Author: Guest Author

Could policy strategies be the missing piece in the implementation science puzzle?

Written by Morgan C. Shields, PhD, assistant professor at the Brown School On September 7th, the Center for Dissemination and Implementation was pleased to host Karen Emmons, PhD, professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, for her talk, The Role of Policy in Implementation Science and Health Equity. While understanding how policy […]

Celebrating aging!

Read more about resources and tips for helping older adults celebrate Older Americans Month!

After engaging with the Global Health Center, trainee finds community, mentorship and success

Written by Christine O’Brien, PhD, instructor in the Washington University Department of Radiology After joining the WashU Department of Radiology as a postdoc in the spring of 2018, I quickly found ways to engage with the global health community. My first introduction to the Global Health Center was through attendance at one of their Global […]

Holiday safety tips from Institute Faculty Scholar & infectious disease specialist

Written by the COVID-19 Update team at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis As we approach the holiday season, WashU Med infectious diseases specialist Steven Lawrence, MD, says it’s important to keep in mind that COVID-19 activity remains high, with case numbers rising in the region and much of the country. Vaccines, now […]

Your Next Move: Transitioning to the New Retirement comes to UCollege this spring

Written by Chris Frey, LCSW, Your Next Move course instructor As an educator and counselor, my interest in how we navigate transitions of all shapes and sizes has grown significantly through the years. As I have aged, my journey to understand both the familiar and unique aspects of life changes that call on us to […]

The hidden hero: Meet a Guatemalan physician fighting for his patients

Written by Hiram Gay, MD, professor of Radiation Oncology at Washington University in St. Louis I have known Dr. Edgar Ruiz since 2015. He is the current Radiation Oncology Department Chair at LIGA Nacional contra el Cáncer/ Instituto de Cancerología (LIGA/INCAN) in Guatemala. He is a remarkable physician who along with a team of radiation […]

Perspective: Warning-don’t define us by our age!

Written by Barbara L. Finch, MLA Depending upon where you are in life’s journey, birthdays have a different meanings.  For children and teenagers, they are exciting milestones: ready for school (6), obtain a driver’s license (16), able to vote (18), legally buy a beer (21). Between 21 and 50 there don’t seem to be many […]

Advancing D&I Science

CTSA Working Group Advances Dissemination and Implementation Science Written by Leslie Roettger, Institute for Clinical and Translational Sciences The CTSA program provides opportunities for hub members to come together and advance knowledge and progress around various topics. One way this is accomplished is through working groups. Working groups consider and develop solutions around a specific […]

Perspective: Broadening the scope as the country re-imagines policing

Written by Ron Long, head of Wells Fargo Aging Client Services In the wake of the murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, there has been a call to reimagine policing. As an African American male who has been stopped over 20 times in my life thus far, I fully support having those conversations. Some […]

Aging: Enlarging the Frame

Written by Ellen C. Boone, PhD, Chair, Potpourri 2020 Committee Yes, as Galucia, Morrow-Howell, and Swinford have written, the coverage of COVID-19 does distort perceptions of the older adult population, especially the 95 percent who do not reside in nursing homes. To counter this distortion, I composed the following lines, with the intention of enlarging […]

COVID-19: Viewing the Virus from Senior Living and Senior Living

Written by Barbara L. Finch, MLA and alumna, Washington University in St. Louis Shortly before my husband and I moved into an independent living retirement community three years ago, a friend asked: “Will this be like living in a college dorm?” In some ways it is. There are a number of people (in our case, […]

Older Americans Month: Invaluable Members of Our Society – Older Adults

Written by Behnaz Sarrami, MS, PharmD, TL1 Predoctoral Clinical Research Program alumnus Older Americans Month (OAM) was established in 1963 to give recognition to older adults as invaluable members of our society. Older adults have gained much wisdom and experience as they have endured life’s many challenges. Many have already lived through one pandemic, the […]

Haiti’s public health students rise to support COVID-19 response

Written by Melissa Chapnick, RD, MS, MPH, research manager for the E3 Nutrition Lab & Institute for Public Health Summer Research Program alumna Haiti is among the most recent countries hit by COVID-19. The Haitian government moved swiftly to respond to the emerging pandemic, closing the border with the Dominican Republic and halting all incoming […]

Shared perspective of the impact of COVID-19 on patients at Liga Nacional Contra El Cancer e Instituto Nacional de Cancerología in Guatemala

Written by Angel Velarde, MD, MSCE, research director at LNCC-Incan & collaborator on the USAID-ASHA grant The President of Liga Nacional Contra El Cáncer (LIGA) e Instituto Nacional de Cancerología (INCAN), Dr. Vicky De Falla, announced that despite the impact of COVID-19 on Guatemala, patients at INCAN are still receiving radiotherapy or chemotherapy treatment, although […]

A personal perspective from a radiation oncology physician in the time of COVID-19

Written by Hiram Gay, MD, associate professor, Department of Radiation Oncology at Washington University in St. Louis I am a radiation oncologist at the Siteman Cancer Center, and COVID-19 has impacted our patients and staff. The operation of our busy clinic has rapidly changed. At present, only essential personnel come to the clinic and many […]

Henrietta Lacks & precision medicine: A discussion on key ethical considerations

Written by Hilary Broughton, manager of the Center for Community Health Partnership & Research (ICTS) Henrietta Lacks—a poor, African-American tobacco farmer—presented at John Hopkins Hospital in 1951 with stomach pain and bleeding. She was diagnosed with cervical cancer at the age of 31. She was too sick to survive, yet her cells lived on. The […]

Funding awarded to community organizations

Written by Hilary Broughton, manager of the Center for Community Health Partnership & Research (ICTS) As part of the Institute of Clinical and Translational Science’s (ICTS) organizational capacity building initiative, the Center for Community Health Partnership and Research (CCHPR) has awarded 19 scholarships to individuals employed by local non-profit and governmental organizations. The funding will […]

Preterm birth rates in immigrant populations on the rise under trump administration

Written by Monica Villarruel, MPH, 2019 practicum student at the Center for Community Health Partnership & Research at the Institute for Public Health; and Clark-Fox Institute Policy Scholar A 2018 study led by researchers at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health demonstrated a connection between sociopolitical stressors and rising rates of premature births among […]

WashU launches Women in Global Health chapter

Written by Caline Mattar MD, assistant professor, Department of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis The Global Health Center at the Institute for Public Health is supporting a new movement at Washington University in St. Louis for women and men interested in gender and global health issues. Women in Global Health (WGH) is an international […]

Changing from the inside out & from the bottom up: How nutritional guidelines can empower & educate consumers while motivating industry change

Written by Diana Parra Perez, PhD, MPH, assistant professor at the Brown School  At publishing, Professor Perez was assistant professor of physical therapy at the School of Medicine “Garbage disguised as food triumphs: this industry conquers the palates of the world and reduces the traditions of the local cuisine to shreds. The customs of good […]

Finding a nutritious balance

Written by Eliza Antonowich, communications assistant at the Institute for Public Health As a sophomore in college, I have found that the most popular buzzword in conversation on campus must be balance. How can one possibly manage all the components that lead to success? From academics, a job, exercise, extracurricular activities, a social life, and […]

How molecular biology is making medicine more precise

Written by Tim Peterson, assistant professor, Washington University School of Medicine This post is a lay introduction on how molecular biology is increasingly being used to make diagnoses and treatments better tailored to individual patients. The Definitions For those who may not be familiar with molecular biology, there are three main types of molecules in […]

Precision medicine research in diverse populations

Written by Erin Linnenbringer, PhD, MS, assistant professor in the Department of Surgery, School of Medicine At the time of publishing, professor Linnenbringer was an instructor in the Department of Surgery Essential to Meeting the Goal of Reaching the Right Patient With the Right Treatment at the Right Time Many Americans have probably heard the […]

Driving data in precision medicine

Written by Philip Payne, PhD, FACMI, the Robert J. Terry Professor and founding director of the Institute for Informatics at the School of Medicine When I am asked to speak to the general public about the emerging role of informatics, I often start with an unusual example: buying an airline ticket. If I were to […]

Participating in a clinical trial

Written by Shea Roesel, clinical research coordinator I at Volunteer for Health at the School of Medicine As a clinical research coordinator with the Volunteer for Health (VFH) office at Washington University School of Medicine over the past 15 years, I have noticed that each participant’s situation is distinctive and the motivation to participate in […]

Using a public health approach to rethink and reduce mass incarceration in the U.S.

Written by Barbara Baumgartner, PhD, director of Undergraduate Studies, Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies and associate director of Washington University Prison Education Project The United States incarcerates more of it citizens per capita than any other country in the world. Since most prisons are located away from urban centers, the magnitude of the problem is […]

Saint Louis Story Stitchers’ Artists Collective – Not another one! A discussion on gun violence

Saint Louis Story Stitchers Artists Collective is a nonprofit organization where artists and urban youth collect stories, reframe and retell them through art to promote understanding, civic pride, and literacy. Story Stitchers work with local youth often focuses on gun violence and implicit bias. Recent projects in which youth address issues of violence include a […]

Finding the answers to building a supportive community

By Emily Luft, Program Director, Alive and Well STL In my work with Alive and Well STL, I have the opportunity to talk to thousands of service providers about the impacts of stress and trauma on our health and wellbeing. I frequently witness providers connecting their individual work to the science of trauma in ways […]

Studying relationships and health at the Center for Public Health Systems Science

The mission of the Center for Public Health Systems Science (CPHSS) in the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis is “to create sustainable solutions to public health problems, leading to healthier individuals and communities.” The center’s team conducts research and evaluation to create a better understanding of how evidence-based policies and organizational systems affect […]