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Sixteen current faculty members of the WashU Brown School and the late Jeremy Goldbach have been named to the world’s top 2% of scientists for 2026, recognizing the impact of their research.
Compiled by Stanford University and Elsevier, the annual list recognizes researchers whose published work had made a significant impact in their fields. The rankings are based on standardized citation metrics from Elsevier’s Scopus database, which indexes peer-reviewed research. Scientists are categorized across 20 scientific fields and 174 subfields.
The rankings consider several indicators of scholarly influence, including total citations, the h-index, co-authorship-adjusted metrics and a composite citation score.
“We’re proud to see so many Brown School faculty members recognized among the top 2% of scientists,” said Dorian Traube, the Neidorff Family and Centene Corporation Dean of the Brown School and a professor. “This recognition reflects the quality and impact of their research, as well as its influence on the work of fellow scholars.”
The Brown School researchers named to the 2026 list are:
- Leopoldo J. Cabassa, professor and co-director of the Center for Mental Health Services Research and the Center for Holistic Interdisciplinary Research in Psychedelics
- Jordan P. Davis, professor
- Brett Drake, Professor of Data Science for the Social Good in Practice
- Amy Eyler, professor
- Sarah Font, professor
- Paz Galupo, Audre Lorde Distinguished Professor of Sexual Health & Education and director of the Sexuality, Health, and Gender (SHAG) Center
- Jeremy Goldbach*, Masters & Johnson Distinguished Professor in Sexual Health and Education
- Shenyang Guo, Frank J. Bruno Distinguished Professor of Social Work Research and director of the PhD program in Social Work
- Jenine Harris, professor
- Jin Huang, Irving Louis Horowitz Professor in Social Policy and co-director of the Center for Social Development
- Melissa Jonson-Reid, Ralph and Muriel Pumphrey Professor of Social Work Research and associate dean for educational programs
- Mary McKay, professor
- Nancy Morrow-Howell, Betty Bofinger Brown Distinguished Professor of Social Policy
- Byron Powell, professor and associate dean for research
- Enola Proctor, research professor
- Vetta Sanders Thompson, E. Desmond Lee Professor of Racial and Ethnic Diversity
- Michael Sherraden, George Warren Brown Distinguished University Professor and founding director of the Center for Social Development
*Goldbach, a nationally recognized scholar on LGBTQ+ mental health, was the inaugural Masters & Johnson Distinguished Professor in Sexual Health and Education at the Brown School. He died of cancer in 2025 at age 42.