Brown School

State actions to regulate retail sales of tobacco nearly doubled between 2012 and 2014, according to new research from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, but much of the activity was directed at e-cigarettes, perhaps the least harmful tobacco product.

Ross Brownson, the Bernard Becker Professor at the Brown School and director of the Prevention Research Center, has received the American Public Health Association Award for Excellence for his work as a scholar, leader and public-health practitioner.

Washington University in St. Louis’ Institute for Public Health recently hosted a student Public Health Challenge, in partnership with the Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation and Entrepreneurship. During the event, teams of students developed social and entrepreneurial concepts designed to reduce gun violence in St. Louis.

A new study from Washington University in St. Louis suggests eight interventions that will help create healthier and more sustainable cities of the future, built to reduce the negative impacts of pollution, climate change, noise and crime.

Students who come out of college with debt, especially larger amounts of debt, are more likely to face hardship and financial difficulty during their lives, finds a new study from Washington University in St. Louis.

Mary M. McKay joined the Brown School as dean in July, bringing her expertise that blends social work, public policy and public health. Read more about McKay’s work, her reasons for joining the university and her goals on the Brown School website.

The U.S. Census Bureau has released its poverty numbers for 2015. The poverty rate fell to 13.5 percent from 14.8 percent the year before. The problem with these estimates is that they only provide a snapshot of who is poor in any single year, says an expert on poverty and inequality at Washington University in St. Louis.

After serving seven stints in prison for writing bad checks, Shawntelle Fisher is now pursuing a master’s of divinity and master’s of social work at the Brown School, and she has started a nonprofit, SoulFisher Ministries.

National experts, advocates, and leading academics will gather in the Brown School’s Hillman Hall Sept. 14-16 as part of a timely policy conference designed to hammer out constructive solutions to pressing social issues facing the country and the next administration.

The cost of incarceration in the United States exceeds $1 trillion, or six percent of gross domestic product. That dwarfs the amount spent on corrections alone, finds a new study from Washington University in St. Louis.