All News

Inside WashU Public Health, September 22, 2025

Call for faculty WashU School of Public Health is looking to add faculty from around the country and world. Our new call for faculty, along with details, are available via Interfolio and

Call for faculty

WashU School of Public Health is looking to add faculty from around the country and world. Our new call for faculty, along with details, are available via Interfolio and on the WashU Public Health website. Please share with faculty who might be interested.

Faculty engagement opportunity

The WashU Health and Well-Being Committee is seeking a School of Public Health faculty member to serve along with other campus partners to advance the committee’s work. They seek a colleague with expertise in population health to collaborate on examining factors that influence the health and well-being of the WashU community. The steering committee was established in spring 2024 by Anna Gonzalez, PhD, vice chancellor for student affairs, and is chaired by Kirk Dougher, PhD, associate vice chancellor for health and well-being. The committee’s focus is on creating a campus culture of well-being universitywide. The group is using the Collective Impact Model and the Okanagan Charter as a framework.

Committee strategic goals:

• Educate the campus community on the Okanagan Charter and its concepts and aspirations, emphasizing WashU’s commitment to whole-person well-being and systemic support.

• Conduct a campus scan to identify and assess health and well-being initiatives across campus, and use the Health Promoting Campus framework to align and unify these efforts.

• Examine each dimension of the model of well-being to guide the integration of well-being into university policies, practices, and decision-making, fostering conditions for individuals and the community to thrive.

• Establish key performance indicators, developing metrics to measure progress on the charter’s two calls to action: embedding health into all aspects of campus culture, including administration, operations and academics; and leading health promotion efforts and fostering collaboration locally and globally.

If interested in this service opportunity, please contact Amanda Rhodes, SPH associate dean for strategic initiatives and chief of staff, who will connect you to the committee.

From the associate dean for faculty affairs

SPH faculty handbook available

The School of Public Health faculty handbook is available on the SPH website. The handbook is a living document, most recently updated September 15. We plan to update elements bi-annually, in June and December. If there are major edits, we will communicate out to all faculty and staff through the “Inside WashU Public Health” newsletter.

From the associate dean for education

Teaching preparation space

Hillman Suite 20 is available to reserve as flex space. Primary, secondary, and adjunct faculty who are teaching SPH courses have card access to the suite and are encouraged to use the space for teaching-related needs while on the Danforth Campus.

Resource folder

The Box folder SPH Teaching and Education Resources is our collaborative go-to storage space for teaching resources. Here you will find the SPH syllabus template, foundational and concentration competencies, a new course proposal form, and a teaching toolbox folder. In the teaching toolbox, I will periodically include links to articles or resources that may be relevant to contemporary teaching in public health, such as this “Teaching in Turbulent Times” resource guide and this Association of Schools and Programs in Public Health recorded webinar on incorporating generative AI into the scholarship of teaching and learning in public health. If you have suggestions for resources to add, please let me (Associate Dean Angela Hobson) know via email.

Spring 2026 scheduling

As we work on spring 2026 teaching commitments, I want to thank all who have engaged in the process thus far. Our process historically has involved sending a teaching preferences survey to solicit preferred days and times for teaching. We are no longer utilizing that survey as we move to a more predictable course schedule and sustainable planning process. We aim to have confirmation letters with spring course days and times sent in mid- to late- October to those with spring 2026 teaching commitments. I’m excited to announce that we will be launching a teaching assistant program, Nurturing Future Teachers, for the spring semester as well. Additional details will be shared in an upcoming edition of this newsletter.

Admissions season

The Public Health Sciences PhD program application portal will remain open from September 1 through December 1, while the MPH program application portal will remain open from September 1 through March 1 for international applicants and through June 1 for domestic applicants. If potential students contact you, please forward the inquiry to the SPH Office of Admissions and Recruitment. A member of our admissions team will connect them to information on applying and about our programs and will add them to ongoing communications. Here is an example of a reply: “Thank you for your interest in the [Public Health Sciences PhD program or MPH program] in the School of Public Health at WashU. I am connecting you with our admissions team (sphadmissions@wustl.edu) for additional information.”

Feel free to engage more with potential applicants and candidates. For PhD candidates, please keep in mind that the applicants list faculty with similar research interests, but they are not expected to discuss their research with named faculty before applying. Please contact doctoral program director Patrick Fowler with any questions about PhD inquiries, and master’s program director Charlene Caburnay with questions about MPH inquiries. Please contact director of admissions and recruitment Caroline Clasby with any admissions or recruitment questions or concerns.

iTeach 2026

Mark your calendars for WashU’s Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) iTeach 2026 conference, January 7 in the Clark-Fox Forum in Hillman Hall. This conference brings together faculty and instructional staff from all schools at WashU for cross-disciplinary discussion on teaching and the scholarship of teaching and learning. CTL is accepting proposals for papers, panels, posters, and workshops from all WashU affiliates. The proposal deadline is October 8. The full call and submission portal can be accessed here.

From the interim associate dean for research

Share funding news with us

The Office of Research Affairs (ORA) is focused on advancing research at SPH. We’re always looking to highlight research funding, learning, and resource opportunities for students, staff, and faculty across the School of Public Health. If you come across funding opportunities, workshops or trainings related to research affairs, or other valuable resources, please send them our way. We’ll help spread the word to the wider SPH community. To contact ORA, please email sphresearch@wustl.edu.

Grant opportunities: mental health, HIV prevention

Welcome Trust has launched the Mental Health Award: Transforming Early Intervention for Anxiety, Depression and Psychosis in Young People to fund large‐scale, real‑world studies of psychological or social interventions that have already shown efficacy in controlled settings. Investigators based in the U.S. are eligible to apply. The award has two phases. The foundation phase provides £200,000 ($273,000) over 12 months to build partnerships, refine intervention plans and outline effectiveness, implementation and economic evaluation in either the U.K. or in low‑ or middle‑income countries. The impact phase, open to foundation phase awardees in February 2027, provides £5 million to £8 million ($6.8 million to $10.9 million) over up to five years to test and scale the intervention. Eligible projects must target 10- to 30-year-olds, embed lived‑experience and implementation partners, clearly define active ingredients, use validated health and functional outcomes, and plan for sustainable, scalable delivery. Foundation phase applications are due November 11.
Gilead Foundation has issued a funding opportunity announcement to address HIV prevention options inclusive of long-acting options so that people at risk of HIV have the information needed to make informed decisions. Through this opportunity, Gilead Foundation will be supporting organizations investing in community health workers as part of the broader HIV prevention-care continuum. Grants will be considered for up to $400,000 over two years starting in January 2026. The deadline to submit a letter of interest is October 1. Anyone who would like help with a submission can contact Caitlin Bristow, the executive director of University Advancement who supports SPH.

Process updates: IRB assurance, eRA Commons, OnCore

ORA has been working to create a seamless IRB assurance document process for faculty, staff, and students to submit for the required signatures. The process uses a DocuSign template based on the submitter’s role (faculty or staff member, click HERE; student PI, click HERE). All submissions must list the PI name and IRB application title in the textbox under the PI signature. Please email sphresearch@wustl.edu with questions and for guidance.
WashU School of Public Health has officially been added to eRA Commons as well as to OnCore. Please use the WashU SPH designation when you use them. The addition to these research administration platforms gives the school recognition and provides another way to track data.

NIH funding: highlighted topics, international collaborations

As part of NIH’s strategy to streamline funding, reduce duplication, simplify the grants process, and make priorities more transparent, it has launched a new centralized resource called Highlighted Topics to help researchers learn about scientific areas of interest to NIH. Researchers can see NIH’s current research priorities (including emerging or less well-known fields), filter by institute, center, or office, and look at details such as participating institutes, topic expiration, and contact info. Although these are not funding announcements themselves, they provide guidance on what NIH hopes to see in investigator‑initiated proposals, which should be submitted via parent announcements or broad NIH funding vehicles.
NIH recently announced a major structural change for international collaborations (NOT-OD-25-155). NIH no longer will accept new applications requesting funds for foreign components via traditional subaward structures. Instead, applicants must use new activity codes — PF5 for grants or UF5 for cooperative agreements — requiring multicomponent applications that separately detail each foreign collaborator through distinct International Project Components. This means that each foreign institution will receive a separate award with its own responsibilities and compliance requirements. NIH will issue additional guidance, training, and FAQs in the coming months. In the meantime, please contact ORA with any questions. The Global Health Futures IRN and Global Health Center will host a town hall to discuss the updated NIH subaward guidelines with the WashU research community. More details to come.

From the executive director of networks and innovation

Seed grants focused on public health

To support the launch of the School of Public Health, Here and Next Research Seed Funding is focused on supporting innovative research projects and initiatives that will catalyze collaborations across disciplines to drive population health research efforts. The FY2026 areas of interest for Spark, Ignite and Transcend grants are aligned with the school’s Innovation Research Networks, including implementation science; global health changes; policies, systems and solutions; and planetary health, and preference will be given to teams that include a primary or secondary appointment in the School of Public Health. For more information, see Addendum: Funding Priorities for FY2026.

From the director of communications

SPH Toolbox, newsletter archive

We have added an SPH Toolbox to the bottom of this newsletter, where we have posted links to help find frequently sought-out information — for example, how to reserve a meeting space; where to locate teaching resources and supplies; where to find a complete list of upcoming SPH events, etc. We will update the list as we go along.

Otherwise, if you find yourself in search of something from a previous newsletter, you can find all published internal newsletters in the “Inside WashU Public Health” archive.

Faculty portraits

SPH photographer Zachary Linhares has scheduled blocks of time at Hillman Hall and 4300 Duncan Avenue for faculty portraits. He will take photos from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, September 30, at Hillman; and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, October 1, at 4300 Duncan. Please email Zach or sphcomms@wustl.edu to schedule a specific time — or if it’s easier to just show up during those windows, we will let you know where to meet.

SPH social media accounts

If you have not taken a look at or begun following WashU Public Health’s social media accounts, you can find us on:

Instagram

and YouTube.

From the associate dean for administration

Flu vaccine policy

Faculty and staff with primary offices in the Duncan Avenue building have received notices from the Office of Occupational Health Services regarding WashU’s influenza vaccine policy. Because we share the WashU shuttle service and are adjacent to the Medical Campus, faculty and staff at 4300 Duncan are required to receive the flu shot. Learn more about WashU’s flu campaign.

SPH events this week

Convening: Policy, Biodiversity, and the Future of Food

At 4 p.m. Tuesday, September 23, speakers and panelists will explore the decline in biodiversity at genetic, species, and ecosystem levels and its critical implications for food security and public health nutrition. Join leading experts as they discuss policy frameworks, community solutions, and actionable strategies needed to protect and enhance biodiversity for food and nutrition security. This event will be in Umrath Lounge in Umrath Hall on the Danforth Campus, and also will be available via Zoom. Register through this link, or join via Zoom.

Doctoral student meetings with the dean

Doctoral students are invited to join Dean Galea for an informal meeting on Wednesday, September 24, at 5:30 p.m. in 120 Hillman Hall. This is primarily an opportunity to engage with the dean around issues related to doctoral students’ research, careers, and other topics that may be helpful to trainees at this stage of their professional journeys.

Talking Public Health with Matthew Kreuter

This week’s Talking Public Health seminar will be at noon Wednesday, September 24, featuring Matthew Kreuter, MPH, PhD, the Kahn Family Professor of Public Health and co-director of the Health Communications Collaborative Innovation Research Network at SPH. He will give a talk titled “How Healthy is Today’s Health Information Ecosystem?” It will be in 60 Hillman Hall on the Danforth Campus, and also will be available via Zoom.

Workday workshop for faculty and staff

A workshop focused on Workday Student functions will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday, September 25, in Room 3104 at 4300 Duncan. A Zoo m option is available. If questions, contact SPHsupport@wustl.edu.

Thinking Public Health gathering

The first Thinking Public Health gathering of the fall semester will be Thursday, September 25, from 1-2 p.m. in Room 2104 of 4300 Duncan Avenue. These gatherings are an opportunity for in-depth conversation within the WashU community about topics of concern in public health. These are moderated, structured, in-person discussions observing the Chatham House Ruleto encourage open conversation.

In this session, we will reflect on recent political violence. Our discussion will consider the broader forces that drive individuals and groups toward violence, the specific role of firearms in escalating conflict, and how health — as a shared value and collective good — can serve as a bridge to unite communities, defuse tensions, and imagine alternatives to violence. See here for pre-readings.

If anyone has specific topics they would like to be considered for future conversations, please email Dean Sandro Galea.

Student coffee chats with the dean

Students are invited to join Dean Galea for an informal coffee chat at 5 p.m. Thursday, September 25, in 120 Hillman Hall. This is a relaxed opportunity to ask questions, share ideas and connect with the dean and fellow students.

Other events this week

Virtual Seminar: Visual Tools for Informed Consent

The Visual Informed Consent Workshop will be held from 8 a.m.–1 p.m. Thursday, September 25, at the Eric P. Newman Education Center (EPNEC) on the Medical Campus. Learn about a novel approach that uses visual elements & health literacy best practices to present informed-consent forms for research. Details and registration here.

CAHSPER research seminar

The Center for Advancing Health Services, Policy & Economics Research (CAHSPER) will host a research seminar in person and online from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday, September 25, with Alyna T. Chien, MD, MS, associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and a pediatrician at Boston Children’s Hospital. Register here.

Looking ahead: other events in coming weeks

The Story of COVID in the Heart of America

An SPH convening, “The Story of COVID in the Heart of America,” will be Tuesday, October 7, 4–6 p.m., in the Anheuser Busch Dining Hall at the Charles F. Knight Center on the Danforth Campus, and also via Zoom. See the event page here.

FARM Food Futures Forum

An SPH convening, the FARM Food Futures Forum on Thursday, October 9 at 9 a.m. in the Clark-Fox Forum in Hillman Hall, and via Zoom, is the inaugural convening of SPH’s Food and Agriculture Research Mission (FARM) Innovation Research Network. See the event page here.

Faculty development seminar

A faculty development seminar will be held at noon October 14 in the second-floor conference room of 4300 Duncan Avenue. Titled “Enhancing Effectiveness Through Communication Skills,” it features John Hornof Olin Business School. Horn was a senior expert in the strategy practice of McKinsey & Company before joining Olin. He worked with clients on competitive strategy, war-gaming workshops and corporate and business unit strategy across a variety of industries and geographies. He will offer best practices for communicating in academic and public settings. Register here to attend in person (lunch will be provided) or over Zoom.

Annual Norman R. Seay Lecture

The Knight Alzheimer Disease Research Center and its African American Advisory Board will host the 20th Annual Norman R. Seay Lecture, “Honoring Legacy. Accelerating Progress,” from 4-5 p.m. October 14 at the Knight Conference Center. Register here.

AI at the crossroads

Journalist and author of “Empire of AI” Karen Hao offers a look at the global power dynamics shaping AI, from 3-4 p.m. October 16 in the Clark-Fox Forum in Hillman Hall. RSVP here.

Vaccine Center symposium

SPH Dean Sandro Galea will speak alongside leading experts in vaccine science and public health from 8 a.m. to noon, November 12, at the Eric P. Newman Education Center (EPNEC) on the Medical Campus. RSVP here.