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 Leyao Wang Assistant Professor leyao.wang@wustl.edu Karla Washington Associate Professor of Medicine 314-285-0905 kwashington@wustl.edu Karla Washington, PhD, LCSW, researches interventions intended to promote the cultural, spiritual, and biopsychosocial wellbeing of patients, families and communities facing life-limiting, serious illnesses. Dr. Washington’s research applies digital health solutions in the linked fields of palliative and hospice care. Her current projects include: an intervention to support and educate rural hospice family caregivers controlling pain and various distressing issues in the home setting as well as a cognitive-behavioral intervention randomized clinical trial for caregivers of family members with cancer who are receiving palliative care in the outpatient setting. Erika A Waters Professor of Surgery 314-747-5705 waterse@wustl.edu Dr. Waters’ program of health communication, risk communication, and behavior change research translates foundational epidemiological, clinical, and genomic science into forms that help laypeople make adaptive health decisions. The interventions that result from this work are designed to maximize the potential for future dissemination and implementation. One branch of her research explores the rich variety of cognitive, emotional, and socio-contextual factors that shape whether, when, and how people understand and use health information effectively when making decisions about engaging in healthy behaviors. A second branch applies lessons-learned from foundational studies to develop traditional, eHealth, and mHealth communication and behavioral interventions that aim to increase engagement in health protective behaviors and reduce engagement in health damaging behaviors. She has a strong interest in research that seeks to understand and meet the practical information needs of populations that have been marginalized or underrepresented in research, including people of color and people with limited education, health literacy, and numeracy.