Dan Ferris, PhD (he/him), is Co-Director of Policy Education and Practice at the Center for Social Development and Assistant Professor of Practice in the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. Ferris coordinates and oversees education and training initiatives. He has gained diverse experience through his roles in policy, government affairs, and community-engagement efforts focused on health, health care, poverty, and inequality. He is committed to research, programs, and policies that address food insecurity in St. Louis and beyond.
Ferris received his master’s in public administration with a concentration in public policy from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and his doctorate in public and social policy at Saint Louis University. He has taught graduate-level policy courses in social welfare, legislative advocacy, and health care at New York University, Touro Graduate School of Social Work, and the Brown School.
CSD Projects
Nourishing Healthy Starts
Food security
This study is an evaluation of the Fresh Rx: Nourishing Heathy Starts, a program administered by Operation Food Search providing food and nutrition supports to food insecure pregnant women to improve health and birth outcomes.
Closing the School Breakfast Gap
Food security
The School Breakfast Program helps children, regardless of household income, can start their school day with a meal. However, many eligible students are unable to take advantage of this program due to transportation barriers, limited time, or not being eligible for a free or reduced-price meal. This project explores these barriers and how to overcome them.
From Translation to Transformation: Medically Tailored Meals and Food is Medicine Approaches for Reducing Health Disparities in Diabetes Management
Food security
This project aims to evaluate how a comprehensive Medically Tailored Meals program offered in St. Louis can improve outcomes for adults with type 2 diabetes.
Implementation of School Meal Program Flexibilities
Food security
This is a four year R01 study funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health to assess nationwide policy implementation and decision-making processes and develop an agent-based model to demonstrate how policy changes affect school district meal program implementation.
WIC Innovation in Missouri
Food security
Missouri’s Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program is important for the nutrition and health of recipients. Yet, only 53% of eligible Missourians have enrolled in WIC in recent years, and program participation rates have declined over the past decade. Operation Food Search (OFS) and Missouri Foundation for Health are examining ways to increase program enrollment and remove barriers to participation for WIC-eligible Missourians.