SPH events this week
Faculty and staff orientation
School of Public Health faculty and staff orientations will be this Wednesday, August 13, in the multipurpose room at Lopata House, on the northwest corner of the Danforth Campus (No. 314 in upper left corner of this map).
Orientation for staff will be held over breakfast, from 9 to 11 a.m. Orientation for faculty will be held over lunch, from 1 to 3 p.m.
School retreat for faculty and staff
The School of Public Health retreat for faculty and staff also will be held this week, allowing an opportunity to shape the school’s strategic plan and help mold the future of the school together. Below you will find everything you need to know about the event. Please review the pre-reads, posted here, prior to attending.
The retreat is Thursday, August 14, from 9 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. at the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Bayer Event Center, 4344 Shaw Blvd., St. Louis, with a reception until 4 p.m. The event center is adjacent to the main visitor entrance at the Missouri Botanical Garden. The building opens at 8:30 a.m., and the retreat will start promptly at 9. Participants are asked to be seated and ready to engage.
Parking will be available in the main Botanical Garden lot on a first-come, first-served basis. We also have reserved 100 parking spots in this lot. Once the lot is full, please anticipate using street parking or overflow parking lots near the Botanical Garden campus. Bike parking is also available.
We will provide a light breakfast, boxed lunches, and various beverages and snacks throughout the day.
You will receive printed copies of the pre-reads and any other materials you will need to fully participate in the retreat. No need to bring your laptop.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Liz Vestal.
From the associate dean for education
Syllabus reminders
For those teaching this upcoming semester, please remember to access the new SPH syllabus template and related resources here. Once you have finalized your syllabus for the Fall 2025 semester, please upload it here and post to your Canvas page by the first day of class. It is critical we have all syllabi on file for accreditation purposes, including submitting our final self-study to CEPH in October. Please let Angela Hobson, associate dean for education, know if you have any questions or concerns.
RSVP for student orientation
Please register, if you haven’t already, for SPH student orientation, which is Thursday, August 21, and Friday, August 22. The event is designed to help acquaint new and continuing students with the School of Public Health and to build engagement with the WashU community. Student orientation activities will begin at 8 a.m. each day in the Clark-Fox Forum, on the first floor of Hillman Hall. See the agenda for details on orientation, as well as related activities. If you have any questions, feel free to contact SPH’s Admissions Office.
Reception to welcome new students
SPH faculty and staff are invited to a reception at 4 p.m. Thursday, August 21, to welcome new students. The reception will be in Hillman Hall’s Caleres Lounge. Please RSVP by Wednesday, August 13.
From the associate dean for administration
Email address for requests
You may now email SPHsupport@wustl.edu with HR, IT, facilities and operations, or general questions. We will route your request to the right teams for faster, more consistent service.
Duncan address; Space Principles reminder
Our new mailing address for 4300 Duncan Ave. is: WashU School of Public Health; MSC 1303-40-03; One Brookings Drive; St. Louis, MO 63130.
As we settle into our new spaces, both at Duncan and in Hillman Hall, we encourage everyone to review our Space Principles, guiding use of our shared spaces.
Compass canceled this week
We will not hold SPH Compass on Monday, August 11, due to the school orientations and retreat August 13 and 14.
From the director of communications
AHPA presenters
If you are planning to present at the APHA annual meeting November 2-5 in Washington, D.C., please share details with Elizabethe Holland Durando so the comms team may amplify your work.
Faculty photos
The communications team will be reaching out to SPH faculty over the next few weeks to arrange for individual portraits. When contacted, please look for opportunities to schedule a portrait session so that the photos for our website and that we share with the Record and outside media are up to date and of a consistent style. We appreciate your help!
Public Health Ideas
As part of Public Health Ideas, Dean Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH, talks with Matthew Kreuter, PhD, the Kahn Family Professor of Public Health at WashU Public Health. They discussed pandemic preparedness, vaccine skepticism and public trust in health guidance. See the video here.
“Complicating the Narrative” podcast
The second episode of the “Complicating the Narrative” podcast with Salma Abdalla, SPH assistant professor, director of the Healthier Futures Lab, and a co-director of the Global Health Futures Innovation Research Network, is available for viewing and listening.
This episode features Nason Maani, PhD, MSc, a senior lecturer/associate professor at the University of Edinburgh. The two discuss the commercial determinants of health and Maani’s “Manufacturing doubt” paper, about the effects of independent and industry-sponsored messaging on people’s understanding of health risks. Abdalla and Maani explore why it is essential to consider commercial actors and their interests when studying population health.
This podcast is supported by the School of Public Health and the Frick Initiative. You can find it on YouTube, Apple podcasts, Spotify, Amazon music, and other podcast streaming platforms.
New to the school
We welcome seven new staff members this week.
Joshua Bogus, MPH, joins the school as the senior network manager for the Global Health Futures Innovation Research Network. Previously an associate director for research at the Boston College School of Social Work, Bogus has more than 15 years of experience in global health program and research management directing clinical trials, epidemiological studies and cross-cultural program implementation across more than 17 countries.
ThuVan T. Dinh, MPH, joins the School of Public Health as the senior network manager for the Policy & Structural Solutions Innovation Research Network. Dinh is a seasoned international development/foreign assistance and global public health leader with over 20 years of experience designing, managing and evaluating infectious diseases and health systems programs across Asia, Africa and the Middle East. She is known for her systems thinking approach, strategic advisory services, and cross-sectoral leadership with foreign governments, donors, and implementing partners.
Ashley Evans, MS, joins the school in the Office of Research Affairs as an administrative coordinator. Evans is a certified community health worker with experience in project planning, program management, and community engagement. Before coming to WashU, she worked as a project coordinator for a federally funded community health worker program at St. Louis Community College.
Jilly Hebert, MS, is a statistical analyst working with associate professor Anusha Vable, ScD, MPH. Hebert’s research centers on evaluating the long-term impacts of educational and social interventions on health later in life, with a particular emphasis on cognition and cognitive decline. A significant aspect of her work involves understanding and applying innovative methodological approaches.
Amanda Irish, DVM, PhD, MPH, is a statistical analyst working with associate professor Anusha Vable, ScD, MPH. Irish supports Vable’s social epidemiology work focusing on how life-course exposures such as education and occupation influence health later in life, with an emphasis on disparities and novel methods, including quantile regression and sequence analysis.
Linda Schreier joins as an administrative coordinator for the Innovation Research Networks at the School of Public Health. With a background in program management and various educational programs, she will provide vital project and administrative support.
Sachi Taniguchi is a social science manager working with associate professor Anusha Vable, ScD, MPH. Taniguchi supports the team’s research through project management and operations and logistics support.
Public Health news
Measuring stigma in pediatric cancer
The stigmatization of children with cancer and their families can cause parents to delay seeking care, refuse treatment or stop treatment early — all of which lower a child’s chances of survival. As a step toward addressing the global problem of stigma in pediatric cancer, Sara Malone, MSW, PhD, an assistant professor at the School of Public Health, co-created a tool to study how stigma is experienced by children with cancer and their caregivers across cultures and languages. Read more about how Malone and her collaborators are measuring stigma in pediatric cancer in the U.S., Guatemala and Jordan.
Student receives Viva Brasil STL scholarship
Milena Franco Silva, a PhD student in Public Health Sciences at the School of Public Health, has received a scholarship from Viva Brasil STL, in recognition of her commitment to public health research and community involvement. Read more here.
In the news
Morgan Shields, MS, PhD, an assistant professor at the school, was quoted by Iowa Public Radioregarding cuts to a program that aims to protect mentally ill people from abuse. Shields warns that proposed federal budget cuts could weaken protections for people in psychiatric facilities by limiting oversight of mental health care and reducing the ability to hold institutions accountable.
Health care-quality researchers Mary Politi, PhD, an SPH professor, and Ginger McKay, MA, PhD, an SPH assistant professor, were highlighted in a Missouri Independent article about cuts to the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Both say that the funding cuts undermine efforts to improve medical care and health outcomes.
Papers of note
WashU Public Health’s Ross Brownson, PhD, the Steven H. and Susan U. Lipstein Distinguished Professor; Debra Haire-Joshu, PhD, RN, MS, MA, the associate dean of faculty affairs and the Joyce and Chauncy Buchheit Professor; Rachel G. Tabak, PhD, an associate professor at SPH; Lisa Klesges, PhD, SPH’s interim associate dean for research; Shelly Kannuthurai, MPH, a staff member at SPH’s Center for Diabetes Translation Research; and Rebekah R. Jacob, MSW, MPH, a staff member at SPH’s Prevention Research Center, co-authored “Building capacity and equity in implementation science: evaluation of a national mentored training program,” published in Implementation Science.
Nicholas Szoko, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of pediatrics at WashU Medicine and a member of the secondary faculty at the School of Public Health, was the corresponding author on the paper, “Applying the practical, robust, implementation and sustainability model (PRISM) to a community-based youth participatory action research program,” published in BMC Public Health.
Looking ahead
Register for D&I Day
Dissemination & Implementation (D&I) Day is an annual event that brings together people working in the field of D&I at WashU across specialties, schools and campuses to discuss advances, opportunities and challenges within the field. D&I Day will be September 5, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Clark-Fox Forum at Hillman Hall. To register, email Ashley Sturm by 5 p.m. Friday, August 15. Space is limited.
Call for abstracts
Friday, August 22, is the deadline to submit abstracts for the annual Siteman Cancer Research Symposium & Poster Showcase, which will be October 10 at the Eric P. Newman Education Center (EPNEC) on the Medical Campus. The symposium features trainees’ research from all departments and all types of cancer research, including basic, pre-clinical, clinical, and public health projects. See here for details.
D&I Bootcamp proposals
If you have a dissemination and implementation research proposal in the works, or an idea for one, submit a proposal for discussion at the D&I Proposal Development Bootcamp, co-sponsored by the Dissemination & Implementation Science Innovation Research Network (DISIRN). To participate, submit a concept paper by September 22. At the bootcamp, participants will meet with leading experts in the field who will give targeted feedback to sharpen ideas and increase proposal authors’ chances of obtaining funding. For more information, see the D&I Bootcamp page.
SPH faculty development seminars
SPH will hold a faculty development seminar, on “Enhancing Your Mentorship Practice,” at noon September 16, with Alison Antes, PhD, of WashU Medicine. Antes directs a national program aimed at supporting early-career researchers and enhancing their leadership and management skills, and co-directs a coaching program for researchers facing issues related to research integrity or compliance. The location is yet to be determined, but register here to attend in person or over Zoom.
A second SPH faculty development seminar, on “Enhancing Effectiveness Through Communication Skills,” will be held at noon October 14. The location and speaker are TBD, but register here to attend in person or over Zoom.
A note to our international community
If members of our international community are uncertain where to find information regarding questions or concerns you may have, the Office for International Students and Scholars (OISS) has a range of resources to support international students, scholars, faculty and staff. We encourage you to explore the OISS website for details about helpful contacts, resources and events.
Goldfish wraps up summer break
The Healthiest Goldfish, Dean Galea’s Substack blog, has returned from summer hiatus. This week’s post: “In praise of diligence; On showing up when there is much to be done.”
On that note … have a wonderful week of showing up like you do, SPH community.
Let us know
If you have SPH news, events or research to share, please send details to Elizabethe Holland Durando, SPH director of communications and change management.