Finally some good news about long COVID. Ziyad Al-Aly, director of WashU’s Clinical Epidemiology Center says its complicated, but LC symptoms are less common now.
Category: News by Topic
Siteman Cancer Center pushing for early screening for colorectal cancer (Links to an external site)
Faculty Scholar & gastroenterologist Jean Wang, MD, says lowering the recommended age for colorectal screening can save lives.
Clinic workers say St. Louis needs more medical interpreters (Links to an external site)
Faculty Scholar & asst. Professor, Julia Lopez says messages about COVID vaccines & other health info has not reached non-English speakers in St. Louis.
End of public health emergency and telehealth: Top stories from the AHCJ Conference (Links to an external site)
The public health emergency declared in 2020 ends May 11. How will this impact Medicaid enrollment? Co-Director of the Center for Health Economics & Policy, Timothy McBride talked about it on a panel at the recent AHCJ conference in St. Louis.
Ukraine war crimes cases to open as International Criminal Court seeks 1st arrest warrants since Russia’s invasion (Links to an external site)
Professor of International Criminal Law Leila Sadat, special advisor on crimes against humanity to the ICC prosecutor, discusses how arrest warrants can be confirmed in absentia in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
2023 Friedman Lecture and Awards features innovations in quality mental health care for older adults

Don’t miss the 22nd Annual Friedman Lecture & Awards on April 21 for engaging keynote speakers and panelists to learn more about innovations in mental health care for older adults.
Why the scary fungus in ‘The Last of Us’ won’t cause an apocalyptic outbreak (Links to an external site)
If you’ve watched HBO’s “The Last of Us”, you know what a scary fungus in humans looks like. But it is real? Biological Anthropologist and Institute for Public Health Faculty Scholar, Theresa Gildner discusses.
Fact check: ICD-10 medical codes are used to track trends, not individuals (Links to an external site)
Co-Director of the Center for Health Economics & Policy, Karen Joynt Maddox, MD, weighs in on protections of personal medical information.
‘You will get better’: See the inspirational notes Sen. John Fetterman’s kids wrote while he’s treated for depression (Links to an external site)
Psychiatrist and Asst. Professor, Jessi Gold, MD discusses the importance of children to “see parents as human” and discuss mental health struggles in age-appropriate ways.
Center presents discussion on conflict-related atrocities & justice, March 27
Written by Kim Furlow, communications manager for the Institute for Public Health According to a Washington Post report, witnesses and victims’ relatives say that days before a peace deal was made to end the war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region last fall, soldiers from neighboring Eritrea massacred more than 300 villagers over the course of a […]
What’s your current risk of getting long Covid? Estimates hover around 5%-10% (Links to an external site)
Chief of research and development at Veteran Affairs St. Louis Health Care System, Ziyad Al-Aly discusses the possibility of getting long COVID
WashU researcher collaborates with community organization to teach Black girls about equitable genomic research

Faculty Scholar and Asst. Professor, Brett Maricque and team are working with Black Girls Do STEM to help local students understand the value of their own genetic data.
Center funds two new community-academic partnerships

The Center for Community Health Partnership & Research has awarded funding to two projects through its PDSS program. Read more about these community-academic partnerships!
COVID-19 infections raise risk of long-term gastrointestinal problems (Links to an external site)
Those who have experienced COVID-19 infection may have issues with gastrointestinal disorders within a year, according to a team study led by Ziyad Al Aly, MD.
Wash U professor’s work leads federal officials to listen to mental health patients (Links to an external site)
New Institute Faculty Scholar Morgan Shields, a professor of social work at the Brown School, says that “patient centeredness” is essential in psychiatric patient care.
Local researchers studying COVID’s lingering aftereffects (Links to an external site)
Faculty Scholar Ziyad Al-Aly, a clinical epidemiologist led COVID-19 research in 2020 and continues to see how later variants are impacting heart health.
Cardiovascular deaths rose in first years of COVID, study says. Experts have ideas why (Links to an external site)
Ziyad Al-Aly, a clinical epidemiologist studying long COVID published two studies which found that COVID-19 creates a greater risk of future cardiovascular diseases.
How to Recover From Burnout (Links to an external site)
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry & Institute for Public Health Faculty Scholar, Jessie Gold, MD discusses a “burnout” as a workplace-associated condition.
More than one-third of St. Louis K-12 students change schools midyear, new report shows (Links to an external site)
Why are more than a third of K-12 students changing schools mid-year? Institute for Public Health Faculty Scholar, Jason Jabbari, points to a few reasons.
Why most Americans can’t get mental health care as easily as Sen. John Fetterman (Links to an external site)
Psychiatrist & Assistant Professor, Jessi Gold, MD, talks about barriers to extended health leave for a large portion of Americans.
Institute Faculty Scholar: Effective public health programs in Africa can work in St. Louis

Fred Ssewamala, PhD, the William E. Gordon Distinguished Professor at the Brown School and Institute Faculty Scholar is helping families in Africa through the implementation of more than 20 public health programs. Read about him in St. Louis Magazine.
Medicaid expansion improves childhood cancer survival (Links to an external site)
Faculty Scholar and Associate Professor, Kimberly Johnson, PhD, co-authored a paper analyzing Missouri Medicaid expansion’s positive impact on the survival rates of children with cancer.
Democrats Dismiss Solvency Fearmongering While Offering Social Security Fix (Links to an external site)
Center for Health Economics & Policy co-Director, Timothy McBride, PhD, weighs in on fear around “the solvency issue” as it relates to Social Security.
Depression in stroke survivors like John Fetterman is common, experts say (Links to an external site)
Institute for Public Health Faculty Scholar and Psychiatrist Jessi Gold discusses pervasive issues with those who have a prior history with depression.
D&I SPOTLIGHT: Student collaborator works to support refugee mental health in Uganda

Learn more about our Center for Dissemination & Implementation student collaborator, Flora Cohen and her work in Uganda.
<strong>Pandemic telehealth was a boon to people with psychiatric conditions — what happens when it ends?</strong> (Links to an external site)
Jessi Gold, a psychiatrist and assistant professor of psychiatry discusses the good and bad about Telehealth.
Do Repeat COVID Infections Increase the Risk of Severe Disease or Long COVID? (Links to an external site)
Epidemiologist and Faculty Scholar, Ziyad Al-Aly led a study showing a higher likelihood of death or hospitalization among COVID-19 patients who have been infected more than once vs. those infected only once.
Pollution From Life-Saving Drugs May Add to Superbug Crisis, UN Says (Links to an external site)
Faculty Scholar and Assistant Professor of Infectious Diseases, Jason Burnham, MD, discusses the impact of pollution from life-saving drugs on poor communities across the globe.
Collaborator SPOTLIGHT: Faculty Scholar works for equitable care for diverse patients, communities

Faculty Scholar and Center for Human Rights, Gender & Migration collaborator, Julia Lopez works toward equitable health care for patients and families.
COVID Rebound Can Happen Even without Paxlovid (Links to an external site)
Ziyad Al-Aly, faculty scholar and epidemiologist says news of COVID-19 rebounds may be “overblown”.
Go Red: St. Louis women advised to take charge of heart health (Links to an external site)
Center for Community Health & Partnership co-Director, Angela Brown, MD, who leads WashU’s Hypertension Clinic weighs in on taking charge of your heart health & the Go Red Movement.
Black history in the classroom (Links to an external site)
Faculty Scholar and chair of the Department of African American Studies, Shanti Parikh, discusses a new advanced placement course and teaching black history in the classroom.
Thompson to study cancer patients, caregivers (Links to an external site)
Congratulations to Tess Thompson, PhD, MPH, research assistant professor and Institute for Public Health Faculty Scholar for her 5-year grant from the National Cancer Institute to study unmet social needs of cancer patients and their caregivers.
Black doulas in St. Louis want Black mothers to have a voice — and healthy babies (Links to an external site)
Associate Professor of obstetrics & gynecology and Institute Faculty Scholar, Jeannie Kelly, MD, talks about racial equity within the medical field.
Research reveals how redlining grades influenced later life expectancy (Links to an external site)
Faculty Scholar and sociologist, Michael Esposito, shows how racialized logic informs “redlining” across neighborhoods and results in stark health inequalities.
Could getting Covid raise cholesterol? (Links to an external site)
Ziyad Al Aly, epidemiologist and institute faculty scholar says that after a COVID diagnosis people who haven’t had cholesterol problems before, are now having problems.
Center publishes study report & toolkit: Disclosure of gender-based violence in conflict settings

Learn more about a years-long project by our Center for Human Rights, Gender & Migration and team, on the disclosure of gender-based violence in conflict settings, via their final report now available for download.
Center director says survivor-centered approach needed when investigating conflict-related sexual violence

Center for Human Rights, Gender & Migration Director, Kim Thuy Seelinger was recently a featured guest at the Hague Humanity Lab on an international justice-related podcast concerning conflict-related sexual violence.
For most mild infections, long Covid symptoms clear after a year, large study finds (Links to an external site)
Clinical epidemiologist and Faculty Scholar, Ziyad Al-Aly has a different opinion of a new, large study finding that long Covid symptoms clear after a year.
Omicron XBB.1.5 is the ‘most transmissible’ subvariant yet. Here’s what we know (Links to an external site)

Clinical Epidemiologist, Ziyad Al-Aly, MD talks about the “remarkably high” spread of the latest Omicron variant.
U.S. death toll tied to long COVID exceeds 3,500, CDC report says (Links to an external site)

Faculty Scholar Ziyad Al-Aly, epidemiologist at WashU’s School of Medicine led a study that detected sharp increases in cardiovascular patients a year after they had COVID-19.
As variant cases continue, the Institute collaborates with community & university partners to provide 1,000 COVID-19 vaccines

Two centers, community health workers and partner community organizations are rallying together to provide Covid-19 vaccines to area communities.
Faculty Scholar study considers social determinants of health (Links to an external site)

Faculty Scholar and Brown School assistant professor, Maura Kepper leads a study that shows patients with social needs experienced a higher number of hospitalizations, obesity, prediabetes and Type 2 diabetes.
Two center staff featured on the Exploring Rural Health Podcast (Links to an external site)

Our Center for Health Economics & Policy co-Director, Timothy McBride & Research Asst. Professor Abigail Barker were featured on a recent Rural Information Hub podcast about the new Chartbook on the Uninsured, authored by McBride & others.
Washington People: Vetta Sanders Thompson (Links to an external site)

Our Center for Community Health Partnership & Research’s own Vetta Sanders Thompson, co-director, is dedicated to racial identity, diversity and health.
Center releases publications that help promote health equity locally, and across Missouri
The Center for Health Economics & Policy has recently released publications about its work surrounding themes of Medicaid expansion and maternal health.
The mystery of COVID-19 brain fog (Links to an external site)
Faculty Scholar Ziyad Al-Aly weighs in on neurological disorders that could come as a result of COVID.
Could Paxlovid treat long COVID? Major new study aims to find out (Links to an external site)
Faculty Scholar and clinical epidemiologist, Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, talks about a Stanford study on the COVID-19 drug, Paxlovid.
Do you need to test for COVID before Thanksgiving? A balanced approach to celebrating safely this year (Links to an external site)

Faculty Scholar and Associate Professor at the School of Medicine, Rupa Patel, MD, talks about the importance of “balance” during the holiday season.
Some Russian commanders encouraged sexual violence, says lawyer advising Kyiv (Links to an external site)

Center for Human Rights, Gender & Migration Director, Kim Thuy Seelinger, JD, also a special advisor to the ICC, recently spoke about sexual violence in war torn Ukraine.