WashU Public Health launches research network to solve urgent health, environmental challenges 

The past several decades have seen enormous improvements in public health, with global life expectancy at birth skyrocketing from 46 years in 1950 to 73 years in 2023. At the same time, human activity has degraded the planetary systems that sustain all life on Earth, threatening our ability to feed ourselves, heightening the risk of natural disasters, and facilitating the spread of heat-related and infectious diseases. In response to these converging challenges, a new approach is taking shape, one that recognizes that human and planetary health are inseparable — and that solutions to environmental challenges will benefit human health, and vice versa. 

The School of Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis has launched a new research network — Solutions through Planetary Health Research (SPHERE) — to integrate public health and environmental research with the goal to improve the interconnected health of people and the planet. The network aims to build cross-disciplinary partnerships to work toward creating actionable solutions to the complex public health challenges resulting from changes to our environment.

“This network reflects our commitment to understand health in the context of a rapidly changing planet,” said Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH, the Margaret C. Ryan Dean of the School of Public Health, the Eugene S. and Constance Kahn Distinguished Professor in Public Health and vice provost for interdisciplinary initiatives at WashU. “Climate change is reshaping the ecology of both infectious and noncommunicable disease, with implications for preparedness, equity, and resilience. Our goal is to bring together researchers from across disciplines to outline next steps for the science needed to protect population health now and in the future.”

SPHERE is one of six research networks at the School of Public Health (SPH). Centerpieces of the school’s research enterprise, the networks aim for nothing less than transformative progress against the most critical public health challenges. SPHERE is led by Daniel Giammar, PhD, the Walter E. Browne Professor of Environmental Engineering at McKelvey School of Engineering and a member of the SPH secondary faculty. Jen Mandeville, MS, serves as SPHERE’s senior network manager, overseeing daily operations, and supporting research and partnership activities across the network. A co-director from SPH will soon be named to complete the leadership team. 

“In the face of major environmental challenges, we need to take a holistic view of how we provide sustainable, healthy life for humans and nonhumans by integrating the life sciences with the natural systems that support life here on Earth,” Giammar said. “I see SPHERE as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to advance planetary health. There’s a lot of momentum and excitement in this field right now, and I’m incredibly excited to be part of this.”

The network will leverage WashU’s strengths across disciplines in areas such as water and air quality, ecology, mental health and the built environment to generate innovative solutions to critical issues at the intersection of environmental change and public health. The network’s first annual convening, to be held January 21 at WashU and online, is titled Disease Ecology on a Changing Planet and builds on the university’s strengths in emerging infectious diseases and ecology. 

Another area of emphasis is helping communities adapt successfully to climate change. Cities are increasingly struggling to cope with heat island effects, extreme weather events, water scarcity and other climate change-driven problems. The network will provide a platform for WashU faculty with expertise in nature-based solutions, landscape architecture and the built environment to find each other and work together to help communities develop resilience in the face of a warming planet. Other areas of focus include climate change, mental health and natural disasters; environmental pollutants and health; building climate-resilient food systems; and translating planetary health research into policy, programs and behavior change.

“What we’re trying to do is create a research ecosystem of groups from different disciplines working together on critical environmental and planetary health problems,” Giammar said. “At WashU, we have excellence in different places, but they’re not sufficiently connected right now. The network is going to be very important in building those connections.”

SPHERE will facilitate innovative solutions by promoting collaborative research, sharing ideas and approaches across disciplines, and building community partnerships to translate research into action. An environmental engineer who investigates sustainable ways to produce clean drinking water, Giammar also leads the Center for the Environment, a universitywide hub for collaborative environmental research. 

“We’re not going to do it alone,” Giammar said. “We’re looking into nonacademic stakeholders, community partners, nongovernmental organizations, private industry, philanthropic foundations. There’s this whole set of partnerships that we’re going to need to create to advance solutions to planetary health challenges.”

To complement the expertise already at WashU and help build SPH into an internationally recognized center of planetary health research and innovation, the School of Public Health is looking to hire more planetary health scholars. The school’s two newest faculty members are Professors Carrie Breton, ScD, and Tracy Bastain, MPH, PhD, who both started at the school January 1. Transplants from the University of Southern California, the two co-direct the Maternal and Developmental Risks from Environmental and Social Stressors (MADRES) Center, which investigates how chemical pollutants and social stressors during and after pregnancy influence health across generations, with a focus on reducing health inequities and improving outcomes for vulnerable populations.

Applications are currently open for outstanding faculty, especially those whose work aligns with the priorities of SPHERE or one of the school’s other research networks. 

Tamara Schneider, MPH, PhD, is the senior science writer and assistant director of communications for WashU School of Public Health. She holds a bachelor’s degree in molecular biophysics & biochemistry and in sociology from Yale University, a master’s in public health from the University of California, Berkeley, and a PhD in biomedical science from the University of California, San Diego.