PhD Faculty Students in the PhD in Public Health Sciences program have the opportunity to work with faculty participating in locally, nationally, and globally recognized research and studies on both the Danforth and Medical School campuses. Their areas of interest range from data analysis to community outreach to AI modeling for positive health outcomes. Learn more about our faculty community and how you can be a part of building a better present and future. Browse Our PhD Faculty Name Areas of Interest Peg Allen Ellis Ballard Abigail Barker Ana A Baumann Derek Brown Ross Brownson Anne Mobley Butler Charlene Caburnay Yin Cao Su-Hsin Chang Graham A. Colditz Todd Combs Victor G Dávila-Román Kia L. Davis Elizabeth Dodson Bettina F. Drake Alexis Duncan Bradley A. Evanoff Amy Eyler Patrick Fowler Elvin Geng Jeremy Goldbach Debra Haire-Joshu Ross Hammond Jenine Harris Angela Hobson Ashley Housten Tyriesa L. Howard Mark Huffman Jean Hunleth Lora Iannotti Juliet Iwelunmor Aimee S. James Shu (Joy) Jiang Kim Johnson Maura Kepper Matthew Kreuter Jessica Levy Erin Linnenbringer Ying Liu Douglas Luke Chongliang (Jason) Luo Ragini Maddipati Karen Joynt Maddox Sara M. Malone Stephanie Mazzucca-Ragan Timothy McBride Mary McKay Virginia Mckay (Ginger) Caitlin McMurtry Sarah Moreland-Russell Proscovia Nabunya Diana Parra Perez Mary C. Politi Byron Powell Beth Prusaczyk Jason Purnell Rodrigo Reis Elizabeth Salerno Vetta Sanders Thompson Ilana Seff Ozge Sensoy Bahar Morgan Shields Michelle Silver Fred Ssewamala Lindsay Stark Joe Steensma Siobhan Sutcliffe Rachel Tabak Jean-Francois Trani Nhial Tutlam Fei Wan Leyao Wang Karla Washington Erika A Waters Child and Maternal Health Chronic Disease Epidemiology and Prevention Dissemination and Implementation Environmental Health and Justice Global Health Health Equity Health Policy Public Mental Health Systems and Data Science Filter: Child and Maternal Health Derek Brown Associate Professor 314-935-8651 dereksbrown@wustl.edu Derek Brown’s research focuses on costs, access to care, quality, and disparities among Medicaid populations—including physician payment, housing instability, and child maltreatment. He also uses discrete choice experiments to analyze preferences for health care and outcomes, such as screening and vaccination. His goal with this work is to improve valuation of health outcomes and policies and to promote better economic evaluation of public health policies. Alexis Duncan Associate Professor 314-935-6758 aduncan@wustl.edu Alexis Duncan’s research focuses on risk mechanisms and psychiatric comorbidity of obesity, eating disorders and substance use disorders, particularly among women. Her additional research interests include nosology (the study of diagnostic criteria) of psychiatric disorders, the effects of child maltreatment, and differences in psychopathology by race, gender and sexual orientation. Patrick Fowler Professor 314-935-5859 pjfowler@wustl.edu Patrick J. Fowler's research aims to prevent homelessness and its deleterious effects on child, family, and community well-being. Trained in child clinical-community psychology, Fowler uses innovative methods that rigorously investigate policies and programs intended to promote housing and family stability. Recent research focuses on cross system collaborations to prevent child maltreatment associated with family homelessness, as well as youth homelessness in the transition from foster care to adulthood. Tyriesa L. Howard Assistant Professor 314-935-6934 thhowell@wustl.edu Tyriesa Howard's research focuses on examining and understanding social and cultural determinants of sexual and reproductive health among adolescents and women. She is particularly interested in the development of mHealth technology as an innovative approach to promoting sexuality health education for youth. Some of Howell's research engagement has included socio-behavioral interventions using mixed-methods to examine the use of interactive video game and life simulation technology to encourage HIV treatment adherence and routinized HIV testing among adolescents living with and affected by HIV. Jean Hunleth Associate Professor of Surgery and Anthropology 314-747-8066 jean.hunleth@wustl.edu Dr. Hunleth is a medical anthropologist with public health training and professional experience working in global health. Her research focuses on the experience of caregiving and treatment seeking for infectious and chronic diseases in Africa (most specifically, Zambia) and in the United States. She is especially interested in children’s experiences of and responses to illness, medicine, and health programming. Her work demonstrates that identifying children’s actions and perspectives facilitates the design of more appropriate and family-centered health interventions for children and adults. Hunleth’s approach to research is creative and rigorous. She uses ethnographic and qualitative interview and observational methods as well as participatory techniques such as drawing, role playing, and photography. Lora Iannotti Professor 314-935-4396 liannotti@wustl.edu Lora Iannotti has expertise in maternal and young child nutrition and nutrient deficiencies (zinc, iron, vitamin A, B12, choline, and fatty acids) related to poverty and infectious diseases. She applies epidemiological methods to investigate interventions aimed at reducing stunted growth and development. Iannotti leads projects in Haiti, Ecuador, and East Africa where she collaborates with local partners to test innovative, transdisciplinary approaches using animal source foods and small livestock and fisheries development. She is founder and director of the E3 Nutrition Lab, working to identify economically affordable, environmentally sustainable, and evolutionarily appropriate nutrition solutions globally. Show More