Weekly news from the School of Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis
Dear colleagues,
I hope everyone had a fine weekend.
I use this space at times to reflect on contemporary circumstance, and how it might affect us. I wanted today to call out colleagues whose work has been directly affected by changes in federal funding. This is the case for scholars whose work was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), other global agencies, or by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or the National Institutes of Health (NIH), but find themselves at odds with the priorities of the current administration.
Leaving aside for a moment the larger philosophical challenge with this encroachment on academic inquiry, these work stoppages have real impact for individuals among us who have worked for years to build up research agenda, for faculty who are pursuing important questions, and for the staff who work with them to make these projects a reality. There is little direct solace that can be offered that makes up for how hard this is, but at the very least I wanted to here acknowledge it, to note that a difficult moment is felt by all, yes, but even more deeply and particularly lived by those directly affected.
In offering this recognition, it also seems to me that we owe each other a redoubled commitment to doing what we are doing, as well as we possibly can. Our long-term collective goal is to create a community that advances thought on what it takes to create a healthier world. The moment would be doubly tragic if the difficult and contentious present derails us from the importance of our long-term aspirations. Here then is to another week where we lean into our commitment to do right by these aspirations.
The past week
Thank you to Lindsey Filiatreau, PhD, MPH, an assistant professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at WashU Medicine; 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; and Sarah Moreland-Russell, PhD, MPH, an associate professor in our School of Public Health. They joined us for Talking Public Health seminars last week. Their talks are archived here.
The coming week
If you can, join us this week for our next Thinking Public Health discussion, from 10 to 11 a.m. Thursday, March 27, in Room 207 of Cupples Hall I on the Danforth Campus. The topic is “The problem of bad behavior.” See here to RSVP and to access pre-reads to focus our discussion.
For our Talking Public Health seminar series, we feature this week Opeyemi Babajide, PhD, MSc, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Urban Health Collaborative at Drexel University’s Dornsife School of Public Health. She will speak at noon, Thursday, March 27, on “The Intersection of Perinatal Health, Migration and Social Determinants of Health” in 333A Goldfarb Hall on the Danforth Campus. RSVP here to attend in person or over Zoom.
Joining the School of Public Health
Tamara Schneider, PhD, MPH, joins us as our senior science writer and assistant director of communications. She comes to us from the School of Medicine communications team, where she wrote about Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases; infectious disease, most notably COVID-19; global health; health equity and myriad other topics. Her experience as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal led to her decision to pursue a master’s in public health, and she is eager to focus on public health again.
Public Health Ideas
A video of my conversation with Rachel Tabak, an associate professor in the Brown School, and Sarah Ferabi, an assistant professor of nursing at Goldfarb School of Nursing and a voluntary research assistant professor of medicine at WashU Medicine. We discuss a paper they co-authored, “Sleep, Stress, and Cardiometabolic Health in Women of Childbearing Age with Overweight and Obesity.”
Also this week
A brief commentary on the U.S. disengagement from the World Health Organization and a podcast for JAMA Health Forum Conversations with Dr. Larry Gostin about the same topic.
Here is to the last week of March.
Warmly,
Sandro
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
Past PHiPs, as well as monthly Community Notes, are archived here. You are receiving this email if you signed up for it or are a core member of the SPH community. Please feel free to reach out to Elizabethe Holland Durando, our director of communications, if you would like an item added in a future PHiP, or if you would like to change your subscription.