Author: Neil Schoenherr

“Long tail” thinking — a strategy employed by many new businesses — might yield greater progress the field of public health by eliminating health disparities, according to a study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis led by Matthew W. Kreuter, PhD.

Social media marketing strategies present both challenges and opportunities for public health professionals. While misinformation can be spread, social media does provide an effective way of reaching large audiences. Situational analysis by researchers at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis of a recent social media campaign by the Chicago Department of Public Health suggests that public health organizations need to pay close attention to how they disseminate information, and also to the response the campaign gets.

“For the Sake of All” is an interdisciplinary project funded by the Missouri Foundation for Health to improve the health and well-being of African-Americans in the St. Louis region. The project officially kicks off its community action series at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 23, at St. Louis Public Radio’s Community Room with the first of six community forums.

Recent revelations that NBC News’ chief medical correspondent violated an Ebola quarantine after returning from Africa, and that a Dallas health care worker infected with the virus boarded a commercial jet have focused the nation’s attention on Ebola and what can be done to protect citizens. While measures like quarantine do restrict the freedom of exposed individuals, they do so to protect the public’s health, says a Washington University in St. Louis expert on biomedical ethics.

A Q&A with Sean Joe, PhD, the Benjamin E. Youngdahl Professor of Social Development at the Brown School, who came to Washington University in St. Louis this fall from the University of Michigan. His research focuses on black adolescents’ mental health; the role of religion in black suicidal behavior; and the development of father-focused, family-based interventions to prevent black adolescent males from engaging in multiple forms of self-destructive behaviors.

The U.S. Treasury Department has awarded a $1.08 million research contract to the Center for Social Development at the Brown School of Washington University in St. Louis. One of 11 contracts awarded nationally under the Financial Empowerment Innovation Fund, this award will fund research on “My Retirement Accounts.”

Several “blockbuster” cases — including freedom of speech, religious freedoms in prison, pregnancy discrimination and a possible decision on gay marriage — are on the docket for the Supreme Court, which begins its new session this month. But don’t expect any decisions until next June. New research led by the School of Law finds big cases are disproportionately decided just before the court’s summer recess.

Older parents, birth defects, maternal nutrition and childhood exposure to CT scans and pesticides are increasingly being associated with brain tumors in children, according to new research led by Kimberly Johnson, PhD, assistant professor of social work at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

The U.S. Treasury Department has taken action to curb corporate tax inversions, making it more difficult to for U.S. companies to merge with international firms and move abroad to reduce their taxes. This move attempts to combat specific abuses within a flawed framework, according to an international tax law expert at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law.

Medicaid claims are a poor way to identify child abuse and neglect at a population level, according to a study led by Ramesh Raghavan, PhD, associate professor at the Brown School. The study was published online in the August issue of Child Maltreatment.