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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

Byron Powell

Byron Powell

Associate Professor

  • 314-935-2817
  • bjpowell@wustl.edu

Byron Powell’s research focuses on efforts to improve the quality of behavioral health and social services. His scholarship has focused on barriers and facilitators to implementing evidence-based practices; designing, tailoring and assessing the effectiveness of implementation strategies, and advancing implementation research methods. His work has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and the William T. Grant Foundation. He is co-director of the Brown School’s Center for Mental Health Services Research.
Beth-Prusaczyk

Beth Prusaczyk

Instructor of Medicine, Division of General Medical Sciences, School of Medicine

  • beth.prusaczyk@wustl.edu

Dr. Prusaczyk’s research focuses on improving the health and healthcare of older adults, particularly vulnerable older adults such as those with dementia or those living in rural areas, through the use of implementation science and data and technology. Specifically, her research focuses on the implementation of evidence-based practices and policies that improve care at the intersection of the health and social service settings. She is also interested in using social network analysis to understand care coordination and communication among health and social service providers.
Jason Purnell

Jason Purnell

Associate Professor

  • 314-935-373
  • jpurnell@wustl.edu

Jason Purnell’s research focuses on how socioeconomic and sociocultural factors influence health behaviors and health outcomes and on mobilizing community action to address the social determinants of health. He currently leads Health Equity Works, the new name and expanded mission of the Brown School initiative previously referred to as For the Sake of All. Health Equity Works is committed to St. Louis and to translating data and research into collaborative community action to advance health equity.
Rodrigo Reis

Rodrigo Reis

Professor

  • 314-935-4948
  • reis.rodrigo@wustl.edu

Rodrigo Reis is an investigator at the Prevention Research Center, and his research focuses on built and community environment and public health, with particular interest in community interventions for promoting physical activity, the effect of the built environment and active transportation on physical activity and health. At the Brown School, Reis teaches courses focusing on the built environment and public health. Prior to joining the Brown School, Reis was on the faculty at Pontifical Catholic University of Parana, as well as the Federal University of Parana in Curitiba, Brazil.
Elizabeth-Salerno

Elizabeth Salerno

Assistant Professor of Surgery

  • e.salerno@wustl.edu

Dr. Salerno is a biobehavioral scientist with training in kinesiology and epidemiology. Her research focuses on the determinants and outcomes of physical activity behavior at the intersection of cancer and aging. Specifically, Dr. Salerno is interested in how physical activity and other lifestyle behaviors can be implemented into the standard of care to combat accelerated aging and improve cognitive, physical and psychosocial health during survivorship. A large focus of her work is building community-based, scalable physical activity interventions to bring health benefits to all cancer patients.
Vetta Thompson

Vetta Sanders Thompson

E. Desmond Lee Professor of Racial and Ethnic Diversity

  • 314-935-3432
  • vthompson22@wustl.edu

Vetta Sanders Thompson's research focuses on the health and well-being of diverse communities, particularly the African-American community. Her scholarship addresses racial identity and socialization, implications of experiences of discrimination and socio-cultural determinants of disparities. Her goal is to empower members of the community to improve their health and well-being through education and opportunities for action. Her funded research addresses promotion of cancer screening among African Americans and community engagement. Sanders Thompson currently leads the School's Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, as well as co-directs the Center for Community Health Partnership and Research at the Institute for Public Health at Washington University.