Humanities & Society

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.

This week’s announcement that HBO will begin offering new video streaming service without a cable subscription is likely to have significant impact on the television industry. And the ripple effect could happen fast, according to Raphael Thomadsen, PhD, associate professor of marketing in Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis.

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.

Our 21st-century world faces seemingly insurmountable problems. It is a challenge simply to understand the breadth of the issues, let alone find sustainable and adoptable solutions. History has shown that no single entity, or even country, can do this alone. And the world’s research institutions — colleges and universities rich in diversity and scholarship — […]

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.”

In the 2013 book, “Fires, Fuel & the Fate of 3 Billion: The State of the Energy Impoverished,” Brown School Professor Gautam N. Yadama, PhD, and critically acclaimed photographer Mark Katzman, presented the complex story of energy impoverishment — an issue that affects a staggering 3 billion people worldwide — by inserting the reader into the personal stories of struggle and survival throughout rural India. At 5 p.m. Monday, Oct. 13, in Anheuser-Busch Hall’s Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom, Yadama will present his work for the Assembly Series and the School of Law’s Public Interest Law & Policy Speakers Series.

Two Washington University in St. Louis faculty members with strong global ties will assume additional responsibilities as assistant vice chancellors for international affairs, announced Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. Shenyang Guo, PhD, will serve as assistant vice chancellor for international affairs-Greater China (Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan), and Gautam N. Yadama, PhD, as assistant vice chancellor for international affairs-India.

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.

The differences between public good and individual choice will be highlighted at the seventh annual conference of the Institute for Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis. Ellen Wright Clayton, JD, MD, an internationally respected leader in law and genetics, will give the keynote address.