Humanities & Society

Millions of Americans rely on public assistance programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid to meet basic needs for food and health care. Yet a new study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis finds that the very systems designed to help are often the hardest to navigate — especially for the people who need them most.

Proscovia Nabunya, at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, has received a $5 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health toward efforts to streamline mental health treatment and HIV medication support for adolescents living with HIV in rural Uganda.

The Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis is deepening its engagement with the St. Louis community through a new initiative that connects university expertise with residents, community organizations and industry partners.

Michael Sherraden, the George Warren Brown Distinguished University Professor at WashU, has dedicated much of his research to asset building. His efforts helped lay the groundwork for a recent federal law to help children and families.

Political polarization has consistently influenced public reactions to disease outbreaks in the United States, from polio to COVID-19, according to a comprehensive new study by Caitlin McMurtry, assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Using a “check-the-box” opt-in process to open federally funded Trump Accounts for children will likely exclude millions of eligible families — and undermine the program’s promise to promote lifelong asset building, finds a new policy brief from the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis.

A Brown School training program that helps educate and support mental health research and scholars has received a grant extension from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). When it’s complete, it will mark 35 years of continual funding.

Three Brown School faculty members have completed specialized training designed to help social workers and nurse educators integrate psychedelic-assisted therapy into academic curricula.

The Brown School’s Mark R. Rank was named a finalist in three major independent publisher book awards for his recent book, “The Random Factor.”

Two Brown School faculty members have been awarded a combined $1.4 million in grants from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to support research focused on improving economic mobility and reducing wealth disparities.