June 14, 2026

The risk of Ebola virus infection is low for Americans. Still, the outbreak in East Africa continues to escalate as North America begins hosting the World Cup, a 39-day event expected to draw millions of international visitors. Bursky School of Public Health's Dr. Jennifer Layden, who has spent much of her career responding to emerging public health threats, discusses the outbreak and the systems designed to detect and respond to such threats. 

Funds generated from a BJC HealthCare endowment will bolster a career-development award, professorship, and Bursky Public Health Dean’s Fund. Each is named to honor Larry J. Shapiro, WashU Medicine dean emeritus.

A Bursky Public Health lecturer and applied practice deputy director, Effah channels his experience and expertise into mentoring and guiding MPH students as they prepare for public health careers.

Halkitis, dean of Rutgers School of Public Health, talks to Galea about Halkitis' book, "Humanizing Public Health: How Disease-Centered Approaches Have Failed Us." 

Sara Malone, an assistant professor at Bursky School of Public Health, and Thomas Talbot, chief hospital epidemiologist for Vanderbilt University Medical Center, have received the "Best Session Award" for a session they presented at this spring's Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) conference in Chicago. The session was titled, "The Art of Influence Without Formal Authority." The award pays tribute to outstanding, engaging speakers and top sessions. 

Media coverage of WashU Bursky Public Health's people, research, and other news.

In discussing an iHeard STL survey that found widespread dissatisfaction with recovery efforts a year after a destructive tornado in St. Louis, Dean Sandro Galea noted that previous studies have found links between delayed recovery efforts and worsening mental health among disaster survivors. (Source: The St. Louis American)

Area Resources for Community and Human Services (ARCHS) has awarded $345,997 to six St. Louis-area organizations that provide support services for crime victims and residents impacted by violence. “Violence is not only an immediate safety issue; it is also a driver of long-term health and well-being,” said Bursky Public Health researcher Ilana Seff. (Source: The St. Louis American) 

Advocates warn new federal work rules could strain a state system already dropping eligible people because of missed or unprocessed forms. Bursky Public Health's Tim McBride said some recipients don’t receive forms because they don’t have a physical address, or the address on file  is incorrect. It's also not always clear what details are wanted. (Source: Missouri Independent)

Just weeks ago, an Ebola outbreak was reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; it has since spread to Uganda. iHeard polled St. Louisans and found that local adults are well-aware of the outbreak, but don’t know much about Ebola.

iHeard is a listening project of the Health Communication Research Laboratory at WashU Bursky Public Health. iHeard surveys about 200 people each week who live or work in St. Louis, to find out what they know, believe and care about in regard to health.

Anusha M. Vable, a professor at the Bursky School, is the last author on, "Impact of Vietnam-era G.I. Bill eligibility on the distribution of later-life memory score levels and decline: evidence from the Vietnam draft lottery natural experiment," published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Burel Goodin, a WashU Medicine professor of anesthesiology and a member of the Bursky School secondary faculty, is the senior author on, "Psychological and clinical risk factors for substance use in people with and without HIV," published in the Journal of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care.

Luis Fuenmayor-Gonzalez, a Bursky School PhD student, is the last author on, "Reduction of in-hospital mortality after implementation of a pediatric trauma unit for children with moderate and severe trauma at Baca Ortiz Children's Hospital, Quito–Ecuador," published in Frontiers in Pediatrics.

Dean Galea, in his latest post in The Healthiest Goldfish, writes about "Health as infrastructure, not intervention" — how the Ebola outbreak in East Africa reminds us of the need for scaffolding we often do not see until it fails.