Brown School

On Feb. 6, Laura Svetkey, MD, professor of medicine at Duke University, will give the inaugural speech in the Women Leaders in Public Health Career Lecture Series at Washington University. The goal of the series, sponsored by the University’s Institute for Public Health, is to offer broad perspectives from female leaders about their careers in diverse fields related to public health.

Faculty and graduate students from St. Louis-area universities with an interest in labor, households, health care, law and social welfare are invited to take part in the continuing series of Monday brown-bag luncheon seminars held biweekly on the Danforth Campus beginning through April 14. The series begins Monday, Feb. 3, with Sean H. Williams, JD, professor at the University of Texas School of Law. His topic is “Dead Children: Tort Law and Parental Investments in Child Safety.”

Experts and key strategists on charter schools in Missouri were in Brown Hall Dec. 11 for another event in the Brown School Policy Forum’s Child Well-being series, an ongoing public discussion on child welfare in Missouri. “Charter Schools in Missouri: The Emergence of Reform” examined state charter school policy both past and present and how the development of charter schools affect school choice and education reform strategies.

The Friday, Dec. 6, meeting of the Washington University in St. Louis Board of Trustees focused on the challenges and opportunities for the School of Medicine, according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. The board also elected a new trustee, WUSTL alumnus Richard P. Mattione, PhD (pictured).

In remembrance of Martin Luther King Jr., the Society of Black Students for Social Welfare and the Office of Student Affairs at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis will host their annual Financial Freedom Seminar on Saturday, Jan. 18. “Your Money, Your Future,” takes place from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. in Brown Hall, Room 100. It is free and open to the public.

The World Health Organization has released new guidelines for the treatment of severe acute malnutrition, based in large part on research at the School of Medicine. Shown is the school’s Mark Manary, MD, whose research helped spur the changes.

Research on poverty led by Washington University in St. Louis’ Mark R. Rank, PhD, was cited by President Barack Obama in a landmark speech on economic mobility that laid out an agenda for the remainder of his presidency.

Heart disease, cancer and diabetes are chronic diseases that account for $1.1 billion in hospital charges, affecting many individuals and families. The need to better understand these issues is examined in the fifth and final policy brief from the groundbreaking study “For the Sake of All: A Report on the Health and Well-Being of African Americans in St. Louis.”

Washington University in St. Louis has been recognized as one of the top institutions in the nation for producing Fulbright students for 2013-14. Twelve Fulbright grants were awarded to current or recent WUSTL students for this academic year to fund various international educational exchange endeavors.

Amanda Moore McBride, PhD, associate dean of the Brown School, was on hand Nov. 11 to congratulate two Brown School students on receiving commissions in the United States Air Force as part of the Air Force Health Professions Scholarship Program. The Brown School was the only school with two recipients — only 11 were given nationwide out of 152 applicants. “The military is the No. 1 employer of social workers, and this is real tribute to both our students and the Brown School that it has found the best and the brightest right here,” McBride said.