On April 16th, the Brown University School of Public Health held the 2025 Dean’s Award ceremony at the Hope Club, celebrating the achievements of public health faculty, students and staff over the course of the 2024-2025 academic year.
While recognizing the accomplishments of the school’s community, Dean Ashish K. Jha also took a moment to acknowledge the predicament facing public health professionals today—funding cuts that undermine essential programs and research, the questioning of evidence-based practices and their replacement with approaches not grounded in science.
“Public health has never been about doing what’s easy,” Jha said. “It’s always been about doing what’s necessary—especially in difficult moments. It is, at its core, a discipline built on hope: the belief that we can improve the lives of people we may never meet, using data, science and compassion. We don’t act with the promise of guaranteed success, but because the work itself is right and matters.”
The following faculty, staff and students were honored for their innovations, leadership and commitment to the school’s collective well-being. “You remind us that in moments of uncertainty,” Jha said, “the mission of our school becomes not just relevant, but essential.”
