Faculty Scholar & asst. Professor, Julia Lopez says messages about COVID vaccines & other health info has not reached non-English speakers in St. Louis.
Category: Health Equity
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Faculty Scholar speaks at United Nations event on literacy and global health

Faculty Scholar and Global Health Center collaborator, Cindy Brantmeier recently addressed the United Nations Latin American Congress.
GOP leaders are proposing tax cuts. Could that drive inflation? (Links to an external site)
Faculty Scholar and economist, Steve Fazzari comments on a proposed tax cut crafted to benefit the richest Americans.
Val Demings criticizes Rubio’s move to repeal law’s drug provisions (Links to an external site)
Faculty Scholar and law professor Rachel Sachs discusses the latest changes to Medicare’s system of paying for prescription drugs.
Study reveals inequities during pandemic among people with intellectual and development disabilities (Links to an external site)

Faculty Scholar, Kenton Johnston led a study identifying inequities in care received by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Center supports research on changes in Health Insurance Marketplace conditions from 2014-22
Researchers from the Center for Health Economics and Policy have collaborated with the Rural Policy Research Institute Center for Rural Policy Analysis at the University of Iowa on a new study on fluctuating Health Insurance Marketplace conditions.
Washington University researcher finds Hispanic community more likely to develop Alzheimer’s (Links to an external site)
Institute Faculty Scholar Jorge Llibre says better access to health care and diagnosis of Alzheimer’s can help lower high rates of the disease in the Hispanic community.
Center supports trainee study illuminating underserved patient access to treatment

The Center for Health Economics & Policy has supported work by Janki Luther who studies racial equity in access to healthcare.
ICTS center launches program for minorities in research (Links to an external site)
Our university partner, the Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences has been awarded a grant to coordinate the NIH-based, Short-Term Research Experience Program to Unlock Potential (STEP-UP).
Call for abstracts: 2022 Institute for Public Health Annual Conference & Poster Session
Submit an abstract for the Institute for Public Health 15th Annual Conference: Health as a Human Right!
Faculty Scholar expands project to provide advanced radiation therapy in Mongolia
Institute Faculty Scholar, Baozhou Sun along with WashU & global partners are bringing life-saving cancer treatment to underserved parts of the globe.
Center helps promote the development of language access plans to benefit immigrants
Does your organization have a language access plan in place? Read more why these plans are vital to the individuals with limited English proficiency.
Collaborative Café Equity Series resumes in June!
The popular Collaborative Cafe series on Equity and Equity in Research resumes in June with dynamic speakers and relevant discussion.
Center releases comprehensive background resource on ageism
The Harvey A. Friedman Center for Aging has published a background resource with everything we need to know about the topic of “ageism”, understanding it and how to confront it.
Collaborative Café features new series on health equity and research beginning April 8
A new series on equity and equity in research examines how we achieve public health equity in health care and research.
New study looks at the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program
A new study looks at how changes in policy toward the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program has had an impact on hospitals serving impoverished patients.
Faculty scholar leads BJC team working to tackle health equity in St. Louis region (Links to an external site)
Institute Faculty Scholar, Jason Purnell, also an assoc. professor at Brown School, is leading a BJC Healthcare effort to eliminate disparities in the St. Louis region.
Faculty scholar receives NIH grant to study impact of social services on multiple forms of family violence
Derek Brown’s engagement with the Center for Health Economics & Policy has aided in his research on how social services impact incidences of family violence.
New City Director of Health offers talk on career growth for women and leadership during the pandemic
From WashU fellow to infectious disease clinician and policy maker, to co-chairing the Fast-Track Cities, St. Louis Initiative to end HIV/AIDS by 2030, Mati Hlatshwayo Davis, MD, MPH, left, knows about being a woman with a strong career trajectory in a male-dominated field. Now, as the new Director of Health for the City of St. […]
Center creates user-friendly Missouri Medicaid Enrollment Tracking tool
The Center for Health Economics and Policy at the Institute for Public Health has launched the Missouri Medicaid Enrollment Tracking Dashboard, as a resource for the community to track the impact of Medicaid expansion on Missouri Medicaid enrollment. Timothy McBride, PhD, co-director of the Center for Health Economics and Policy says, “We are excited to […]
2021 Institute for Public Health Annual Conference Summary
The 14th annual Institute for Public Health Conference may have ended, but the focus on resilience and preparing our public health infrastructure for the future, continues. For this year’s hybrid (live and virtual) conference, the institute convened nearly 400 faculty, students, public health leaders and the public for education and discussion on: Fortifying our public […]
Global Health Center & partners acknowledged in new report
Members of the team responsible for adding state of the art radiation oncology equipment to a clinic in Guatemala are featured in a nationally published article about the project.
Student Advisory Council members share a passion for justice and equity

Students’ drive for justice ignites the Center for Human Rights, Gender & Migration’s Student Advisory Council.
Institute Supports New Lab
The Institute for Public Health is supporting WashU’s new Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity (CRE2) as an institutional partner by helping fund its Black Girlhood Studies Lab. According to the lab’s webpage: “The Black Girlhood Studies Lab examines the lives of Black girls historically and ethnographically in community-centered ways. Black girlhood studies has recently […]
Social Determinants of Health Working Group studies minority populations and their needs during COVID-19 and beyond
Since the beginning of the pandemic, COVID-19 hospitalization and death rates have been higher for minorities nationwide. This is likely multifactorial, according to Institute Faculty Scholar and Co-director of the Center for Health Economics and Policy, Karen Joynt Maddox, MD, MPH. “The evidence is overwhelming that minority populations including African Americans, Native Americans, and Latinx […]
In great need of in-person supports, developmentally disabled are overlooked in pandemic-related decisions, experts say (Links to an external site)
As the nation’s children, teens and college students attempt to start a new school year amidst debate regarding how best to resume education during the COVID-19 pandemic, a segment of the population in desperate need of in-person supports often is overlooked in the decision-making process, according to a group of experts on the topic. “In […]
Lower number of people covered leads to higher rural health insurance premiums, study finds (Links to an external site)
Written by Neil Schoenherr Small risk pools may contribute to the challenges faced by private insurance plans in rural areas, in which case risk reinsurance, or insurance for the insurer, is a potential policy solution, finds a new study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. A health insurance risk pool is […]
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 […]
Therapy Services Reinstated in Missouri Medicaid After Key Policy Recommendations
The State of Missouri recently announced that it is amending its Medicaid Plan to allow for alternative therapies treatments for chronic pain, including services provided by acupuncturists, chiropractors, and physical therapists, effective April 1. This important policy change is similar to a suite of policy recommendations considered in discussions held over the last year, in […]
Medicaid Work Requirements: What Would the Impact be in Missouri on Enrollment, Costs and Health?
Written by Linda Li, MPH, Abigail Barker, PhD, Leah Kemper, MPH, Timothy McBride, PhD | February 2019 In 2018, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced support for state efforts to condition Medicaid coverage on fulfilling a work requirement. For the first time in the program’s history, certain beneficiaries can be required to […]
Housing and child welfare: Emerging evidence & implications for scaling up services
Drs. Patrick J. Fowler and Peter Hovmand are co-authors of a publication discussing the effects of inadequate housing on family stability in communities across the United States. Inadequate housing and homelessness threaten family stability in low-income communities across the United States. The child welfare system, designed to promote child safety and stability, struggles to meet the needs […]
Moving toward a pay-for-value model of prescription drug pricing (Links to an external site)

One of the health care issues about which seemingly all Americans agree: Prescription drug prices have skyrocketed. And they keep going higher. How do Americans get better value for their health care dollars? Read the full story…
Association of practice-level social and medical risk with performance in the Medicare Physician Value-Based Payment Modifier Program
Institute Faculty Scholar, Karen E. Joynt Maddox, MD, MPH, led a project published in JAMA aimed at determining whether there is an association between the social and medical risk of patients treated at physician practices and their performance in Medicare’s Physician Value-Based Payment Modifier (VM) Program. The Physician VM program is the first national mandatory […]
Assessment of progress towards universal health coverage for people with disabilities in Afghanistan (Links to an external site)

Despite 15 years of investment in the Afghan health care sector by the international community, vulnerable groups — including persons with disabilities — cite a growing rate of insufficient access to quality health care, finds a new Washington University in St. Louis study published in the journal Lancet Global Health. Read more in The Source.
Brown School to study health impact of MetroLink expansion (Links to an external site)

Researchers will use data such as traffic, health and economic measures, as well as information from people who live and work near the proposed North-South and Metro North MetroLink routes, to assess the effects the expansion could have on people’s health. Read the full story…