A new list of the world’s most influential researchers includes several members of the Brown School faculty. The list was compiled by a team led by John P. Ioannidis of Stanford University and is based on measurements of peer-reviewed publications and their citations by other scientists.
The list of the 100,000 most influential scientists represents the top 1.5% of the database of nearly 7 million scientists around the world who published at least five papers from 1996-2017. A separate list focused on a single year, 2017. Those from the Brown School on the lists were:
- Ross Brownson, Steven H. and Susan U. Lipstein Distinguished Professor and Director of the Prevention Research Center. Brownson is a national leader in chronic disease prevention and dissemination and implementation science.
- Francis Drake, professor. Drake researches child welfare with a focus on early intervention cases of child neglect and its connections to socio-environmental conditions.
- Melissa Jonson-Reid, Ralph and Muriel Pumphrey Professor of Social Work Research and director of the Center for Innovation in Child Maltreatment Policy, Research, and Training. Jonson-Reid’s work focuses on outcomes associated with childhood exposure to trauma, particularly abuse and neglect.
- Matthew Kreuter, Kahn Family Professor of Public Health and the founder and senior scientist of the Health Communication Research Laboratory. Kreuter is a leading public health expert in the field of health communication and health disparities.
- Douglas Luke, professor and director of the Center for Public Health Systems Science. Luke is a leading researcher in the areas of public health policy, systems science and tobacco control.
- Nancy Morrow-Howell, the Betty Bofinger Brown Distinguished Professor of Public Policy. An international leader in gerontology, Morrow-Howell is known for her work on productive engagement of older adults.
- Enola Proctor, professor. Proctor’s research focuses on improving the care delivered in social work, public health and healthcare settings. Her research and training programs have been funded by the National Institute of Mental health since 1993.
The study was published in PLOS Biology.
Most of the Brown faculty on the list were also on a list of the 100 most influential faculty at U.S. schools of social work, published earlier this year in the Journal of Social Service Research. That list was also based on publications and citations, though calculated somewhat differently. It included two additional Brown School faculty members:
- Debra Haire-Joshu, Joyce Wood Professor and director of the Center for Obesity Prevention and Policy Research. Haire-Joshu is an internationally renowned scholar of health behavior who develops population-wide interventions to reduce obesity and prevent diabetes among underserved women and children.
- Michael Sherraden, George Warren Brown Distinguished University Professor and the founding director of the Center for Social Development. Sherraden has defined and informed applied research and policies to promote inclusion in asset building, including the establishment of child development accounts in the U.S. and internationally.
A special issue of the journal Global Social Welfare, titled “Equity, Collaboration, and Empowerment in Mental Health Research Partnerships” highlights experiences and issues in North-South research collaborations from across the world.
The special issue was developed by a team from the Brown School’s SMART Africa Center, and it was edited by Brown School Research Assistant Professor Ozge Sensoy Bahar, as well as Manasi Kumar, from the Center’s Kenya team at University of Nairobi, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Nairobi.
“The project was born as a platform to think critically about issues of equity, power and collaboration in the context of increasing north-south collaborations in the global mental health research,” said Kumar.
The partnerships and collaborations, the team explained, are often silent in questioning oppressive practices and problematic unethical or inequities.
“There is a growing trend to include Southern researchers in the publications and research processes, but without a true dialogue around cross-cultural synergies,” added Sensoy Bahar.
Both researchers noted that the other trend was to praise the local partners in local meetings without actually embracing them in more global and advanced forums. These attitudes, they added, perpetuate injustice and inequity given the historical landscape of colonization and collective oppression of the South.
To dismantle these practices, the issue offers the following takeaways:
- Partnerships should prioritize and invest in a bi-directional exchange and learning models that step away from solely valuing western paradigms, knowledge and practices.
- Research agendas should allow significant leadership by the global South team.
- The field needs to develop global ethics-in-practice dialogues where practices are deliberated, and concepts and definitions articulated collaboratively and inclusively.
Join the Brown School at the Council on Social Work Education annual program meeting.
Please consult the listings below to explore the breadth of ways to connect with the Brown School. All presentations take place at the Sheraton Downtown Hotel in Denver, Colorado.
Friday, October 25
| 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. | Social Work the “White Way”: Decolonizing the Classroom | Tonya Edmond | Governor’s Square 10, Plaza Building |
| 1:45 – 2:45 p.m. | Evidence Mapping : Interventions for American Indian and Alaska Native Youth Mental Health | Autumn Asher BlackDeer | Plaza Court 4, Plaza Building |
| 4:15 – 5:15 p.m. | CSWE and IASWG: Educating Future Group Workers Within the Social Work Curriculum | Maria Gandarilla Ocampo | Plaza Court 6, Plaza Building |
Saturday, October 26
| 8:45 – 9:45 a.m. | Strategies for Emphasizing Diversity and Inclusion in and Throughout the MSW Curriculum | Tyriesa Howard Howell | Governor’s Square 10, Plaza Building |
| 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. | Inequality and Mental Health | Hannah Szlyk | Plaza Court 4, Plaza Building |
| 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. | Renewing Social Work’s Commitment to Financial Well-Being Through Courses and the Curriculum | Margarat Sherraden Lissa Johnson Gena McClendon | Windows,Tower Building |
| 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. | Preparing Social Work Students for Their Responsibilities as Mandated Child Maltreatment Reporters | Maria Gandarilla Ocampo | Plaza Ballroom, Plaza Building |
| 1:45 – 2:45 p.m. | Political Justice Meets Democracy: Challenging Systemic Barriers Through Practice and Research | Gena McClendon | Tower Court D, Tower Building |
| 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. | Social Action and Social Work: Collective Impact and Community Engagement: Lessons Learned From the Field | Helen Robinson | Plaza Court 7, Plaza Building |
| 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. | Competence with Technology for Social Work Practice | Autumn Asher BlackDeer Maria Morrison | Director’s Row I, Plaza Building |
Sunday, October 27
| 8:45 – 9:45 a.m. | Developing Social Work Curriculum: Case Study: Curriculum Development and Innovation in Leadership, Management, and Entrepreneurship Education | Barry Rosenberg | Century Tower Building |
| 1:15 – 2:15 p.m. | Cultural Humility and Intersectionality: Expanding Perspectives on Diversity and Cultural Competency | Erika Gonzalez | Director’s Row H, Plaza Building |
Inequities and inequalities are ever-evolving and surfacing in our society, presenting a shifting landscape of challenges and problems. Gaps in our social, economic, education and health systems all pose specific challenges on regional, national and global scales.
To address these challenges, Washington University in St. Louis will bring together the best research evidence from disciplines across the university to solve real-world challenges — which sums up both the mission and the vision of the new Social Policy Institute. The institute will serve as a hub for policy-focused efforts university-wide, partnering and collaborating with key university faculty and centers, including the Brown School’s Clark-Fox Policy Institute.
The Social Policy Institute will also partner with corporate leaders and government officials, private foundations and think tanks to develop strong research partnerships at the local, state, federal and global levels. The institute’s work extends across a wide range of areas, delving into business, social work, engineering, design and liberal arts. Its multidisciplined, holistic and innovative approach is grounded in its ultimate goal of translating research findings into actionable policy to benefit communities in St. Louis, the nation and across the globe.
“Over the past decades, research has well documented the range of disparities in financial opportunities, housing, education and health that adversely affect the well-being of individuals and communities. What is needed now is to move from documenting disparities to finding and implementing solutions to the inequalities at the root of those disparities,” said Michal Grinstein-Weiss, the Shanti K. Khinduka Distinguished Professor at the Brown School, who will serve as director of the Social Policy Institute.
“It is our responsibility, as part of a leading research institution and as world citizens, to leverage our findings and effectively apply what we learn from research so we can discover and implement innovative ways to eliminate or reduce inequities,” she said.
“The Social Policy Institute will enable us to continue strengthening Washington University’s capacity and capability to engage in empirical research and cross-sector collaborations,” Chancellor Andrew D. Martin said. “With nonprofit and industry partners, we’re investing in evidence-based policy ideas for people in the St. Louis region, the United States and beyond.”
“Frequently, research findings haven’t had the expected impact on policy because the evidence has not been given to the right people, at the right time, in the right way — that is, translated into accessible information and delivered to those who can influence policy design and decision-making,” Grinstein-Weiss said.
“The institute is eagerly looking forward to serving as a hub for the work that faculty, students and the various university centers are already doing to address social policy,” she said. “We see one part of our mission as supporting and facilitating these ongoing efforts as well as using our network of contacts and resources to help broker future multidiscipline, cross-sector partnerships that will help to ensure research evidence is transformed into policy and programs that benefit our campus, communities and world. We know we will be stronger in this effort together.”
A new pilot study by the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis will investigate ways to reduce air pollution caused by cooking fuel in rural India.
“Household air pollution presents one of the most pressing public health issues currently facing society,” said Peter Hovmand, professor of practice and the study’s leader. About 3 billion people around the world rely on the combustion of solid fuel, like wood, for their main cooking and energy, and women and children are disproportionately affected.
Simply giving household cookstoves that burn only clean fuel, such as liquefied petroleum gas, has proven ineffective and even counterproductive in some areas. Researchers think a “real options” approach will more effectively increase the use of clean fuels by providing policymakers and other decision makers flexibility to deal with uncertain and fluctuating conditions affecting households.
To test that theory, researchers will conduct group model building exercises in India to uncover cultural and other responses to using clean cookstoves, and then use computer modeling to develop real-option strategies to implement large-scale use of clean-fuels.
Research partners are Boston College and the Foundation for Ecological Security in India. The study is being funded by the Clean Cooking Implementation Science Network at the National Institutes of Health Fogarty International Center.
The National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded $7.6 million to Washington University in St. Louis to create a research center that will develop ways to implement proven cancer-control interventions among disadvantaged rural and urban populations in 82 counties in Missouri and southern Illinois.
The Washington University Implementation Science Center for Cancer Control (WU-ISCCC) seeks to eliminate cancer disparities with rapid-cycle studies that put findings into practice quickly.
It will be co-led by Ross Brownson, the Steven H. and Susan U. Lipstein Professor of Public Health at the Brown School and the School of Medicine. He leads the Prevention Research Center in St. Louis and is a co-director for Prevention and Control at the Siteman Cancer Center.
Brownson will be joined in leadership by Graham Colditz, the Niess-Gain Professor and chief of the Division of Public Health Sciences in the Department of Surgery at the School of Medicine. He is associate director for prevention and control at the Siteman Cancer Center and has led the Program for the Elimination of Cancer Disparities since 2006.
“This new Center will strengthen collaborations between the Brown School, the School of Medicine and Siteman Cancer Center,” said Mary McKay, Neidorff Family and Centene Corporation Dean of the Brown School. “It will be a model for transdisciplinary, team science. Most importantly, we think the center will make a real difference in reducing the risk of cancer and improve health equity for disadvantaged populations in an 82-county area of Missouri and Illinois.”
The aims of the center are to:
- Advance the field of implementation science in cancer control by conducting innovative and impactful research
- Expand an exceptional, diverse team of implementation science investigators and stakeholders, including clinical and public health leaders
- Organize and integrate center components to facilitate transdisciplinary team science
- Develop an implementation laboratory (known as the Innovation Incubator) to engage community partners, thus serving as a conduit for rapid and impactful research
- Address cancer disparities by making it as easy as possible for disadvantaged populations to access, use, and benefit from evidence-based interventions
Rural Missouri and Illinois residents are a particular focus of the center because they have cancer mortality rates that are siginificantly higher for rural than for urban populations. Risk factors such as smoking and obesity are consistently higher for rural than for urban populations. Cancer mortality disparities also extend across racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups. Among both Black and White men with 12 or fewer years of education, cancer mortality rates are almost three times higher than those of college graduates for all cancers combined.
The region includes highly impoverished areas, all within a three-hour drive of St. Louis. In southeastern Missouri, five counties have the highest poverty rates and some of the highest cancer rates in the country. Several Illinois counties are at the bottom of the county health rankings in Illinois and nationally. Many are areas where more regular screening for breast and colon cancer, for example, could have profound impact.
The center will also mentor and advance the work of junior scholars engaged in two pilot studies focused on implementation science. One will identify the extent to which evidence-based interventions are put into practice in rural settings and the roles of local health departments and other potential partners. The second pilot project will provide financial screening for cancer patients, helping them to discuss the costs of care, select health insurance, and reduce financial distress.
“The Siteman Cancer Center serves some of the most disadvantaged populations of patients in the United States,” said Dr. Timothy Eberlein, MD, the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Distinguished Professor, head of the Department of Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine and director of Siteman. “This grant will allow us to further engage with our communities that we serve, with the goal of implementing effective interventions to reduce cancer disparities. This is a huge opportunity, it is very exciting, and it is unique that Siteman will be able to have such a tremendous impact on our current and future patients throughout the region.”’
The new center is aligned with Washington University’s commitement to the St. Louis region as emphasized by Chancellor Andrew D. Martin at his inaugural address on October 3. The center’s scientific and administratiove elements are also aligned with the NIH Cancer Moonshot.