Forced Migration - Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis

Naseh receives grant from Missouri Foundation for Health

Roger — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 17:03:28 +0000

Mitra Naseh, an assistant professor at the 17�Թ�, has received a $612,000 grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health as co-principal investigator on a new project titled “Community-Driven Solutions for Sustainable Systems Change.” Led by Brown School alumna Fatema Medhat, Missouri state refugee health coordinator at the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI), the project is a collaborative partnership among USCRI, 17�Թ�, the Integrated Health Network and the MICA Project. The project seeks to address growing inequities in healthcare access among refugees and immigrants in Missouri. The initiative aims to strengthen connections between refugee-serving organizations and mainstream healthcare systems, including federally qualified health centers, hospitals, rural clinics and public health agencies. Over three years, the project will...

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Panel examines migration policy, vulnerability and survivor support

Fri, 08 May 2026 18:22:53 +0000

The Clark-Fox Policy Institute, Forced Migration Initiative and the Brown School Global Programs Office recently convened researchers and frontline practitioners working across the United States and internationally for “Borders, Vulnerability, and Protection: Rethinking Trafficking and Migration Policy,” a panel exploring the lived realities of migrants and trafficking survivors and the policy environments that influence their experiences. Hosted as part of the Clark-Fox Policy Institute’s Senior Policy Fellows initiative, the event reflected the institute’s commitment to connecting research, lived experience and policy to advance more effective and evidence-informed solutions for children, families and communities. The panel was led by Brown School faculty member and CFPI Senior Policy Fellow Mitra Naseh, assistant professor and founding director of the Forced Migration Initiative, and included social work scholar and researcher...

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Naseh receives William H. Danforth St. Louis Confluence Award

Myra — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 15:01:22 +0000

By Diane Toroian Keaggy April 21, 2026 When newcomers to St. Louis succeed, the entire region succeeds, says Blake Hamilton, president of the International Institute of St. Louis. That’s why he agreed to join with Mitra Naseh, an assistant professor at the 17�Թ� and founding director of the school’s Forced Migration Initiative, in her quest to foster belonging among the region’s large Afghan population and to find ways to better connect refugees to the services they need to thrive. “This work also reminds us that welcoming is not a measure of individual effort alone. It is a measure of whether our region is prepared to unlock talent, recognize credentials, support families and create pathways to mobility,” Hamilton told attendees at the 2026...

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Clark-Fox Policy Institute event bridges research, community voices to advance refugee well-being in St. Louis

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 20:04:35 +0000

A new initiative designed to accelerate the translation of academic research into actionable policy drew a full crowd for its first event April 1 at Delmar DivINe. The session, hosted by the 17�Թ�’s Clark-Fox Policy Institute Senior Policy Fellows program, brought together scholars, practitioners, and community members for a meaningful conversation about the experiences and well-being of refugees in St. Louis. In his opening remarks, Jason Jabbari, assistant professor at the Brown School and Clark-Fox Policy Institute (CFPI) faculty director, underscored the institute’s commitment to move research more quickly into policy impact. He emphasized supporting scholars who work closely with communities and are committed to translating evidence into action. “We’re here not just to share ideas, but to...

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McKay, Naseh awarded seed grants for international research projects

admin — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 13:03:00 +0000

Two Brown School faculty members have received 2025 Global Incubator Seed Grants to launch new international research projects focused on improving public health and refugee well-being. The awards, up to $25,000 each from 17�Թ� Global and the Office of the Provost, are intended to help faculty build new international collaborations and advance early-stage global research partnerships. Mary McKay, executive vice provost and professor, was awarded funding for a collaborative project on climate change and intimate partner violence among young women living with HIV in Uganda. In partnership with Makerere University, McKay’s team plans to collect quantitative data from 200 young women living with HIV and conduct interviews with 20 participants to capture their lived experiences. Findings will inform the development of integrated,...

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Naseh writes in The Conversation on Afghan uncertainty after court ends protections

Natasha — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 12:07:00 +0000

Mitra Naseh, an assistant professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, has written an article in The Conversation on the growing uncertainty facing thousands of Afghan nationals in the United States after the termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for the group. Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, is a humanitarian protection that allows individuals from specific countries, where returning would pose a risk to their safety, to remain in the United States for a specified period. It provides work authorization and protection from deportation during this time. Afghans became eligible in 2022 after the Taliban returned to power in late 2021. In May, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced the end of TPS for Afghans, citing improved conditions in...

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Brown School faculty honored for community-engaged research at Confluence Awards

admin — Thu, 01 May 2025 15:25:47 +0000

Brown School assistant professors Tyriesa L. Howard and Mitra Naseh were recognized for their impactful, community-engaged research during the 2025 William H. Danforth St. Louis Confluence Award Showcase, held April 16. The annual event, hosted by the Confluence Collaborative for Community-Engaged Research, Teaching and Practice, recognized 11 projects from among 58 nominated faculty-community partnerships across 17�Թ�. “All of these projects share a common goal: to deliver tangible, positive outcomes that make St. Louis a more equitable and healthy region,” said Bettina Drake, director of the Confluence Collaborative for Community Engagement. Howard received a 2025 Provost Impact Award for her project, Improving Postpartum Mental Health for NICU Families: Developing and Piloting ‘The Fathers First Initiative’ in Neonatal Healthcare Systems. She shares...

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Naseh analyzes Afghan forced migration to Iran in journal article

Myra — Tue, 21 Jan 2025 19:21:35 +0000

Mitra Naseh, an assistant professor at the Brown School, has authored an invited article on Afghan refugees in Iran for the Migration Information Source, the online journal of the Migration Policy Institute (MPI). In the article, Naseh, who serves as the research director of the Initiative on Social Work and Forced Migration (ISWFM), examines five distinct periods of forced migration from Afghanistan to Iran in the modern era, highlighting the increasing policy restrictions imposed on Afghans in Iran over the past four decades. Naseh’s scholarly focus is on the in-depth study of refugees’ social and economic integration, using a multidimensional approach shaped by her diverse academic background. Her research is deeply influenced by her personal experiences and informed by her previous...

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Naseh awarded grant to improve refugee health in Missouri

admin — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 18:55:20 +0000

Mitra Naseh, an assistant professor at the Brown School, has received a three-year, $463,654 grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health to study and improve the health of refugees in Missouri. Naseh’s project, titled “Structural Barriers and Health Outcomes of New Missourians,” will focus on identifying and addressing the challenges refugees face when seeking initial assistance. The goal is to develop and test community-led solutions to improve health outcomes for newly resettled refugees across the state. “The development of this grant is the result of over two years of collaboration and consultation with community partners and refugees in St. Louis,” Naseh said. “I am deeply grateful for the contributions and patience of the refugees, refugee-serving organizations, and community partners I have the...

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NIH funding to build research capacity among refugee youth in Uganda

Natasha — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 14:28:27 +0000

Three Brown School Assistant Professors—Nhial Tutlam, Proscovia Nabunya and Mitra Naseh—have been awarded $150,000 from the Fogarty International Center (FIC) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to build research capacity among refugee youth living in refugee settlements in Uganda. The project, titled RCap4Youth: Research Capacity for Refugee Youth, is an administrative supplement to the current ICHAD’s ACHIEVE D43 Training Program led by Fred Ssewamala, the William E. Gordon Distinguished Professor at the Brown School and Mary McKay, Vice Provost of Interdisciplinary Initiatives at 17�Թ�. The project will recruit refugee youth residing in refugee settlements in Uganda with the ultimate goal of training a cadre of young people to engage in research focused on addressing health issues faced by vulnerable populations in humanitarian settings. Forcibly displaced...

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Naseh Gets Pilot Grant to Assess Economic Progress of Refugees from Afghanistan

Natasha — Fri, 09 Sep 2022 05:00:00 +0000

Mitra Naseh, an assistant professor at the Brown School, has received a grant from the Russell Sage Foundation for a pilot study to examine the economic integration among newly settled Afghan refugees. The study will be aimed at developing a questionnaire to assess the economic progress of refugees, translate it to Pashto and Dari languages, then conduct interviews with 10-15 Afghans to see if the tool makes sense to them. The developed questionnaire will be piloted among 400 Afghans in St. Louis and in Portland, Ore. No such tool currently exists, and Naseh hopes that its development will result in a larger study to explore and further the process of economic integration to find the best ways to provide services to refugees...

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