Illuminating the integrated nature of human and environmental health.
Research on planetary health advanced by the Center for the Environment is guided by its definition as “global environmental change and its health impacts” provided by the Planetary Health Alliance, a consortium of more than 340 research and practice institutions. At Washington University, the theme is broadened to reflect reciprocity in the human health-environment relationship. Themes of research advanced by the Center include environmental health, global health, sustainable urban design, sustainable healthy food systems, nourishing biomes, and the connection between environmental change and infectious disease. Research advances benefit from a convergent approach that draws on expertise from public health, engineering, ecology, natural and social sciences, and architecture and urban design.
Rodrigo Reis, PhD
Professor of Public Health
Reis is an investigator at the Prevention Research Center whose research focuses on built and community environment and public health. They are particularly interested in community interventions for promoting physical activity and the effect of the built environment and active transportation on physical activity and health.
Planetary health scholars
Manasseh Begay
Lecturer, Brown School of Social Work; Research Manager, Buder Center
Native Ways of Health, Trauma Informed Policing, Human Interactions with the Land and the Land’s Interactions with Us, The Interaction of Spirituality in Mental Health
Krista Millich
Assistant Professor of Biological Anthropology
Behavioral Ecology and Endocrinology Wildlife Conservation Community-Driven Research Zoonotic Disease
Ellis Ballard
Assistant Professor of Practice, Social Work & Public Health
Community-Engaged Research, Communities of Practice, Systems Science, Participatory Methods
Planetary health stories
