Brown School

Screening for suicide risk among publicly insured urban children who are experiencing psychological distress is vitally important, finds a new study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

A few dozen St. Louis area high school students gathered for a summit this summer to discuss how system dynamics can affect gun violence in the community. The second annual Changing Systems Student Summit was sponsored by the Brown School’s Ferguson Seed Fund and Social System Design Lab and the Institute for Public Health at Washington University in St. Louis.

Washington University students, faculty and alumni are leading summer STEM labs and workshops for 14 talented African-American high school girls through the Girls Inc. Eureka! program. The students are thriving. “They are more than a cohort, they are a sisterhood,” Brown student Tasha Jordan said.

Melissa Jonson-Reid, professor at the Brown School and director of the Center for Violence and Injury Prevention, has been installed as the Ralph and Muriel Pumphrey Professor of Social Work. A lecture and reception to celebrate the occasion were held May 2 in Brown Hall Lounge.

State legislators who prioritize cancer control may be more receptive to basing their decisions on research evidence than policy makers interested in other issues, finds a new study from Washington University in St. Louis.

Marriage may not be the protective mechanism it was thought to be when it comes to poverty and child well-being among low-income urban young women, particularly those who have experienced trauma, finds a new Brown School study.

The city of Philadelphia on June 16 passed a 1.5 cent-per-ounce tax on soda and other sugary drinks, making it the first major city in the nation to impose such a tax. The move is poised to be a watershed event in public health policy, said a health economist at Washington University in St. Louis.

Martha N. Ozawa, former Bettie Bofinger Brown Distinguished Professor of Social Policy and professor emerita at the Brown School, died May 3, 2016, at her home in St. Louis. She was 82.

Google’s decision this week to ban payday loan ads should be commended, but also highlights the need that many lower-income consumers have for affordable short-term loan options, says an expert on social and economic development at Washington University in St. Louis.

Sarah Gehlert, E. Desmond Lee Professor of Racial and Ethnic Diversity at the Brown School, has been named to the steering committee of the California Breast Cancer Research Program.