A behind-the-scenes look at an innovative project that aims to amplify the voices of the people of St. Louis, one photo and story at a time.
Welcome and Introduction
Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton; Mary M. McKay, Neidorff Family and Centene Corporation Dean; Lori S. White, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
Humans of St. Louis
Moderated by Lindy Drew, Co-Founder, Humans of St. Louis
Mary M. McKay
McKay joined the Brown School as dean in 2016, continuing the school’s legacy of creating vital knowledge, initiating social change, and preparing leaders to address social and health challenges both locally and globally.
McKay’s academic experience connects deeply to both social work and public health. She has received substantial federal funding for research focused on meeting the mental health and health prevention needs of youth and families impacted by poverty. She also has significant expertise in child mental health services and implementation research methods, as well as more than 20 years of experience conducting HIV prevention and care-oriented studies supported by the National Institutes of Health. She has authored more than 150 publications on mental and behavioral health, HIV/AIDS prevention and urban poverty, and more.
Prior to joining the Brown School, Dean McKay was the McSilver Professor of Social Work and the inaugural director of the McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research at New York University’s Silver School of Social Work. She previously served as the head of the Division of Mental Health Services Research at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Her prior academic appointments include Columbia University and University of Illinois at Chicago.
Lori S. White, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Professor of Practice of Education
White has spent more than three decades working in higher education. Prior to her arrival at Washington University, she served as the vice president for student affairs and clinical professor of education at Southern Methodist University, and she has also worked at the University of Southern California, Stanford, Georgetown, San Diego State University, and University of California, Irvine.
At Washington University, White and her colleagues are responsible for a range of student life programs, including residence halls, student activities, student leadership programs, student conduct, the Center for Diversity and Inclusion, the First Year Student Center, health and
wellness programs, career services, student academic
support programs, international students and scholars, scholarship programs, the Danforth University Center, and Washington University athletics and recreational programs.
White earned an undergraduate degree in psychology and English from the University of California, Berkeley and a PhD from Stanford University in education administration and policy analysis with emphasis in higher education. She also participated in Harvard University’s Management and Leadership in Education Program.
Lindy Drew, Co-Founder and Lead Storyteller, Humans of St. Louis
After studying at the University of Arizona and the International Center of Photography, Drew traveled for three years, winding up Latin America’s backbone to share people’s stories in the spirit of documentary photography. In Chile, she co-founded OJOS nuevos, a digital photography workshop for at-risk girls to photograph themselves and their communities. In Costa Rica, she was a staff photographer for The Tico Times, Central America’s leading English newspaper. Upon returning to the United States, she worked with Casa de Sueños in Phoenix to help reunify unaccompanied undocumented minors with their families in the states.
Drew graduated in May 2016 with a Master of Social Work and Public Health from the Brown School. During her education, she co-founded Humans of St. Louis (HOSTL), a 501(c)3 nonprofit that shares an intimate look into the lives and struggles of the people of St. Louis, one photo and story at a time. By engaging strangers in insightful personal interviews, she and the HOSTL team produce powerful, visual stories that represent part of the larger community conversations and regional development taking place in St. Louis. More of her work can be seen at lindydrew.com.