Dr. Rachel Wightman and Alexandra Collins, both researchers at Brown University, are leading a recently-launched study, TestRI, intended to better understand what substances are in the illicit drug supply and prevent overdoses.
Sticking to simplistic explanations that rationalize increased overdoses as a product only of COVID-19 isolation obscures the specific reasons behind the spike.
The crisis is projected to claim more than half a million more lives from 2020 to 2032, although yearly deaths are on course to start falling before 2025. Brandon Marshall provides comments.
Mira Nikolova and Abdullah Shihipar, who respectively earned a Ph.D. and master’s from Brown in 2020, will return to campus to address their fellow alumni during a dedicated Commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 28.
Meghan Cupp, a second year doctoral student in Epidemiology was inducted into the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health at a ceremony held on April 7th at the Faculty Club.
Professor Simin Liu co-authored a piece in Think Global Health with Dr. Ali H. Mokdad and Dr. Eric L. Ding about China's management of the pandemic and where it goes from here.
Using a simulation modeling approach, Brown researchers estimate that closing syringe services programs, even for one year, will cause cases of HIV to rise.
A virtual event hosted by the Annenberg Institute convened experts to discuss how Providence and Rhode Island can build stronger, healthier K-12 schools, both amid and following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Joseph Braun, an associate professor of epidemiology, is researching the links between gestational PFAS exposure and maladies such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, and chronic renal failure.
In this video, Associate Professor of Epidemiology Mark Lurie, a native of South Africa, discusses the omicron variant, vaccines, and prospects for Rhode Island and the world.
With the help of an advanced machine learning technique, researchers from Brown University suggest strategies for improving the performance of epidemiological models used to predict the course of pandemics.
New findings about the causes and characteristics of overdose deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic may be used to inform policies that could lower death rates even after COVID-19 is under control.
The Samoa Observer reports on the results of Courtney Choy's Brown University Department of Epidemiology doctoral dissertation, which finds a clear need for intervention before a child turns five, especially for Samoan children in urban areas, eating what has become the now-normal diet of imported and packaged foods.
Professor Stephen Buka of the Brown University Department of Epidemiology is a co-author of a long-term study, published by PNAS, that found that men and women whose mothers experienced stressful events during pregnancy regulate stress differently in the brain 45 years later.
In a Mother Jones story on the virus' spread through prisons during the pandemic, Alexandria Macmadu, a PhD student in the Brown University Department of Epidemiology, says "Prisons and jails are not an island. People go in and out of them each day. Not only the people who are incarcerated, but also the staff members who return each day to their families."
Associate Epidemiology Professor Chanelle Howe, PhD will be serving as a panelist for Part 1 of the Boston University SPH 3 Part Series: Epidemiology and Race: Why and How We Study Racial Health Disparities on Thursday, February 25, 2021, 4:30 - 6:00 p.m.
A $34 million U.S. Veterans Affairs grant will enable Martin Weinstock, who directs dermatology research for the Providence V.A. and is a Brown professor, to evaluate the effectiveness of a common medication in preventing basal cell carcinoma.
Dr. Josiah “Jody” Rich, a Brown professor of medicine and epidemiology, joined a panel of experts assembled by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to explore ways to combat coronavirus behind bars.
Through her upcoming research project on perinatal health and HIV, Angie Bengtson, PhD hopes to answer critical questions about the development and impact of cardiometabolic diseases – such as gestational diabetes, gestational hypertension, and pre-eclampsia – amongst pregnant women with HIV in South Africa.
Three teams of public health faculty have received these competitive awards in 2020 for their projects improving maternal and child health in South Africa, exploring the association between greenspace and mental and physical health among pregnant women, and investigating the effect of a driver's license suspension on access to health care. Congratulations to Angela Bengtson, Ph.D., Steven McGarvey, Ph.D., and Nina Joyce, Ph.D.
Sustained engagement in HIV care is critical to the success of Option B+ for HIV-infected pregnant women. However, monitoring women’s engagement in care across clinics and over time is challenging due to migration and clinic transfers.
Aiming to reduce treatment gaps and guide state policy, a diverse set of voices from Brown University and the State of Rhode Island developed a cascade of care model for opioid use disorder.
Professor Joseph Braun recently spoke to members of Congress and their staff during a National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) briefing on children's environmental health. Braun described how even low levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) may place children’s health at risk.
Providence alone has 24 schools within 1,000 feet of major roads, including three schools for students with special needs. About 8,000 public schools nationwide lie within 500 feet of highways, truck routes, and other roads with significant traffic, according to a joint investigation by the Center for Public Integrity and Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting.
Nearly $6.8 million in new federal grants will enable researchers to collaborate with agencies across the state, including the Rhode Island Department of Health, to investigate innovative ways to tackle the opioid crisis.
The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) honored Professor Savitz with the David Rall Medal, which is given to a member who has demonstrated distinguished leadership as chair of a study committee or other such activity, showing commitment that far exceeds the position’s responsibilities. During his 26 years of service to NAM, he has served on the Board on the Health of Select Populations and more than a dozen committees, five of which he chaired. Savitz’s reputation as a skilled judge of evidence, a rigorous critical thinker, and a careful communicator of scientific findings and their implications have made him a highly sought committee chair. His committees have often taken on contentious, scientifically challenging issues, including electromagnetic radiation, Agent Orange and burn pit exposures among veterans, contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, and the public health ramifications of e-cigarettes. Notably, under his leadership as chair, the Committee on Contaminated Drinking Water at Camp Lejeune produced a report that helped inform legislation, which was signed by President Obama.
Recent Brown Epi Alum, Young A "Heather" Lee is lead author on important new study: Maternal bacterial infection during pregnancy associated with offspring risk of psychoses, with odds increasing with infection severity and in males.
Specialization in a chosen sport is associated with a higher volume of activity — and it could increase young athletes’ risk of sustaining both traumatic- and overuse-based injuries, new study says.
Congratulations to Gregory Wellenius, who was the receipient of the Tony McMichael Mid-Term Career Award at the 31st annual conference of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology!
Dr. Simin Liu has been selected by the Presidential Fulbright Board for a Distinguished Chair in Global Health award 2019-2020. The Fulbright Distinguished Chair Awards are widely considered as one of the most prestigious appointments, with approximately 40 eminent scholars selected from all disciplines across America's Universities each year.
Greg Wellenius is a climate scientist at Brown University. His work on long-term heat trends in Rhode Island was cited in the National Climate Assessment -- the federal government’s most comprehensive, authoritative report on how climate change will affect (and is affecting) the country. Wellenius says a big part of the problem is how quickly summers are getting longer and hotter. Today, Rhode Island gets about three more weeks of really hot days than they did in the 70s. The average number of dangerously hot days has also increased.
Professor Gregory Wellenius and former postdoc Kate Weinberger discuss their environmental research with the Providence Journal, alongside child health experts from the School of Public Health.
A study conducted by Brown University and Harvard researchers found that the heat alerts issued by the National Weather Service can reduce heat related deaths by 4.4%. However, it is not the alert itself that saves lives, says Wellenius, “it’s what people and communities and governments do in response to those heat warnings.”
While the precise reasons are unclear, an analysis of overdose deaths in Rhode Island and Connecticut showed that cold snaps raised the risk of fatal opioid overdoses by 25 percent.
Brandon Marshall, Associate Professor of Epidemiology, has been awarded the ASPPH Early Career Public Health Research Award. This award recognizes a graduate public health faculty member, who is within 10 years of their last formal training, and is an outstanding early-career investigator.
Chanelle Howe, Phd. and Andrew Cressman's recent paper titled: "The Relationship Between Discrimination and Missed HIV Care Appointments Among Women Living with HIV" has been published in AIDS and Behavior. Cressman is a recent Brown Epidemiology ScM graduate and this article was developed from his master's thesis. Their article was also recently highlighted by The Association of Schools & Programs of Public Health (ASPPH).