Dan Ferris

Dan Ferris, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Practice at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis with a secondary appointment at the Bursky School of Public Health, and Co-Director of Policy Education and Practice at the Center for Social Development. His research and practice center on the design, implementation, and evaluation of social policies and programs, with a focus on food, health, and community-engaged approaches to building organizational capacity.

As a lead of CSD’s Data for Social Impact initiative, he has help to build social sector data capacity across organizations through curricula, resource development, and learning cohorts. This work draws on two decades of cross-sector experience in government, nonprofit, and academic settings. His current research spans Food is Medicine and nutrition assistance interventions, including WIC and school meals, with recent work around artificial intelligence in emergency food provision.

Dan serves on the Social Policy Committee of the Society for Social Work and Research and advises regional and national organizations on community-engaged approaches to data and nutrition assistance. His work has been published in the Harvard Data Science Review, the American Journal of Health Promotion, and Nutrients, and recognized with Washington University’s Provost Impact Award for Community-Engaged Research.