Brown School

The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research (OVCR) has announced the six winners of the 2012 University Research Strategic Alliance (URSA) grants. The grants offer a one-year, $25,000 award to full-time faculty members at WUSTL who begin a new collaboration with investigators from different disciplines. Researchers who receive the seed funding will work together in a new area of research or plan to approach a problem in a different way.

The Brown School’s Master of Public Health (MPH) program at Washington University in St. Louis was recently accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH). The accreditation provides national recognition of the quality of our program, says Edward F. Lawlor, PhD, dean of the Brown School and the William E. Gordon Distinguished Professor. “This unique program teaches students to address public health issues through the lens of many different disciplines.Accreditation will provide students and alumni expanded job opportunities, fellowships, and doctoral admissions.”

Exposure to stress can increase the risk for violent behaviors and depressive symptoms for African-American young adults. Different types of stress, particularly racial discrimination, can influence the level of this risk, finds a new study by Lorena Estrada-Martínez, PhD, assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

The Supreme Court’s decision today means the implementation of the Affordable Care Act can go forward, thus improving the delivery and affordability of medical care, says Timothy McBride, PhD, health economist and associate dean for public health at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Racial discrimination could lessen the mental-health benefits usually associated with better socio-economic position for African-American men, finds a new study by Darrell L. Hudson, PhD, assistant professor of public health at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Gregory P. Magarian, JD, professor of law, and Timothy D. McBride, PhD, professor of public health, both at Washington University in St. Louis, are available for expert commentary on the Supreme Court’s Affordable Care Act decision.

The 2-1-1 phone information and referral system could be a key partner in efforts to reduce cancer disparities affecting low-income and racial and ethnic minorities in the U.S., finds a new study by Jason Purnell, PhD, assistant professor of public health at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

The employee 2011-12 U-Pass — allowing WUSTL faculty and staff free use of Metro, the region’s public transportation system — will expire June 30. Benefits-eligible employees may request a new U-Pass for the 2012-13 fiscal year at the Parking & Transportation Services website, parking.wustl.edu/upass.htm. The new pass will be valid through June 30, 2013.

A new study suggests that health insurance exchanges, a key provision of the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010, may need to be monitored by policymakers to make sure there is sufficient competition between private insurance plans. In the study, published in Health Affairs, Timothy McBride, PhD, professor and associate dean for public health at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, examined the insurance premiums, availability of plans and enrollment levels under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP). “From its inception, the health reform legislation used the structure of the FEHBP to guide the design of these exchanges,” McBride says.

Folic acid fortification of foods may reduce the incidence of the most common type of kidney cancer and a type of brain tumors in children, finds a new study by Kimberly J. Johnson, PhD, assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, and Amy Linabery, PhD, postdoctoral fellow at the University of Minnesota. Incidence reductions were found for Wilms’ tumor, a type of kidney cancer, and primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNET), a type of brain cancer.