Brown School

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.

The anti-violence initiative “My Name is Strong” will present its second annual exhibition Friday, Oct. 3, at the Yeyo Arts Collective. The all-media, un-juried show features works by artists who have experienced gender-based violence and by their allies, including friends, family and loved ones.

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.

Older parents, birth defects, maternal nutrition and childhood exposure to CT scans and pesticides are increasingly being associated with brain tumors in children, according to new research led by Kimberly Johnson, PhD, assistant professor of social work at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Medicaid claims are a poor way to identify child abuse and neglect at a population level, according to a study led by Ramesh Raghavan, PhD, associate professor at the Brown School. The study was published online in the August issue of Child Maltreatment.

Washington University in St. Louis has partnered with the National University of Singapore to establish the Next Age Institute, an international collaboration to design, study and test social innovations. The institute, a program of WUSTL’s McDonnell International Scholars Academy, will address global challenges facing many families and communities, among them aging populations and rising inequality.

Ross C. Brownson, PhD, professor at the Brown School and at the School of Medicine, has been awarded a $365,600 grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute for his project “A Cross-country Comparison of Evidence-based Prevention of Cancer.”

A tax on sugar-sweetened beverages such as sodas, energy drinks, sweet teas and sports drinks could reduce obesity in adolescents, and exercise promotion such as after-school physical activity programs could impact younger children in the fight against fat. Those are the findings of a new national study co-authord by Ross Brownson, PhD, professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Matthew W. Kreuter, PhD (right), was installed Sept. 2 by Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton as the inaugural holder of the Eugene S. and Constance Kahn Family Professorship in Public Health. Kreuter is a professor of social work and of medicine, associate dean for public health and a faculty scholar in the Institute for Public Health.

Open Streets initiatives temporarily close streets to automobile traffic, so that people may use them for walking, bicycling, dancing, playing and socializing. Although the movement is gaining popularity in the United States — more than 100 different cities have hosted Open Streets events since 2008 — little is known about planning and implementing them. Brown School researchers Amy Eyler, PhD, and J. Aaron Hipp, PhD, explore the development and implementation of Open Streets initiatives and make recommendations for increasing the capacity of organizers to enhance their success.