The Mosquito Alert STL project team is promoting use of this smartphone app around our community. MASTL team members Jeanine Arrighi (St. Louis Academic Health), Alexis Bingham (SLU Masters candidate and MASTL student partner), and Dr. Ricardo Wray (Saint Louis University College for Public Health and Social Justice) talk with Earthworms podcast host (and fellow MASTL team partner) Jean Ponzi about this exciting, locally evolving work.
Behavioral Science and Health Equity professor Nancy L. Weaver, Ph.D., M.P.H. published the article "Parenting strategies are shifting as neuroscience brings the developing brain into clearer focus" in 'The Conversation.'
SangNam Ahn, Ph.D. (Health Management and Policy) led the publishing of the research article "Insomnia, major depressive disorders, and risk for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias" in the 'Aging & Mental Health Journal.' The research concluded that addressing sleep disturbances and depression may help lower dementia risk vulnerable populations.
Steve E. Rigdon, Ph.D. (Epidemiology and Biostatistics) published the research article "Comparisons of Optimal Generally Weighted Moving Average and Exponentially Weighted Moving Average Charts" in the 'Quality and Reliability Engineering International Journal.'
Zhengmin Qian, Ph.D., M.D. (Epidemiology and Biostatistics), Lauren D. Arnold, Ph.D. (Epidemiology and Biostatistics), and Tom Burroughs (Health Management & Policy) collaborated with other researchers outside of SLU to produce the research "Ambient air pollution exposure accelerates the occurrence of 78 non-communicable chronic diseases: an accelerated failure time analysis of a nationwide cohort" published in the 'GeroScience' Journal. According to the research, "This study provides the first evidence that air pollutants could accelerate onset of common chronic diseases. Findings highlight the urgent need for measures to improve air quality to slow progression of disease development."
SangNam Ahn, Ph.D. (Health Management and Policy) was quoted in a Medical Xpress article about his research into a link between depression and diabetes.
Cheryl Rathert, Ph.D. (Department of Health Management and Policy) contributed to the collaborative research "Team Creativity as a Catalyst for Care Effectiveness and Well-Being in Primary Care Teams" in the 'Academy of Management' journal. The "study advances understanding of team dynamics in healthcare and provides actionable insights for supporting sustainable and innovative practices in primary care settings."
Ph.D. student Derick Simmons along with Cheryl Rathert, Ph.D. (Department of Health Management and Policy) collaborated to publish the research "Patient Psychological Safety: A Qualitative Study of Patient Experiences" in the 'Academy of Management" journal. The study "offers new patient experience insights, highlighting how providers’ words, non-verbal signals, and other actions—even if inadvertent—might interfere with patients’ perceptions of PPS and interpersonal connection."
Kenan Li, Ph.D. (Epidemiology and Biostatistics) led the research "Association of environmental exposome and cognitive function among older adults with and without preclinical Alzheimer’s disease" with collaboration from Enbal Shacham, Ph.D. and Washington University-St. Louis School of Medicine's Dr. Ganesh Babalul in partnership with WUSM ICTS and the Geospatial Health Data Analytic Core at SLU CPSHJ.
Xiaoyu Liu, Ph.D., MBA (Health Management and Policy) led the research "Assessing the accuracy and explainability of using ChatGPT to evaluate the quality of health news" with contributions from Echu Liu, Ph.D., M.B.A. and SLU CPHSJ students. The research tested the feasibility of utilizing GPT, as an example of a widely used LLM, to evaluate and explain the quality of health news from a dataset annotated by experts, covering a wide range of health topics.
Ricardo Wray, Ph.D. (Public Health) was interviewed on HEC-TV about Mosquito Alert and the SWAT Team.
Mintesnot T. Teni, Ph.D. (Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics) was the lead author on a study with CPHSJ's Anne K. Sebert Kuhlmann, Ph.D., M.P.H. and Travis Loux, Ph.D. with SLU's Ness Sandoval titled "Examining the low uptake of LARC in Ethiopia: An analysis of individual-level predisposing and enabling factors" in the Frontiers in Global Women's Health journal.
Cheryl Rathert, Ph.D. (Department of Health Management and Policy) was the lead author on the 'Journal of Healthcare Management' research article "Do Patient-Provider Therapeutic Connections Vary by Race or Ethnicity? A Comparison of Black, White, and Hispanic/Latino Patient Experiences."
CPHSJ faculty Thomas E. Burroughs, Ph.D. (Department of Health Management and Policy) and Hong Xian, Ph.D. (Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics) contributed with other researchers in St. Louis to the development of the research "Assessing NODM Patients for Early PDAC Diagnosis: Incidence of NODM Before PDAC Diagnosis and Subsequent PDAC Risk" in the 'Cancer Medicine' journal.
Ricardo Wray, Ph.D. (Behavioral Science and Health Equity) was mentioned in a Spectrum News article about the need to track mosquitoes in St. Louis.
Kimberly Enard, Ph.D. (Public Health and Social Justice) was mentioned in a Washington Post announcement about a May 6 Washington Post Live forum when she will discuss the progress made in fighting cancer and ways to promote trust, access and care.
Keon Gilbert, DrPh (Behavioral Science and Health Equity) was quoted in a Reuters article about how tariffs could impact Black farmers. The article also appeared on MSN, Yahoo! News, AOL, U.S. News and World Report, Daily Mail, Colorado Gazette and multiple TV stations nationwide.
Echu Liu, Ph.D., M.B.A. (Associate Professor; Health Management and Policy) contributed in collaboration with researchers from the Saint Louis University School of Medicine to publish the research "Assessing the Efficacy of Multimodal Approaches in Chronic Pain Management" in 'The Journal of Pain.' This study evaluates the efficacy of multimodal pain management strategies based on self-reports using data from the 2019 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults.

College for Public Health and Social Justice Faculty and Staff

Office of the Dean

Leslie McClure, Ph.D.
Dean
Kelly Lane-deGraaf, Ph.D.
Associate dean of academic affairs
Enbal Shacham, Ph.D.
Associate dean of research

Department of Behavioral Science and Health Equity

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Michael Elliott, Ph.D.
Chair
Katherine A. Stamatakis, Ph.D.
Director - Master of Public Health program
Lauren D. Arnold, Ph.D.
Director - Health Management and Public Health undergraduate programs
Steven E. Rigdon, Ph.D.
Director - Biostatistics and Health Analytics program
Kelly Ayres, M.S.
Jen Jen Chang, Ph.D.
Kelly Lane-deGraaf, Ph.D.
Kenan Li, Ph.D.
Travis Loux, Ph.D.
Leslie McClure, Ph.D.
Zhengmin Qian, Ph.D., M.D.
Mintesnot T. Teni, Ph.D.
Hong Xian, Ph.D.

Department of Health Management and Policy

Kimberly R. Enard, Ph.D.
Chair
Marcea Walter, M.S.H.A.
Director - Master of Health Administration program
Jake T. Redden, DHSc
Director - Master of Science in Health Administration program
Echu Liu, Ph.D.
Director - Ph.D. in Public Health Studies program
SangNam Ahn, Ph.D.
Thomas E. Burroughs, Ph.D.
Mark Gaynor, Ph.D.
Kathleen N. Gillespie, Ph.D.
Xiaoyu Liu, Ph.D.
Cheryl Rathert, Ph.D.

College Staff

Maggie Callon
Program manager - undergraduate programs
Caroline Cartledge
Administrative assistant - public health
Mary Dant
CPHSJ assistant dean - finance and administration
Karen Effinger
CPHSJ business manager I
Kimberly Elliott
Program manager - public health
Kevin Gates
Director of professional development and alumni engagement - M.H.A./H.M.P.
Mary-Lynn Glenn
Public health internship coordinator
Kathleen (Katie) Linnenbrink
Administrative assistant - undergraduate programs
Ben Loewnau
Marketing and communications manager
Nicole Lyon
CPHSJ executive assistant to dean
Laura Schrubb
Director of graduate recruiting and admissions
Nathan Sharp
CPHSJ analyst - enrollment and admissions
Maggie Snodgrass
Program manager - M.H.A./H.M.P.

Grant Staff

Alina Ainyette
Research coordinator
James Burns
Program manager, Ryan White Planning Council
Rene Dulle
Program director, Center for Environmental Education and Training
Ashley Estwin
Program coordinator, Ryan White Planning Council
Dephanie McGill-Brandon
Program coordinator, Center for Environmental Education and Training
Ally Terhaar
Research manager

College for Public Health and Social Justice Faculty and Staff

Office of the Dean

Department of Behavioral Science and Health Equity

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Department of Health Management and Policy

College Staff

Grant Staff

Next Steps to SLU