“As time passes, we understand more and more that health is much more about the world around us than it is about medicine,” says epidemiologist and sought-after speaker Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH, in the 2023 TEDMED Conversation “Creating a healthier future for all.”
Galea stresses during the discussion that health is made by many conditions: whether your home and workplace are safe, whether you have education that provides material comfort, whether the air you breathe is polluted, and whether the food you eat is nutritious or calorie dense but nutrient poor.
“We tend to think of doctors as generating health, and doctors do matter … but they are important to restore us to health if we are already sick,” he says. “To keep ourselves healthy, we fundamentally want to live in environments that generate health.”
Washington University recently announced that Galea — one of the world’s most influential public health leaders — will become inaugural dean of its planned School of Public Health, effective Jan. 1, 2025. In this critical role, Galea will help shape WashU’s first new school in 100 years. The school is part of “Here and Next,” WashU’s 10-year strategic plan to make both the university and St. Louis a global hub for solving society’s deepest challenges.
“To keep ourselves healthy, we fundamentally want to live in environments that generate health.”
Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH
“Sandro Galea’s choice to come to WashU is an endorsement of the strengths, opportunities and potential offered by our university and St. Louis,” says Beverly Wendland, provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs. “His insights into the complex interplay between social, environmental and health factors will be crucial as we seek to usher in the next era of public health in partnership with our community.”
Galea is dean of Boston University’s School of Public Health and the Robert A. Knox Professor, and professor of family medicine at its Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine.
At WashU, he will hold the newly endowed Margaret C. Ryan Deanship at the School of Public Health. Tony and Ann Ryan, of Boston, made a gift to endow the deanship in honor of their late daughter, Maggie Ryan, AB ’16, who demonstrated a strong commitment to leadership and global health. He also will hold the Eugene S. and Constance Kahn Distinguished Professorship in Public Health, established by a commitment from WashU Emeritus Trustee Gene Kahn and his wife, Connie.
Galea researches the behavioral health ramifications of trauma, including those caused by firearms. He has studied the effects of 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa, and the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also links health to social disadvantages such as poverty and lack of education.
One of the world’s most cited social scientists, Galea has written more than 1,000 scientific journal articles, 75 chapters and 24 books. His books Epidemiology Matters and Public Health: An Introduction to the Science and Practice of Population Health are widely used as textbooks in public health and epidemiology courses. Thomson Reuters has named Galea among “the world’s most influential scientific minds.”
“Sandro Galea is a trailblazer in the field of public health,” says Chancellor Andrew D. Martin. “With his leadership at our planned School of Public Health, we’re poised to have a real impact on advancing community health in St. Louis and worldwide. We’re incredibly fortunate to have recruited such an inspiring and influential scholar and practitioner to this critical role.”
Kruk to join WashU Medicine faculty
Galea’s wife, Margaret E. Kruk, MD, MPH, also is joining the WashU faculty. Kruk is a professor of health systems at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and director of the QuEST Centers and Network, a multicountry research consortium generating evidence to build high-quality health systems. Her research focuses on how health systems can produce better outcomes for people living in low- and middle-income countries.
At WashU, she will serve as a distinguished professor in health systems and medicine in the Department of Medicine and as director of the universitywide QuEST Center.
New school to open in 2026
Plans for WashU’s School of Public Health, set to launch in fall 2026, were announced in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which revealed great American distrust in the health-care system. What’s more, Americans have the worst health outcomes among high-income nations, according to a 2022 Commonwealth Fund report, due to factors such as limited health-care access, income inequality, education gaps, unhealthy lifestyles, a fragmented health-care system and high costs.
“I can think of no more important time to create a school of public health than today,” Galea says. “And I can think of no better place to do so than at Washington University, with this institution’s deep and rich tradition of excellence in scholarship and in thought. All the pieces are in place to do wonderful things, both for WashU and the world.”
