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 Joe Steensma Professor of Practice 314-935-3719 jsteensma@wustl.edu Joseph Steensma’s work exemplifies “transdisciplinary”. A successful scientist and entrepreneur who has founded and led several thriving businesses focused on public health, Steensma joined the faculty at the Brown School to help commercialize some of the innovative products and services the School has developed. In addition to his work in helping translate science into marketable solutions for real public health problems, Steensma has served as the president of the Board of Health in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Siobhan Sutcliffe Professor of Surgery; Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology 314-362-3788 sutcliffes@wustl.edu Dr. Sutcliffe’s research focuses on clinical conditions related to the male and female genitourinary and reproductive tracts. Her research program integrates epidemiologic and clinical research methodology to understand the etiology, progression, and exacerbation of clinically significant health problems that impact survival and quality of life. The ultimate goal of her research is to characterize modifiable risk factors and develop novel primary and secondary prevention strategies. Rachel Tabak Associate Professor 314-935-0153 rtabak@wustl.edu Rachel Tabak is a part of the Prevention Research Center and the Centene Center for Health Transformation, and works in obesity prevention and community-based physical activity and nutrition strategies. She is also interested in dissemination and implementation research. With a strong background in nutrition, Tabak is involved in research studies examining interventions to promote healthy nutrition and activity behaviors in families, particularly in the home environment. She also evaluates the effect of worksite policies and environments on worker health behaviors Jean-Francois Trani Associate Professor 314-935-9277 jtrani@wustl.edu Jean-Francois Trani investigates the intersection of mental health, disability, vulnerability and poverty with a focus on conducting field research that informs policy and service design for individuals living in conflict-affected fragile states and low-income countries. He is a member of the Prevention Research Center and the Social System Design Lab at the Brown School. Using the Capability Approach of Amartya Sen, Trani hypothesizes that lack of opportunity — or poor conversion factors — is linked to stigma of disability and other discriminated groups, which results in social exclusion and creates mental distress. Nhial Tutlam Assistant Professor ntutlam@wustl.edu Nhial Tutlam is a scholar whose research centers on the intersection of mental health impact of war trauma and risk of health outcomes such as suicide, substance use and HIV among youth affected by conflict, with the aim of developing and testing culturally congruent community-based interventions to address the myriad of mental health challenges in this vulnerable population both in refugee settlements and resettlement settings Fei Wan Associate Professor of Surgery wan.fei@wustl.edu Dr. Wan's methodological research area concern the development and application of statistical methods to address the causal inference questions in randomized and non-randomized studies. Particularly, he is interested in evaluating the current use of the propensity score and the instrumental variable methods in comparing the treatment effectiveness of competing treatment strategies in improving patients' survival in cancer research. Show More