Kreuter named Brown School associate dean for public health

Matthew W. Kreuter, PhD, professor and director of the Brown School’s Health Communication Research Laboratory (HCRL), has been named associate dean for public health, according to Edward F. Lawlor, PhD, dean and the William E. Gordon Distinguished Professor. The appointment is effective July 1.

Kreuter

In this role, Kreuter will oversee all aspects of the Master of Public Health (MPH) degree program — an innovative curriculum that uses transdisciplinary problem-solving to help students apply principles to improve population health, particularly among vulnerable populations.

“Matt’s commitment to quality teaching, scholarship, service and the advancement of the public health profession make him the ideal person to lead our MPH program into its next era,” Lawlor said. “You will soon see Matt’s ideas, energy and commitment to public health professional education in action.”

The MPH program leverages the academic strength of the Brown School with the wide range of resources of Washington University. The program was launched in 2009 and fully accredited in 2012 by the Council on Education in Public Health.

“I’m excited to lead the next step in the evolution of the MPH program,” Kreuter said. “Accreditation put us on the map; now we can build an even more outstanding program that ranks among the best in the country and meets the high standards of the Brown School and Washington University.”

As part of the MPH curriculum, students take core courses in behavioral health, biostatistics, environmental health, epidemiology and health policy and management. The curriculum also draws upon a wide range of disciplines including economics, medicine, psychology, social work and sociology. The program soon will begin offering specializations in global health and epidemiology/biostatistics.

Kreuter serves as a member of the Faculty Advisory Council of WUSTL’s Institute for Public Health. He holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Kreuter is an expert in the field of health communications who joined the Brown School in 2008. Under his leadership, the HCRL has developed and evaluated a wide range of strategies to increase the reach and effectiveness of health information in low-income populations.

He serves on the Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice for the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. Funders of his research include the National Cancer Institute and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Kreuter succeeds interim director Anne Sebert Kuhlmann, PhD, who will continue as assistant dean for public health, and original associate dean Timothy McBride, PhD, who led the establishment of the Brown School’s MPH program in 2008.