The rural-urban gap in health coverage is far wider in Missouri than elsewhere in the country, according to a policy analysis by WashU School of Public Health researchers.
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| Evidence from an Indonesian island points to the elimination of a parasitic worm that causes a devastating disease. Contributing to that success was a project led by Peter Fischer and Philip Budge, both of WashU Medicine and the WashU Public Health secondary faculty.
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This event will explore intersections of race and public health, and the bridging of research with community-based solutions. The event is hosted by WashU Public Health and the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity.
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Vorkoper draws on her years at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to help WashU Public Health researchers, whether new or established, adapt to the challenging funding climate.
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This week, there will be four presentations:
Yuru Huang, an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, will give a talk titled, "Building a healthy food environment to improve population diets," at noon Tuesday, March 24, in the Danforth University Center (DUC), Room 234.
Brooke Cunningham, commissioner for the Minnesota Department of Health, will give a talk titled, “People with purpose, discontent as data, leadership beyond stewardship: Spearheading change in academia and governmental public health,” at noon Wednesday, March 25, in the Danforth University Center (DUC), Room 276.
Mercedes Bravo, associate director for community at the Duke University Global Health Institute and an assistant research professor of global health, will give a talk titled, “Health has an address: Environment, equity, and public health,” at noon Thursday, March 26, in the Danforth University Center (DUC), Room 234.
And Elyse Thulin, a research assistant professor with the University of Michigan, will give a talk titled, “Digital influences on health and well-being: Help-seeking, school interventions, and public health applications of LLMs,” at noon Friday, March 27, in 4240 Duncan Avenue, in the Havana Room.
To see the school's collection of recordings, see here.
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A collection of articles exploring anatomical wax modeling as part of the historical foundations of health and healing has been published in Physis: International Journal for the History of Science. The collection — titled "The Art, Science and Symbolism of Wax" and edited by Rebecca Messbarger, a professor of Italian in Arts & Sciences and a member of the WashU Public Health secondary faculty — examines wax models as instruments of clinical instruction, tools of public health education, and artifacts of cultural imagination. Messbarger opens the collection with an introductory essay that frames wax as a material technology of care and persuasion — one that shaped how medical knowledge was made visible, transmitted, and felt. Read the collection here.
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Media coverage of WashU Public Health's people, research, and other news.
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| Amid policy debates over SNAP food restrictions, WashU Public Health's Sarah Moreland-Russell says that there's no pattern of evidence to suggest food aid promotes unhealthy weight. (Source: The St. Louis American)
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WashU Medicine cardiologist Karen Joynt Maddox, also of the WashU Public Health secondary faculty, is lead author of an American Heart Association statement that projects a dramatic rise in heart disease among women. (Source: STAT News)
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The falling U.S. birth rate has been the subject of many news reports, social media posts and public policy discussions lately. Although the birth rate has fallen, it likely will remain stable. More people in the U.S. are having children later in life. This makes the birth rate, which counts births from girls and women 15-34 years old, seem lower. We asked St. Louisans what they thought about it, and here's what we found.
iHeard is a listening project of the Health Communication Research Laboratory at WashU Public Health. 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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Beth Stelson, an assistant professor at WashU Public Health, is the first and corresponding author on, "Qualitative methods are epidemiologic methods: Revisiting the epidemiologist's toolbox," published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Lindsay Stark, a professor at WashU Public Health, is the corresponding author on, "Pathways to self-reliance: a pilot trial of an integrated livelihoods and psychosocial program for displaced women in Colombia," published in Conflict and Health. Research Associate Professor Ilana Seff is a co-author.
Nicholas Szoko, an assistant professor at WashU Medicine and a member of the WashU Public Health secondary faculty, is the first and corresponding author on, "Exploring the role of social networks in youth mental health," published in Discover Mental Health.
WashU Public Health's Stephanie Mazzucca-Ragan, an assistant professor, is the last and corresponding author on, “Participatory systems modeling in implementation research: Exploring benefits, facilitators, and future needs,” published in the Journal of Clinical and Translational Science. Jess Gannon, a senior research manager at the school’s Prevention Research Center, is a co-author.
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| WashU School of Public Health
A WashU Public Health two-day symposium brought together leading voices in public health and a range of other disciplines. Their aim: to rethink how public health knowledge is generated, communicated, and translated into action.
The event culminated in a panel discussion Tuesday, March 17 — "Better Ways of Knowing: To Improve Population Health" — that explored how to produce evidence with the aim of improving population health and advancing health equity.
Thank you to everyone who joined the inspiring conversations that occurred during this event.
See the LinkedIn post.
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Why does the U.S. spend more on health care than other high-income countries and still have lower life expectancy? In this episode, "Higher spending, shorter lifespan," host Dr. Salma Abdalla speaks with Dr. Jose Francisco Figueroa about the drivers behind this health paradox in the U.S. They discuss research on avoidable mortality across U.S. states and peer countries, showing that deaths that could potentially be prevented have been increasing in the U.S. while declining in many other high-income countries. They also examine the challenges faced by the system.
"Complicating the Narrative” is hosted by Abdalla, an assistant professor of public health, and supported by WashU Public Health and the Frick Initiative.
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Dean Galea writes in The Healthiest Goldfish about remembering the values that sustain us and resisting the postliberal temptation. This post was written with WashU Public Health colleague Salma Abdalla.
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| Public Health Ideas convenings |
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| Tuesday, March 31, 2026, 4 p.m. CT
At WashU and online
Dean Galea will lead a panel featuring national leaders in public health and their thoughts on the erosion of public health infrastructure funding and the consequences for preparedness, workforce stability, and population health. They will discuss strategies to safeguard core public health functions, and other ideas regarding population health.
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| Friday, April 3, 2026, 9 a.m. CT
At WashU and online
This symposium, hosted by WashU Public Health and the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity, brings together scholars, community advocates, and practitioners to explore critical intersections of race and public health. The participants will explore how to translate scholarship into actionable strategies that address racial health inequities.
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Wednesday, April 8, 2026, 4 p.m. CT
At WashU and online
WashU Public Health and Saint Louis University College for Public Health and Social Justice together host the St. Louis Public Health Annual Lectureship to celebrate National Public Health Week and the impact of public health on our nation’s well-being.
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Tuesday, April 14, 2026, 9 a.m. CT
At WashU and online
This symposium, led by WashU Public Health’s Global Health Futures research network, will convene leading voices to consider global health's future amid reduced commitments to health-related development assistance, as well as calls to reform or replace the institutions underpinning global health policy and coordination since the end of World War II.
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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 [email protected].
Visit publichealth.washu.edu for the latest news and information, and follow us on social media.
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