“Through our research and education efforts, we hope to translate research discoveries into policies that keep people healthier through prevention and improve quality and access to health care,” says Graham A. Colditz, MD, PhD, division chief, deputy director of the Institute for Public Health and the Neiss-Gain Professor of Surgery.
The Division of Public Health Sciences, created as part of the medical school’s population health initiative, builds on relationships with the Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine and the university’s Institute for Public Health.
The division, within the Department of Surgery, comprises 17 investigators who collaborate to study factors that affect medical treatment and outcomes. Researchers are examining the impact of behaviors, communication, health screenings, treatments and the environment.
The division also will provide a home for the Master of Population Health Sciences, a degree program designed for clinicians and researchers with a medical or doctoral degree who seek training in population-based research methods.