Events

• William H. Danforth St. Louis Confluence Award Research Showcase, April 16, 5-7 p.m., Clark-Fox Forum, Hillman Hall. Event led by the Confluence Collaborative for Community-Engaged Research, Teaching and Practice. See here for more information and to register.
• SciComm Seminar led by Ross C. Brownson, PhD, April 17, 2-3 p.m., over Zoom. Hosted by The Center for Health and Science Communication at Becker Library, Brownson will discuss essential principles for effective communication with policymakers. Event open to all, but registration is required.
• Research Pitch Competition, April 21, 5-7:30 p.m. Tenured, tenure-track and research-track faculty will make lightning pitches on ideas or projects for prizes, in Anheuser-Busch Dining Room, Knight Center. Hosted by Arts & Sciences in collaboration with the Office of the Provost and the Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Register here.
• Health Data Bootcamp: Consolidation and corporatization in the U.S. health-care system, April 23, 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Eric P. Newman Education Center (EPNEC), 320 S. Euclid Ave., on the Medical Campus. Sponsored by the Center for Advancing Health Services, Policy & Economics Research. See here for details and to register.
• Brown School Centennial Celebration, April 25 and 26. Events include a faculty symposium, “A Century of Progress, A Future of Possibilities”; the Brown School Reunion Reception; and a Centennial Community Celebration. See here for details and to RSVP.
• Coincident with the 78th session of the World Health Assembly, the School of Public Health will host a Washington University ideas event, “Listening to people to improve health systems: Post-COVID trends in public attitudes on healthcare,” in partnership with the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research. The event will be May 22 in Geneva, Switzerland, 12-1:30 p.m. ET, 6-7:30 p.m. CET, and also will be livestreamed. Registration is here. 
• The School of Public Health’s annual public health convening, Science for Health Systems, in partnership with the QuEST network, will take place on the Danforth Campus, Oct. 29-31. The meeting will focus on new research on the measurement and improvement of health system performance. There are limited spots available for registration, and discounts for early-career professionals. Program details and registration are here. 

These monthly gatherings serve as an opportunity for the internal WashU public health community to hear progress updates and to discuss steps we are taking to build the school. We hope that all primarily appointed faculty and staff will attend these assemblies. As we build the school, we invite all interested WashU faculty and staff to join us. There will be a Zoom link for those unable to attend.

Scheduled Assemblies:

• April 16, 10-11 a.m., Umrath Lounge, Umrath Hall. Assembly agenda. RSVP to attend via Zoom.

Agendas and notes from previous assemblies:

• Notes from March 5, 2025, Assembly
• Notes from Feb. 12, 2025, Assembly
• Notes from Jan. 15, 2025, Assembly

The monthly Thinking Public Health gatherings are an opportunity for in-depth conversation within the WashU community about topics of current concern in public health. These are moderated, structured, in-person discussions observing the Chatham House Rule to encourage open conversation. If anyone has specific topics they would like to be considered for one of these conversations, please email Dean Sandro Galea.

Scheduled Thinking Public Health gatherings

• April 18. 9-10 a.m., Kuehner Court, Weil Hall. Truth. Details on topic, readings and RSVP here.

Notes and readings from previous conversations:

Jan. 28, 2025, Changing the conversation: On the utility of symbols and statements.

Feb. 21, 2025, Navigating political divides to promote the health of the public.

March 27, 2025. The problem of bad behavior.

This seminar series features presentations by leading thinkers in public health locally and from around the world. Invited speakers present their work and engage with the audience to advance the ideas that shape public health. These talks are held up to three times a week on the Danforth Campus. Those who cannot attend may participate over Zoom. Details are posted here as speakers are scheduled.

Scheduled seminars:

• Noon Tuesday, April 15, Julia Fleckman, PhD, MPH, is an assistant professor in the Department of Social, Behavioral, and Population Sciences at the Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University, and also serves as the director of research and evaluation for the Tulane University Violence Prevention Institute. She will speak on “Getting at the Roots: The Role of Public Health and Community-Partnered Research in Preventing Violence” in 333A Goldfarb Hall on the Danforth Campus. RSVP here to attend in person or over Zoom.
• Noon Thursday, April 17, Susan M. Kiene, PhD, MPH, is a professor of global health in the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and the director of Building Research Initiatives Advancing Global Health Equity (BRIDGE) at San Diego State University School of Public Health. She will speak on “Developing and Scaling Evidence-Based Interventions: Partnerships for Evolving Community Priorities” in 333A Goldfarb Hall on the Danforth Campus. RSVP here to attend in person or over Zoom.
• Noon Tuesday, April 22, Deshira Wallace, PhD, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Department of Health Behavior and a faculty fellow at the Carolina Population Center, will speak on “Examining the intersections of mental health and physical health in U.S. and global research.” The talk will be in 333A Goldfarb Hall on the Danforth Campus. RSVP here to attend in person or over Zoom.

Recordings of talks:

• Marcus Howard, PhD, founder and CEO of GreaterHealth Pharmacy & Wellness in St. Louis’ Delmar DivINe, spoke April 9 on “Public Health in Action: The Story of GreaterHealth Pharmacy & Wellness.” See here for a recording of the talk.
• Andrew Subica, PhD, an associate professor of social medicine, population & public health at the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine, and founding co-director for the U.S. Veterans Affairs Center for Pacific Islander Veterans Health, spoke April 8 on “Community Engaged Research to Address Health Disparities.” See here for a recording of the talk.
• Stephen E. Lankenau, PhD, professor and director of the Medical Cannabis Research Center at Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health, spoke April 3 on “New Directions in Cannabis and Overdose Prevention Research.” See here for a recording of the talk.
• Gregory Phillips II, PhD, associate professor in the Departments of Medical Social Sciences and Preventive Medicine at Northwestern, spoke April 2 on “Engaging, Educating, and Empowering: A New Paradigm for Health Research and Evaluation with and for LGBTQ+ Communities.” See here for a recording of the talk.
• Opeyemi Babajide, PhD MSc, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Urban Health Collaborative at Drexel University’s Dornsife School of Public Health, spoke March 27 on “The Intersection of Perinatal Health, Migration and Social Determinants of Health.” See here for a recording of the talk.
• Lindsey Filiatreau, PhD, MPH, an assistant professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at WashU Medicine, spoke March 19 on, “’What I know is that people don’t die from HIV, they die from stress:’ Closing the mental health treatment gap for people living with HIV in the Global South.” See here for a recording of the talk.
• Dana March Palmer, PhD, MPH, senior associate provost for academic programs, associate dean for doctoral education in public health, director of undergraduate studies in public health and an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, spoke March 19 on “Public Health Education for the Next Generation; Here and Now, Why and How.” See here for a recording of the talk.
• Sarah Moreland-Russell, PhD, MPH, an associate professor in the School of Public Health, spoke March 18 on “Power and possibility of policy: Implementation Science for promoting equitable and sustainable public health policy.” See here for a recording of the talk.
• Jaime Miranda, MD, MSc, PhD, professor and head of the School of Public Health at the University of Sydney, and International Distinguished Visiting Scholar, spoke March 11 on “Rethinking Chronic Disease: From Healthcare Services to Sustainable Well-Being.” See here for a recording of the talk.
• Elisabeth Stelson, PhD, MPH, MSW, spoke March 5 on “Advancing occupational vicarious trauma research to protect healthcare and social service workforces.” See here for a recording of the talk.
• Zachary Butzin-Dozier, PhD, MPH, an epidemiologist in the Division of Biostatistics at UC Berkeley School of Public Health, spoke Feb. 27 on “Evaluating Long COVID through Targeted Machine Learning.” See here for a recording of the talk.
• Stephanie L. Mazzucca-Ragan, PhD, assistant professor at the Brown School, spoke Feb. 19 on “Moving evidence to impact: working with organizations to promote evidence-based practice.” See here for a recording of the talk.
• Pasquale Rummo, PhD, MPH, associate professor, Department of Population Health, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, spoke Feb. 13, 2025, on “Social Determinants of Diet and Strategies to Improve Healthy Eating Behaviors: Food and Nutrition Policy.” See here for a recording of the talk.
• Alvin Thomas, PhD, postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Psychiatry at WashU Medicine, spoke Feb. 12, 2025, on “Research Frameworks to Promote Healthy Aging: Insights from Frailty & Resilience.” See here for a recording of the talk.
• Theresa (Tracy) Bastain, PhD, MPH, associate professor, Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, University of Southern California, spoke Feb. 11, 2025, on “Maternal Origins of Health and Disease: Investigating Pregnancy as a Susceptible Window of Exposure for Women’s Health.” See here for a recording of the talk.
• Katherine Dowdell, PhD, MS, a National Science Foundation postdoctoral research fellow in biology at the University of Texas at Austin, spoke Feb. 6, 2025, on “Opportunistic pathogens in municipal drinking water: Combating a threat to public health.” See here for a recording of the talk.
• Carrie Breton, ScD, MPH, a professor of population and public health sciences and director of the Maternal And Developmental Risks from Environmental and Social Stressors (MADRES) Center for Environmental Health Disparities at the University of Southern California, spoke Feb. 5, 2025, on the “Impact of the prenatal environment and stress on child health and biology.” See here for a recording of the talk.
• Mengmeng Ji, PhD, an instructor in the Division of Public Health Sciences at WashU Medicine, spoke Feb. 4, 2025, on “Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for Public Health: Applications in Obesity Research.” See here for a recording of the talk.
• Massy Mutumba, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Health Behavior and Biological Sciences at the University of Michigan School of Nursing, spoke Jan. 30, 2025, on “Promoting Mental Health and Resilience Among Adolescents: School-Based Strategies and Innovations.” See here for a recording of the talk.
• Daniel Zhao, PhD, associate dean for research and Presidential Professor of Biostatistics, Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Hudson College of Public Health, The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences, spoke Jan. 23, 2025, on “Statistical Analysis of Family Studies with Kinship Matrices: Applications to the Strong Heart Family Study.” See here for a recording of the talk.