For their November 2020 podcast, the American Journal of Public Health asks the questions, “Why is there a need to reinvent public health,” and “What should be the essential traits of the reinvented public health system?” Authors of the November issue of AJPH, including PRC Director Ross Brownson, discuss what an improved public health system […]
The coronavirus pandemic has brought a number of challenges to schools, which were forced to close in the spring to help slow the spread of infection. One major challenge for schools was ensuring that students’ nutritional supplementation needs were met when they were not attending school in person. As schools across the country begin to […]
A significant proportion of mothers are unaware of their children’s height and weight—which has implications for early detection of childhood obesity. Researchers utilized data from 230 mothers in the St. Louis area of containing baseline self-reported and measured heights and weights of mothers and children who were enrolled in ‘Healthy Eating and Active Living Taught […]
Hometown: Soweto, Namibia Undergraduate school and degree: St. Olaf College, Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) Brown School program: MPH/MSW Anticipated graduation: December 2020 Three things you have with you at all times: Nailclipper, floss, and driver’s license What are your hobbies or activities when you aren’t studying or working? Taking long walks and running in […]
Food insecurity is a public health issue that affects 12% of Americans. Individuals living in food insecure households are more likely to suffer from conditions such as undernutrition, obesity and chronic diseases. Food insecurity has been linked to limited geographic access to food; however, past studies have used limited measures of access which do not […]
Healthy eating and activity are important to prevent obesity and chronic diseases, yet those who are most likely to bear a disproportionate burden have limited access to resources that promote healthy eating and activity, especially in the workplace. Thus, there is a need for workplace programs that promote healthy eating and activity that reach low-wage […]
Dissemination and implementation science aims to address the research-to-practice gap by 1) identifying and understanding barriers and facilitators that influence evidence based interventions and 2) developing strategies to enhance adoption of evidence-based interventions. D&I is an important consideration in enhancing the uptake of evidence-based practices and, as such, so is strengthening researcher’s understanding and proficiency […]
Implementation science seeks to close the gap between what we do and what we know by identifying and addressing the barriers that prevent uptake of evidence-based practices. An intervention that is guided by evidence-based implementation strategies is more likely to produce desired results because proper implementation is a key component of an intervention’s success. These […]
“The smoldering disparities that we’ve allowed to persist for decades are bursting into flames. If the human toll of those disparities isn’t enough to motivate us, remember that this is an infectious disease, so that fire will spread.” In episode 1 of a 5 part series on Medium, PRC’s Karishma Furtado and Alex Morshed discuss […]
Staff Spotlight: Linda Dix Shortly after you walk in the door to the PRC, you might notice a whiteboard with a written question above an answer hidden by a flap of paper. “Why don’t you iron 4-leaf clovers?” it says. You peek under the flap and see the answer (spoiler alert!): “You don’t want to […]
Angeline is a 1st year MPH student currently on sabbatical from the program for 2020 while she completes a Fulbright Fellowship in Malaysia. She will be teaching English and learning about their local public health initiatives. Hometown: Cleveland, OH Undergraduate Program: Villanova University: majored in Global Interdisciplinary studies Three things you have with you at all times: […]
The nameplate on Mary Adams’ desk proclaims her to be the “Chief Deliciousness Officer,” and few would contest that title. Adams plies the PRC with candy, cakes cookies, and the other tasty products of her longtime hobby as a baker extraordinaire. “I try to give everyone a little bit of happiness,” she says. When she’s […]
Maura Kepper’s research focuses in part on the connections between urban planning and public health, especially when it comes to parental decisions about letting their kids go out to play. What she learned in years of research gained new meaning about two years ago, when her first child was born. “It definitely brought a new […]
When she was growing up in North Carolina, Stephanie Mazzucca discovered an interest in food based on family. “We always cooked a lot,” she recalled. “I was often left to fend for myself and started watching the Food Network and mastering the family red sauce,” a legacy from her Italian heritage. So it wasn’t a […]
Ross Brownson is a huge baseball fan, so it’s not surprising to find birthday wishes to him written on outlines of baseball caps lining a wall in his office. “Make America Healthy Again,” said one. “Amazing Mentor,” said another. Both are fitting sentiments for the nationally renowned professor, author and director of the Prevention Research […]
Kate Curoe MPH 2019 Hometown: Cincinnati, OH Undergraduate College & Major/ Minor: Saint Louis University; Majored in Public Health; Minored in Biology, Urban Poverty Studies, and Women’s and Gender Studies Three things you have with you at all times: My phone, water bottle, and headphones What are your hobbies or activities when you are not studying or working? I […]
Mackenzie Robinson MPH, 2019 Hometown: Eustis, FL Undergraduate College & Major/ Minor: University of Florida, Major in Anthropology and Minor in African Studies Three things you have with you at all times: chewing gum, perfume, and my phone What are your hobbies or activities when you aren’t studying or working? I love listening to music, especially Afrobeat, Reggae, Soca, […]
“I hate driving!” Deborah Salvo, the newest faculty addition to the PRC, rides her street bike to work from her University City home. Growing up in Mexico City, she became accustomed to the social interaction that biking or public transportation can provide. The car culture of many American cities, including St. Louis, doesn’t lend itself […]
Who’s that guy zipping through the PRC on a scooter? That would be Rodrigo Reis Reis lives just a few blocks from the Brown School and often walks, bikes or scoots to his job as as a professor and researcher. Physical activity is an integral part of his work as well, as he looks for […]
Katie Bass, MPH, MSW Graduating 2020 Hometown: Sioux City, IA Undergraduate College & Major/ Minor: Concordia College. Major in Psychology with Neuroscience Minor Three things you have with you at all times: Gum, Chap stick and my college class ring What would people be surprised to know about you? I have been composing music on multiple instruments for the past […]
MPH Graduating May 2018Hometown: Omaha, NEUndergraduate Major: B.S. in Biology, Minor in Chemistry Three things you have with you at all times:A really nice pen, a really nice notebook and mailing stamps What are your hobbies or activities when you aren’t studying or working?Cooking and baking, working out and reading What would people be surprised to know […]
Peg Allen worked initially as a nurse before deciding she wanted to become involved in preventing disease rather than just treating it. “Working as a visiting nurse and seeing the tremendous suffering from the complications of diabetes in particular — people were suffering so much, from blindness, amputations …emphysema and had a poor quality of […]
Rachel Tabak’s research is focused on helping families become healthier through better eating and physical activity, with a central goal of preventing obesity. One barrier that she and other experts sometimes face is the perception that they’re more like nannies than nutritionists. In fact, Tabak said, savvy nutritionists know that blaming the individual isn’t just […]
Melissa Franco, MPH student (graduating Summer 2018) Hometown: Pasadena, CA Undergraduate school and major/minor: University of California, Davis; Chemistry Three things you have with you at all times…I have my headphones, laptop, and my keys, which I constantly misplace! What are your hobbies or activities when you aren’t studying or working?Growing up in California, I never had […]
Program Master of Public Health Expected Graduation Date May 2017 Where did you grown up? Queens, New York What made you interested in public health? I’ve always been concerned with the well-being of those around me. It started with me being concerned about my family’s well-being, and then grew from there. What was your favorite […]
A majority of deaths in the US are attributable to chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease and diabetes and public health systems across the world have been tasked with intervening at the population level to reduce this burden. State health departments are increasingly utilizing evidence-based public health (EBPH) as an important tool to meet population health […]
Today’s parents are restricting their children’s outdoor play, but children in highly disadvantaged neighborhoods face more restrictions, our new research finds. “Being physically active and playing outdoors is essential for adolescent development,” writes the study’s lead author, Dr. Maura Kepper, research assistant professor at the PRC. “Policy and environment change that improves neighborhood conditions may […]
The National Institutes of Health has awarded $838,500 to Washington University in St. Louis to train researchers to find ways improve the adoption of evidence-based practices to reduce chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. The annual, five-day training and ongoing mentoring for post-doctoral researchers aims to shorten the gap between research results […]
The Prevention Research Center in St. Louis with guidance from experts at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute, Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health, and Brigham Young University School of Social Work have developed a website that will aid in policy implementation evaluation. This publicly available website is intended to help policy researchers, evaluators, […]