Category: News Release

Politi Awarded Three-Year, $1.2 million AHRQ R18 Grant

Mary C. Politi, PhD, was awarded a three-year, $1.2 million Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) R18 grant titled “Implementing a Breast Reconstruction Decision Support Tool in Diverse Practice Settings.” The project is a multi-site study using an evidence-based tool called BREASTChoice that was previously developed and tested at Siteman Cancer Center and implementing […]

Park Appointed to NIH Study Section

Yikyung Park, ScD, was appointed to the NIH Cancer, Heart, and Sleep Epidemiology Panel A (CHSA) study section. As a member of the study section she will help review grant applications submitted to the NIH focused on epidemiological research on environmental, behavioral, genetic, epigenetic, and molecular risk factors in cancer, cardiovascular disease, and sleep in […]

New Faculty Ashley Housten, OTD, OTR, MSCI, MPA and Michelle Silver, PhD, ScM

The Division of Public Health Sciences is excited to welcome two more new faculty! Ashley Housten, OTD, OTR, MSCI, MPA and Michelle Silver, PhD, ScM both begin as assistant professors of surgery on July 1st. Dr. Housten comes to us from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, where she has served […]

Cao and Colditz Study on Sedentary Behavior Published in JAMA

Researchers in the Division of Public Health Sciences, including Yin Cao, ScD; Graham Colditz, MD, DrPH; Chao Cao, MPH; and Yikyung Park, ScD, have published a new study in JAMA that elucidates “Trends in Sedentary Behavior Among the US Population, 2001-2016.” Sitting for long periods of time, especially while watching television, has been associated with multiple […]

New Faculty Fei Wan, PhD and Shu (Joy) Jiang, PhD

The Division of Public Health Sciences welcomes new faculty member Fei Wan, PhD, as Assistant Professor. He will work with our biostatistics shared resource to collaborate on projects in the Siteman Cancer Center. Dr. Wan comes to us from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Department of Biostatistics, where he has served as Assistant […]

Drake Receives DOD Prostate Cancer Research Program Grant

  Bettina Drake, PhD, MPH, associate professor of surgery, has been awarded a U.S. Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program grant to study “Treatment Options and Survival of Metastatic Prostate Cancer Patients.” The project will look at a prostate cancer cohort from VA hospitals to explore the survival benefit among men diagnosed with metastatic prostate […]

DPHS Welcomes New Faculty Member Lisa Klesges, PhD

The Division of Public Health Sciences welcomes new faculty member Lisa Klesges, PhD, who will join us at the level of Professor on April 1. Over the past ten years, Dr. Klesges has served as Professor of Epidemiology, Director, and Founding Dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Memphis. Previously, she […]

TV Watching a Risk Factor for Early-onset Colorectal Cancer

In an article out this week in JNCI Cancer Spectrum, Yin Cao, ScD, MPH, assistant professor of surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, et.al. found that prolonged sedentary TV viewing time was associated with increased risk of young-onset colorectal cancer (CRC), or CRC diagnosed before the age of 50. This study […]

Park receives R01 NCI funds to study dietary patterns

  Yikyung Park, ScD, associate professor of surgery, has received a three-year, $969,000 R01 grant from the National Cancer Institute. The project, Temporal Dietary Patterns: Development and Evaluation against Adiposity and Metabolic Biomarkers, will identify dietary patterns based on when and how often people eat during a day and will evaluate if those patterns are […]

Hunleth Receives Skinner Book Award

  Jean Hunleth, PhD, MPH, instructor of surgery and anthropology, has been awarded the 2018 Elliott P. Skinner Book Award from the Association of Africanist Anthropology for her book Children as Caregivers: The Global Fight against Tuberculosis and HIV in Zambia (2017, Rutgers University Press). This annual award recognizes exemplary work in advancing African Studies […]

Obesity linked to increased risk of early-onset colorectal cancer

A new study led by Yin Cao, ScD, MPH, assistant professor of surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, shows a link between weight gain and increased risk of young-onset colorectal cancer. Rates of colorectal cancer diagnosed in people under age 50 are going up and researchers are searching for possible reasons […]

Ying receives R01 NIH funds to study relocation patient follow-up care

Ying Liu, MD, PhD, assistant professor of surgery, has received a three-year, $1,075,887 grant from the National Institutes of Health. The project, Residential Mobility, Treatment Quality and Survival in Low-Income Women with Breast Cancer, will study how relocation after a cancer diagnosis impacts follow-up care for low-income patients, and thus, effects their treatment. Dr. Liu […]

Waters to study caregiver decisions for asthmatic children

Erika Waters, PhD, MPH, associate professor of surgery in the Division of Public Health Sciences, has received a three year, nine month R01 grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The $2,584,000 project, Child asthma exacerbation: Role of caregiver risk beliefs, aims to lay the groundwork for improving interventions for caregivers of children with asthma. […]

Drake named associate director of cancer health equity

Bettina Drake, PhD, MPH, associate professor of surgery in the Division of Public Health Sciences at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, has been named associate director of cancer health equity for Siteman Cancer Center. In this newly formed position, Drake will oversee Siteman’s community outreach and engagement and will work to promote […]

Improving health insurance literacy aids Missourians’ ACA enrollment

Community outreach and educational support for navigating health insurance options available in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace are crucial for helping people choose the best plan based on their individual needs, according to researchers, health policy experts and community partners across Missouri – one of 19 states that hasn’t expanded Medicaid eligibility. Such efforts […]

Wolin highlights ways to prevent ovarian cancer

Dr. Kate Wolin appeared on The Dr. Oz Show to talk about research-proven ways to lower your risk of ovarian cancer. Watch all three parts of the video here.

Brownson named president-elect of American College of Epidemiology

Ross C. Brownson, PhD, professor of medicine and of social work at Washington University in St. Louis, has been named president-elect of the American College of Epidemiology. See Washington University School of Medicine press release.

Risk prediction: Lessons from research

Graham A. Colditz, MD, DrPH, chief of the Division of Public Health Sciences and the Niess-Gain Professor in the School of Medicine, made the keynote presentation at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard Cancer Center “Risk Prediction Workshop” on April 27,2012. View Risk Prediction: Lessons from 20+ Years of Research

Obesity, cancer link studied

Washington University School of Medicine Press ReleaseBy Julia Evangelou Strait Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have been awarded a $9.2 million grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to study the relationship between obesity and cancer. The five-year grant will fund the new Transdisciplinary Research on Energetics and Cancer (TREC) […]