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WashU Brown School alumna Patricia Welch Saleeby, PhD ’05, has been named the 2026 Insley-Evans Public Health Social Worker of the Year by the American Public Health Association’s (APHA) Public Health Social Work section.
Saleeby, a professor and director of the social work program at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, was recognized for her contributions to disability studies and public health social work. She received the award during APHA’s annual meeting in November in San Antonio, Texas.
The honor follows another recent recognition. In October, Saleeby received the Established Faculty Service and Leadership Award from the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) at its annual conference in Atlanta.
An internationally recognized expert on disability in social work, Saleeby has promoted the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) in social work and the Capability Approach as an alternative framework for understanding disability. In 2024, WashU Magazine profiled her work and its global implications for improving patient care. Read more about her work.
Saleeby was not the only Brown School alumna recognized by CSWE in October. Saltanat Childress, MSW ’04, received the CSWE Early Career Faculty Service and Leadership in Social Work Education Award.
Childress, an associate professor at the University of Texas at Arlington School of Social Work, focuses her scholarship on preventing interpersonal violence and adverse childhood experiences across the lifespan, particularly among immigrant, refugee, and underserved populations in the United States and low- and middle-income countries.
