Laura Beth Santacrose

Laura Santacrose, DrPH, MPH, serves as a Professorial Lecturer in the Department of Prevention and Community Health at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at The George Washington University. Dr. Santacrose began teaching in the DrPH program during the Fall 2024 semester.

Dr. Santacrose has worked as a public health practitioner and scholar for over a decade. She has published research on a public health approach to hazing prevention in the Journal of American College Health and an evaluation of the effectiveness of a educational entertainment film she developed called Intervene in the journal Health Communication. Her dissertation evaluated the effectiveness of means restriction as an intervention to prevent jumping suicides at Cornell University.

Areas of expertise include program development, implementation, mixed methods evaluation, and health communication. Her areas of interest include mental health, suicide prevention, substance use prevention, and violence prevention including sexual violence, intimate partner violence, and hazing.

Dr. Santacrose has a Bachelor of Science in Human Development from Cornell University, a Master of Public Health in Social Behavior and Community Health from the University at Albany, School of Public Health, and a Doctor of Public Health from the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health.