Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH, dean designate for Washington University in St. Louis’ planned School of Public Health, will provide a first look at his vision for the new school at the Public Health at WashU Annual Conference Oct. 21-22.
As the newly appointed Margaret C. Ryan Dean, Galea will discuss how WashU can lead in public health innovation during his address at 11:30 a.m. Oct. 22 at the Eric P. Newman Education Center (EPNEC) on the School of Medicine Campus. Currently dean of the Boston University School of Public Health, Galea will officially join WashU in January.
The school — WashU’s first new school in a century — is set to galvanize public health research and scholarship in the St. Louis region. Public health has emerged as a rapidly growing field of study, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The new school aims to meet the surging demand for trained professionals in this vital sector. The school will provide more graduate degree options and, in the coming years, attract 50-plus full-time faculty and many more jointly-appointed faculty from a range of disciplinary backgrounds, employ some 50 staff members and expand community partnerships to address pressing health challenges in the St. Louis region and beyond. Additionally, the university is offering a new public health minor, with a major to come in fall 2025, through its recently launched Public Health & Society program in Arts & Sciences.
“Public health should be a bridge, because surely there’s one thing we can all agree on, is that we want to be healthier, or perhaps even more, is that we want our kids to be healthier,” said Galea, who also will serve as the Eugene S. and Constance Kahn Distinguished Professor in Public Health. “I hope that we can bring that as a unifying force in the region. We need to see the School of Public Health as creating partnerships within WashU and externally — locally in the region, nationally and globally.”
The conference’s theme, “The Next Era of Public Health: Equity-Informed Approaches to Innovative Technologies & Workforce Development,” also will address critical issues such as public health workforce development and the role of technology in improving health equity.
With only 14% of the U.S. public health workforce holding a public health degree, the conference will focus on preparing a skilled workforce capable of meeting the demands of modern public health. It also will spotlight how emerging technologies — from wearable devices to artificial intelligence-driven platforms — can be harnessed to promote health equity and improve outcomes in underserved communities.
Equity and engagement
The conference begins at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 21 in the Clark-Fox Forum on the Danforth Campus. Bettina Drake, inaugural faculty director of the St. Louis Confluence Collaborative, will highlight the initiative, which aims to deepen community partnerships through engaged research and practice. This effort, housed within the Office of the Provost, underscores WashU’s commitment to becoming a model for how institutions can partner with their local communities to drive positive change.
The day one program also will focus on leveraging technology for health equity. Deven McGraw, chief regulatory and privacy officer at Citizen Health, will follow with a keynote on how public accessibility to new technology is crucial to advancing community health and public health awareness. A panel discussion with McGraw and other experts completes the evening. Philip R.O. Payne, the Janet and Bernard Becker Professor of Medicine and director of the Institute for Informatics, Data Science and Biostatistics at WashU Medicine, will moderate the conversation.
Building a stronger workforce
Day two of the conference begins at 8:45 a.m. Oct. 22 in EPNEC auditorium. William G. Powderly, MD, the Larry J. Shapiro Director of the Institute for Public Health and the Dr. J. William Campbell Professor of Medicine, will give opening remarks and an overview of key accomplishments in public health at WashU. Jonathan Samet, MD, a former dean at the Colorado School of Public Health, will deliver a keynote outlining some of the world’s critical public health needs and the resources needed to build tomorrow’s public health workforce. His talk will be followed by a panel on local and rural challenges and strategies for building the public health workforce of the future. Karen Joynt Maddox, MD, co-director of the WashU Center for Advancing Health Services, Policy & Economics Research, will moderate the panel.
For the full agenda, registration and venue details, visit the Institute for Public Health conference website.
