Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH, the Margaret C. Ryan Dean of the School of Public Health and the Eugene S. and Constance Kahn Distinguished Professor in Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis, has been named WashU’s vice provost for interdisciplinary initiatives.
In this role, Galea will lead efforts to advance interdisciplinary research and scholarship at WashU. The position and its goals grew out of the university’s “Here and Next” strategic plan, with Executive Vice Provost Mary McKay the first to serve in the role.
As vice provost, Galea will develop structures to support interdisciplinary research at WashU. His efforts will include incentivizing collaboration, facilitating faculty hires at the interstices of traditional disciplines, creating pathways for students and early-career scholars to engage in interdisciplinary work, and fostering a culture that values and rewards these efforts.
This work builds on efforts to establish a new School of Public Health, where interdisciplinary science and scholarship are central. A key component of the school will be interdisciplinary research networks, co-led by faculty, driving scholarship aligned with the “Here and Next” plan.
“Our aspiration is to lean into interdisciplinarity to produce science and scholarship that can engage with some of the most prominent societal issues of our time,” Galea said. “Difficult problems do not fall neatly into disciplinary categories, and our goal is to encourage work that tackles complex issues that cut across our typical academic division.
“The potential to spark meaningful collaborations and, consequently, meaningful, multifaceted research programs is exciting, and WashU has tremendous capacity to continue growing in this regard,” he added.
