April Houston, MSW, MPH

April started her career in television production as a videographer, editor, writer, director, and producer. (Her various skills are on display in this short documentary on the illustrious Panzi Hospital in eastern DRC). After nearly a decade in the TV world, she enrolled at the dual-degree program at the WashU Brown School, where she first realized that even the smartest people often don’t know how to explain their work and why it matters to people outside of their field. She discovered her new mission in life – to help people with good ideas to effectively communicate these ideas to individuals with the power to execute on them. As a WashU graduate student, she worked as a communications assistant at the Institute for Public Health, research assistant for Dr. Jessica Levy, and freelance writer for several different international health and development organizations.

After obtaining her two master’s degrees, April worked for international NGOs, supporting knowledge management, evidence translation, and communications training programs before taking a position with WashU in 2022, directing and supporting communications activities for various global health and implementation science projects. 

April grew up in North Carolina and lived in St. Louis for about a decade, but now resides in Atlanta, Georgia with her partner Charlie and two small rescue dogs, Lucy and Cinco. She loves to travel whenever the opportunity arises and spends much of her free time outdoors hiking, kayaking, swimming, stargazing, snowboarding, walking dogs, or exploring backroads on her motorcycle.