Humanities & Society

President Barack Obama lately has been arguing for increased taxes on the rich through his proposed “Buffett Rule,” which would ensure that millionaires and billionaires pay a minimum effective tax rate of 30 percent on their income. Most Americans, including supporters of presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, support such a move, finds The American Panel Survey (TAPS), a new Washington University in St. Louis survey.

It can take decades for research discoveries to make their way into public health settings. The emerging field of dissemination and implementation (D&I) research seeks to narrow the gap between evidence-based research and routine practice. To help propel this crucial field forward, leading D&I scholars and researchers at Washington Univeristy have contributed to Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health: Translating Science to Practice, a new book published by Oxford University Press.

John C. Morris, MD, the Harvey A. and Dorismae Hacker Friedman Distinguished Professor of Neurology and director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, will deliver the 2012 Friedman lecture at 3 p.m. April 30, in Graham Chapel. His lecture is titled “The Aging Mind: Realities and Myths.”

Chuck Todd, chief White House correspondent for NBC News, will present “American Politics and the 2012 Elections” at 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 16, at Graham Chapel on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis. The event is sponsored by WUSTL’s Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy.

The Supreme Court’s upcoming decision on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care act has prompted some interesting and provocative issues about – and between – the president and the judicial branch, says Gregory P. Magarian, JD, professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis and former clerk for retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. “These alarmed reactions reflect historical ignorance,” he says.

For Lewis Wall, MD, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, a dream has come true. For almost 20 years, he worked doggedly to build a hospital in one of the world’s poorest countries to treat women with a devastating childbirth injury. His dream became reality in February, when a 42-bed hospital opened in Niger, Africa. The facility is dedicated to repairing fistulas, wounds inflicted by prolonged labor, which leaves women — and often girls — steadily leaking wastes.

After it rules on the highly contested health-care debate and makes other momentous decisions this term, will the U.S. Supreme have sufficient stores of legitimacy to weather the inevitable backlash? Yes, but barely, says a professor of political science at Washington University in St. Louis.

“War, Violence, and The Aftermath: Historical Memory, Literary Imagination, and Cultural Regeneration,” is the focus of an international conference to be held Friday, April 6, and Saturday, April 7, in Room 276 of the Danforth University Center at Washington University in St. Louis.

A symposium focusing on culture, law and development in Brazil will be held April 4-6 at WUSTL. Events — which include a keynote lecture, film, and dance and percussion workshop — are free and open to the public, with the exception of the April 6 book discussion, which is open only to WUSTL faculty and graduate students.

The Supreme Court’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will have a major impact on the presidential campaign, says Timothy D. McBride, PhD, health economist and associate dean for public health at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. “The health reform legislation was the signature piece of social legislation passed by President (Barack) Obama’s administration in his first term,” he says. How the court’s decision will influence the election could be quite complex, says McBride. The court is hearing arguments in the case March 26-28