Events

• The “Business for health: Finding business and public health convergence towards reducing and managing noncommunicable diseases” global dialogue is being organized in partnership with the World Health Organization and the Olin School of Business at WashU. The event will take place virtually March 27-28, from 8:30-10:30 a.m. ET; 1:30-3:30 p.m. CET. Registration is here.
• 24th Annual Friedman Lecture & Awards is 8:30-11:30 a.m. April 4 in Emerson Auditorium and Frick Forum, Knight Hall. The keynote speaker is Kimberly C. Porter, transformations director for Blue Zones, and a panel of regional implementers. See here for more information and to register.
• Assembly Series at Graham Chapel featuring Rob Bilott, April 7, 5 p.m.: “Dark Waters: The Environmental Legal Battle Exposing Corporate Coverup in the Name of Public Health.” See here for more information and to register.
• Health Care Systems Research Network annual conference, April 8-10, with Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH, as plenary speaker. The conference’s theme this year is “Optimizing Collaborations to Advance Health In a Dynamic Research Landscape.” See here for more information and to register.
• 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.
• 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. 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

• March 27, 10-11 a.m., Cupples Hall I, Room 207. For details on the topic and to RSVP, see here.
• April 18. 9-10 a.m., Kuehner Court, Weil Hall. Details on topic and registration coming soon.

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.

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, March 18, Sarah Moreland-Russell, PhD, MPH, an associate professor in the School of Public Health, will speak on “Power and possibility of policy: Implementation Science for promoting equitable and sustainable public health policy.” The talk will be in 333A Goldfarb Hall on the Danforth Campus. RSVP here to attend in person or over Zoom.
• 9 a.m. Wednesday, March 19, 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, will speak on “Public Health Education for the Next Generation; Here and Now, Why and How.” Her talk, sponsored in part by the Program in Public Health & Society in Arts & Sciences, will be in 333A Goldfarb Hall on the Danforth Campus. RSVP here to attend in person or over Zoom.
• Noon Wednesday, March 19, Lindsey Filiatreau, PhD, MPH, an assistant professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at WashU Medicine, will speak 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.” The talk will be in 333A Goldfarb Hall on the Danforth Campus. RSVP here to attend in person or over Zoom.
• Noon Thursday, March 27, Opeyemi Babajide, PhD MSc, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Urban Health Collaborative at Drexel University’s Dornsife School of Public Health, will speak on “The Intersection of Perinatal Health, Migration and Social Determinants of Health.” The talk will be in 333A Goldfarb Hall on the Danforth Campus. RSVP here to attend in person or over Zoom.
• Noon Wednesday, April 2, Gregory Phillips II, PhD, associate professor in the Departments of Medical Social Sciences and Preventive Medicine at Northwestern, will speak on “Engaging, Educating, and Empowering: A New Paradigm for Health Research and Evaluation with and for LGBTQ+ Communities.” The talk will be in 333A Goldfarb Hall on the Danforth Campus. RSVP here to attend in person or over Zoom.

Recordings of talks:

• 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.