Department of Epidemiology

CCEH People

Our faculty, key partners, trainees, and staff

Breadcrumb

CCEH People

Our faculty, key partners, trainees, and staff

CCEH serves as a hub for children’s environmental health research, training, and action at Brown University and across the region by promoting formal and informal interactions among academics, students, fellows, staff, practitioners, government agencies, and community members. 

Core faculty

  • Braun

    Joseph Braun

    Professor of Epidemiology
    Joseph_Braun_1@brown.edu
    Research Profile

    Joseph Braun was formerly a school nurse in Milwaukee, WI before receiving his master's and doctoral degrees in Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He completed postdoctoral training in environmental health at the Harvard School of Public Health.

    For 15 years, Dr. Braun has been committed to identifying modifiable risk factors of pediatric diseases in order to improve public health. Working with an interdisciplinary team that includes epidemiologists, biostatisticians, exposure scientists, physicians, and engineers, he studies the health effects of environmental pollutant exposures before conception and during gestation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence.

    Dr. Braun’s research foci includes endocrine disrupting chemicals, toxic metals, obesity, cardiometabolic health, and neurodevelopmental disorders. His research group use advanced biostatistical techniques to quantify the health effects of chemical mixtures, identify periods of heightened susceptibility to chemical exposures, and characterize metabolic and epigenetic pathways that are perturbed by chemical exposures. Finally, Dr. Braun is developing interventions to prevent chemical exposures and their health effects in vulnerable populations. 

    Dr. Braun and his research team use three prospective cohort studies in North America (HOME, MIREC, and PEACE Studies) to conduct these studies. These cohorts have been following children since before conception or during pregnancy; follow-up now continues as children transition into adolescence. 

  • Erica Walker

    Erica Walker

    Assistant Professor of Epidemiology
    erica_walker@brown.edu
    Research Profile

    Walker has extensive experience with environmental exposure assessments, environmental exposure modeling, community surveying, and community engagement. She runs Community Noise Lab, whose primary aim is to explore the relationship between community noise and health, holistically. This is accomplished by working directly with communities to support their specified noise issue using: real-time monitoring and exposure modeling; our smartphone app, NoiseScore; community noise surveying via the National Environmental Quality Survey; laboratory-based experiments, and community engagement activities.  

Affiliated Faculty

  • No Photo

    Julia Brody

    Research Associate in Epidemiology
    julia_brody@brown.edu
  • Karl Kelsey

    Karl Kelsey

    Professor of Epidemiology and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Center for Children's Environmental Health, Center for Epidemiologic Research
    karl_kelsey@brown.edu
    Research Profile

    A board-certified occupational physician who pioneered the development of molecular cancer epidemiology and epigenomics. His research uses epigenomic methods to develop immunomethylomics, a new field applying immune biomarkers to epidemiology.  

  • Manz

    Kate Manz

    Assistant Professor of Engineering (Research)
    katherine_manz@brown.edu
  • Papandonatos

    George Papandonatos

    Professor of Biostatistics (Research)
    George_Papandonatos@brown.edu
    Research Profile

    A biostatistician with expertise applying advanced biostatistical techniques to study chemical mixtures, correct for exposure measurement error, and conduct longitudinal data analysis.

  • Pennell

    Kurt Pennell

    250th Anniversary Professor of Engineering
    kurt_pennell@brown.edu
    Research Profile

    An expert in the field of exposomics, ground water remediation, and engineered nanomaterial fate and transport. Dr. Pennel’s state of the art lab is capable of measuring environmental pollutants is soil, water, food, and biospecimens.

  • Plavicki

    Jessica Plavicki

    Manning Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
    jessica_plavicki@brown.edu
    Research Profile

    Currently using zebrafish to study CNS angiogenesis and blood brain barrier development in order to assess the impact of chemical exposures and genetic mutations on cerebral vascular development and brain health.

  • Rudel

    Ruthann Rudel

    Research Associate in Epidemiology
    ruthann_rudel@brown.edu
  • David Savitz

    David Savitz

    Professor of Epidemiology, Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology
    david_savitz@brown.edu
    Research Profile

    A leading expert on studies of pregnancy outcomes, including potential risks of environmental exposures. Teaches courses at the School of Public Health in epidemiologic methods and perinatal epidemiology.

  • Spade

    Daniel Spade

    Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
    Daniel_Spade@brown.edu
    Research Profile

    His research focuses on mechanisms of male reproductive toxicity. The goal of this work is to better understand the impacts of environmental chemicals and pharmaceuticals on fetal testis development and reproductive health in later life.

  • Zheng

    Tongzhang Zheng

    Director, Brown-China Center for Environmental Health Sciences, Professor of Epidemiology
    tongzhang_zheng@brown.edu
    Research Profile

    Tongzhang Zheng, M.B, Sc.D, Sc.M, Ph.M., is a Professor of Epidemiology within the Brown School of Public Health. Dr. Zheng investigates human cancer risk related to environmental and occupational exposures, genetic and epigenetic factors and gene-environment interaction, with particular interest in the fetal origin hypothesis stating that many human cancers start in utero.  Dr. Zheng is also interested in prenatal exposures and fetal growth trajectories and child growth.

CCEH Staff

Key Partners

Center faculty members and trainees work closely with a wide range of environmental health researchers and practitioners across the School of Public Health, Brown University, and in and around Rhode Island.

Current key partners of CCEH include:

  • Ellen Tohn – A nationally recognized expert in housing and community based environmental health threats, green and healthy housing, and indoor air quality.
  • Greg Howard – Focuses on how scientific information can best be used to create effective chemicals regulation protecting public health and the environment, with a special emphasis on high-volume ubiquitous substances including flame retardants and the bisphenols.
  • Peter Simon – Former Medical Director at RI DOH, who now works on problems of childhood lead poisoning and its impacts on childhood learning and behavior.
  • David Egilman – Conducts research on the influence of corporations on science and health policy. Teaches a course titled "Science and Power — The Corruption of Public Health".

Meet our trainees

Meet our undergraduates, master’s level and Ph.D. students, and post-doctoral fellows

Find out more