24/7 support for people experiencing a crisis involving alcohol or other drugs. This year more St. Louisans knew about it. One-quarter of St. Louisans surveyed had heard of a sobering support center before, up from 13% surveyed last year. Of those who had heard of a sobering support center, 30% knew the name or address of the St. Louis center (versus 25% last year).
iHeard is a listening project of WashU Public Health's Health Communication Research Laboratory. iHeard surveys about 200 people who live or work in St. Louis weekly to find out what they know, believe and care about in regard to health.
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WashU Public Health Dean Sandro Galea was the first and corresponding author on, "Back to the Future of Primary Care," an editorial published in JAMA Health Forum, where he is editor-in-chief. The article is co-authored by Zurui Song, associate editor of JAMA Health Forum and an associate professor of health-care policy and medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Devin Banks, an assistant professor of psychiatry at WashU Medicine and a member of the SPH secondary faculty, was the first and corresponding author on, "'Another one bite the dust—It happens so much in Black neighborhoods': Structural barriers and grassroots resources among Black men who use drugs facing fentanyl-era overdose and treatment disparities," published in Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment.
Julia Lopez, an assistant professor of medicine at WashU Medicine and a member of the SPH secondary faculty, was the first and corresponding author on, "Enhancing intergenerational HeAlth in Nigeria: peripartum as Critical life stagE for CardioVascular Health (ENHANCE-CVH) study: findings from pre-implementation using the updated consolidated framework for implementation research (CFIR 2.0)," published in Implementation Science Communications. WashU Public Health co-authors include Debra Haire-Joshu, associate dean for faculty affairs; and secondary faculty members Victor Davila-Roman and Mark Huffman, both professors at WashU Medicine and co-directors of the WashU Public Health Global Health Futures Innovation Research Network.
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In this episode, "Prosecuting gender-based crimes through a public health lens," host Dr. Salma Abdalla speaks with fellow WashU Public Health Professor Kim Thuy Seelinger about how global criminal law systems confront gender-based violence in conflict — and why in many cases, accountability is so difficult to achieve.
They discuss sexual and nonsexual forms of gender-based violence, and how international criminal law distinguishes between war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide. Seelinger also reflects on the barriers to prosecuting these harms; and the role of public health in documenting impact and supporting survivors. The conversation highlights the need to bridge public health and international justice, showing how epidemiologic methods, trauma-informed approaches, and health system insights can illuminate the scale and long-term impact of mass harm.
"Complicating the Narrative” is supported by WashU Public Health and the Frick Initiative.
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Public Health Ideas convenings
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| Wednesday, January 21, 2026, 9 a.m. CT
At WashU and online
The event will bring together academics, clinicians, policymakers, and community leaders to explore the role climate change plays in reshaping patterns of infectious disease, and why multisectoral collaborations are essential to build future readiness.
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The WashU Public Health Moment is published by the School of Public Health Office of Communications. You can reach us at sphcomms@wustl.edu.
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