206 Results based on your selections.
Dr. Ashish K. Jha is dean of Brown University School of Public Health and a contributing Globe Opinion writer:

Over the past decade, the United States has made meaningful progress in expanding health coverage and improving care for millions of Americans. But that progress is now in jeopardy. The newly passed “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” will have far-reaching consequences for the health insurance of millions of Americans. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that nearly 10 million Americans could lose their health insurance by 2034 as a result of the new legislation. In Massachusetts, officials estimate 300,000 people are at risk of losing their health coverage.
The Christian Science Monitor

Other nations had a pandemic reckoning. Why hasn’t the US?

“You’re not going to restore trust in public health until you take some accountability for the mistakes you’ve made,” says Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator under President Joe Biden. “Then you’ve got to just keep spreading good information and you’ve got to build allies to do that across the political aisle.”
Stephanie Psaki was the U.S. coordinator for global health security at the Biden White House. She is currently a distinguished senior fellow in global health security at the Brown University School of Public Health:

Last week, the Trump administration rejected the 2024 amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) — a global treaty that the United States has been a part of since 2007. The rejection cited concerns about sovereignty, scientific freedom, and World Health Organization overreach.
Originally launched to track major pandemic outbreaks in the US and around the world, Brown University School of Public Health’s Pandemic Tracker now helps with a wide range of public health efforts. Led by Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center and professor of epidemiology at SPH, the tracker helps public and policy makers stay on top of disease outbreaks during a time of economic strain and political polarization.
A bill signed by Gov. Dan McKee to ban cell phones in schools will start in August 2026. Dr. Caroline Kistin from Brown University’s Hassenfeld Child Health Innovation Institute has researched the topic of school cell phone bans. Kistin joined 12 News at 4 Friday to discuss what her research has shown and the legislation lawmakers approved last session.
The Public's Radio

How does air pollution affect our health?

If you’ve been outside on a smoggy day, you’ve probably noticed that your body reacts poorly to bad air quality. Maybe you coughed, or got a headache. But what actually happens to your body when you breathe in polluted air?
The Boston Globe

Health is the foundation of American freedom

As Americans approach Independence Day, we should reflect on the foundational ideals of our country. A central ideal, laid out nearly 250 years ago in the Declaration of Independence, is our unalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It’s a core promise of America, but one that cannot be fully realized without one of its key enablers.
The Atlantic

America's coming smoke epidemic

Professor of Epidemiology Marianthi Kioumourtzoglou discusses the limitations of and current models for assessing wildfire-smoke exposure and its health impacts.
Ellen McCreedy, associate professor of health services, policy, and practice at the Brown University School of Public Health, is studying a toe-tapping alternative that could reduce reliance on antipsychotic medications. The university’s ongoing study, “Music and Memory,” looks at how music can be used as a non-pharmacological intervention for people with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a budget bill that promises a sweeping dismantling of critical public programs that millions of people rely on, including food stamps, Medicaid, and federal education loans. Buried inside the bill’s thousand-plus pages are provisions that specifically target healthcare for transgender people, including an outright ban on Medicaid coverage for transgender people of all ages.
The United States maintains more than 750 military bases around the world—not just to fight wars, but to prevent them. That same principle has guided U.S. investment in the global footprint of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—the agency tasked with protecting the health and security of Americans—to build and “forward deploy” critical defenses against biological threats worldwide.
When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was appointed secretary of Health and Human Services, some hoped that the responsibility of public office would temper his long-standing hostility toward vaccines. Instead, he is doing exactly what many of us feared: dismantling the systems that protect Americans from preventable infectious diseases.
For the first time since the COVID vaccines became available in pharmacies in 2021, the average person in the U.S. can’t count on getting a free annual shot against a disease that has been the main or a contributing cause of death for more than 1.2 million people around the country, including nearly 12,000 to date this year. “COVID’s not done with us,” says Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at Brown University. “We have to keep using the tools that we have. It’s not like we get to forget about COVID.”
Sometimes it can feel like whatever is stressing you out — that deadline, a big meeting, the news cycle — is showing up first thing in the morning. You may wake up with a pit already forming in your stomach and your anxiety high before you even get out of bed.

What to do if you have morning anxiety? Anxiety can also turn into a habit that you may unconsciously foster over time, said Judson Brewer, a professor at Brown University’s School of Public Health and the author of the book “Unwinding Anxiety.”
Medicaid, the largest payer for long-term care facilities, covers around 2 in 3 nursing home residents, and reducing dollars to the massive, yet already resource-limited, program could have disastrous effects on older adults’ health, safety and quality of life. Vincent Mor, professor of health services, policy and practice at the Brown University School of Public Health, comments.
The federal government announced Wednesday that it is canceling a contract to develop a vaccine to protect people against flu viruses that could cause pandemics, including the bird flu virus that's been spreading among dairy cows in the U.S., citing concerns about the safety of the mRNA technology being used. Ashish Jha and Jennifer Nuzzo comment.
How does exposure to “forever chemicals” impact pregnancy? Is there a connection between firearm ownership and elevated lead levels in children? These are the kinds of studies Brown University carried out through its Center for Children’s Environmental Health in recent years, placing an emphasis on solutions-oriented research, said environmental epidemiologist Joseph Braun, the center’s director.
A new study about affordability standards for hospitals in Rhode Island was recently released by Brown University. The study looks into how these standards enacted by the state resulted in lower prices in hospitals and insurance premiums. Andrew Ryan, director of Brown’s Center for Advancing Health Policy Through Research, joined 12 News at 4 Friday to talk about the findings.
The Nation

Disaster Awaits Us if the NIH Dies

Biomedical and public health research in the United States now finds itself in an existential moment. The government’s proposed changes, if allowed to take place, will absolutely decimate not just the nation’s but the world’s ability to study disease, therapeutics, and health outcomes.
In 2010, Rhode Island attempted a lively experiment in health care costs by limiting how much hospitals could increase the prices they charge. Fifteen years later, a new study led by a team of Brown University researchers suggests the hospital price growth mandate worked, not only cutting hospital prices directly, but also flowing downstream to lower consumer spending on health plan premiums.
Next week at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, 193 member countries of the World Health Organization (with the U.S. notably absent) are expected to adopt the Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response Agreement, also known as the Pandemic Treaty. In anticipation of its adoption, the final agreement has been celebrated as a triumph of multilateralism. The co-chairs of the negotiations described the agreement as a plan to “protect future generations from the suffering and losses [experienced] during the COVID-19 pandemic” and to ensure that in the next pandemic, “the response will be faster, more effective and more equitable.”
The number of people who died of drug overdoses in the U.S. dropped dramatically in 2024, a promising sign amid a national fentanyl crisis that has fueled a surge in drug-related deaths in recent years. “This progress is encouraging, but it’s fragile,” said Alexandria Macmadu, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Brown University’s School of Public Health. “We can’t mistake this progress for victory. Sustained investment is essential if we want to build on this momentum instead of backsliding.”
In Rhode Island, the terminations have come in steadily since February, officials at both Brown University and the University of Rhode Island said, and it’s not clear when they will stop. The Trump administration is also seeking to slash overhead costs for research across the board, and has threatened to freeze an unspecified $510 million from Brown, roughly double the Ivy League institution’s annual federal funding.
With the United States facing its largest single measles outbreak in 25 years, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will direct federal health agencies to explore potential new treatments for the disease, including vitamins, according to an H.H.S. spokesman. The decision is the latest in a series of actions by the nation’s top health official that experts fear will undermine public confidence in vaccines as an essential public health tool.
Cuts to the Veterans Affairs department aren’t just about budgets — they’re about whether we, as a nation, truly honor those who’ve served, writes Dean Ashish Jha in a Boston Globe Opinion.
Disease trackers say cases are likely not connected, but definitive answers may prove elusive....“Without additional information, no conclusion can be reached: if it is due to chance, or some potential work-related exposure,” said Tongzhang Zheng, an epidemiology professor in the Brown School of Public Health, who is not involved in the Newton-Wellesley investigation.
There’s a theory of cancer causation that I’ve been thinking about recently called the two-hit hypothesis. It proposes that cancer begins with two mutations: one that can be inherited and one that is influenced by environmental or other factors. Public health seems to be in the midst of experiencing two hits. The result could be deadly.
What are the biggest threats to the health security of the American people? There are some strong candidates. Avian influenza is spreading in birds, cattle, and 50 mammalian species. Measles cases are surging at home and abroad. COVID-19 is still spreading and could mutate into a more deadly strain. Farther afield, Uganda continues to respond to an Ebola outbreak and Mpox has been seen in 127 countries. But perhaps the biggest threat to America’s health could be self-inflicted.
A friend called recently asking about measles. She’s the mother of four very young kids and wanted to know if she should be worried. She’d heard about the large measles outbreak in northwest Texas. Since January, more than 159 people are known to have been infected, and the outbreak has resulted in two deaths and dozens of hospitalizations. Now, this measles outbreak has spread into nine other states, and there’s an alert to travelers passing through the Los Angeles Airport
The Atlantic

The Diseases Are Coming

Elon Musk’s slash-and-burn government tear will have lasting effects on global health.
Air pollution results in over 7 million deaths each year. In this episode of Possibly, we look at the most common way to measure air quality, the Air Quality Index, and what it means for you.
In a Cabinet meeting, Elon Musk defended the actions his team has made to cut government jobs, but public health experts say Musk is wrong. USAID's Ebola prevention efforts have been largely frozen since the agency was mostly shuttered last month. Laura Barrón-López discussed more with Dr. Craig Spencer, who survived Ebola after treating patients in Guinea with Doctors Without Borders in 2014.
199 Results based on your selections.
Dr. Ashish K. Jha is dean of Brown University School of Public Health and a contributing Globe Opinion writer:

Over the past decade, the United States has made meaningful progress in expanding health coverage and improving care for millions of Americans. But that progress is now in jeopardy. The newly passed “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” will have far-reaching consequences for the health insurance of millions of Americans. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that nearly 10 million Americans could lose their health insurance by 2034 as a result of the new legislation. In Massachusetts, officials estimate 300,000 people are at risk of losing their health coverage.
Read Article
The Christian Science Monitor

Other nations had a pandemic reckoning. Why hasn’t the US?

“You’re not going to restore trust in public health until you take some accountability for the mistakes you’ve made,” says Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator under President Joe Biden. “Then you’ve got to just keep spreading good information and you’ve got to build allies to do that across the political aisle.”
Read Article
Stephanie Psaki was the U.S. coordinator for global health security at the Biden White House. She is currently a distinguished senior fellow in global health security at the Brown University School of Public Health:

Last week, the Trump administration rejected the 2024 amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) — a global treaty that the United States has been a part of since 2007. The rejection cited concerns about sovereignty, scientific freedom, and World Health Organization overreach.
Read Article
Originally launched to track major pandemic outbreaks in the US and around the world, Brown University School of Public Health’s Pandemic Tracker now helps with a wide range of public health efforts. Led by Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center and professor of epidemiology at SPH, the tracker helps public and policy makers stay on top of disease outbreaks during a time of economic strain and political polarization.
Read Article
A bill signed by Gov. Dan McKee to ban cell phones in schools will start in August 2026. Dr. Caroline Kistin from Brown University’s Hassenfeld Child Health Innovation Institute has researched the topic of school cell phone bans. Kistin joined 12 News at 4 Friday to discuss what her research has shown and the legislation lawmakers approved last session.
Read Article
The Public's Radio

How does air pollution affect our health?

If you’ve been outside on a smoggy day, you’ve probably noticed that your body reacts poorly to bad air quality. Maybe you coughed, or got a headache. But what actually happens to your body when you breathe in polluted air?
Read Article
The New York Times

You Don’t Have to Be a Doctor to Understand This

Craig Spencer, an associate professor of public health and emergency medicine at Brown penned this guest essay on the moral imperative of global health care. 
Read Article
The Boston Globe

Health is the foundation of American freedom

As Americans approach Independence Day, we should reflect on the foundational ideals of our country. A central ideal, laid out nearly 250 years ago in the Declaration of Independence, is our unalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It’s a core promise of America, but one that cannot be fully realized without one of its key enablers.
Read Article
The Atlantic

America's coming smoke epidemic

Professor of Epidemiology Marianthi Kioumourtzoglou discusses the limitations of and current models for assessing wildfire-smoke exposure and its health impacts.
Read Article
Ellen McCreedy, associate professor of health services, policy, and practice at the Brown University School of Public Health, is studying a toe-tapping alternative that could reduce reliance on antipsychotic medications. The university’s ongoing study, “Music and Memory,” looks at how music can be used as a non-pharmacological intervention for people with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
Read Article
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a budget bill that promises a sweeping dismantling of critical public programs that millions of people rely on, including food stamps, Medicaid, and federal education loans. Buried inside the bill’s thousand-plus pages are provisions that specifically target healthcare for transgender people, including an outright ban on Medicaid coverage for transgender people of all ages.
Read Article
The United States maintains more than 750 military bases around the world—not just to fight wars, but to prevent them. That same principle has guided U.S. investment in the global footprint of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—the agency tasked with protecting the health and security of Americans—to build and “forward deploy” critical defenses against biological threats worldwide.
Read Article
When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was appointed secretary of Health and Human Services, some hoped that the responsibility of public office would temper his long-standing hostility toward vaccines. Instead, he is doing exactly what many of us feared: dismantling the systems that protect Americans from preventable infectious diseases.
Read Article
For the first time since the COVID vaccines became available in pharmacies in 2021, the average person in the U.S. can’t count on getting a free annual shot against a disease that has been the main or a contributing cause of death for more than 1.2 million people around the country, including nearly 12,000 to date this year. “COVID’s not done with us,” says Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at Brown University. “We have to keep using the tools that we have. It’s not like we get to forget about COVID.”
Read Article
Sometimes it can feel like whatever is stressing you out — that deadline, a big meeting, the news cycle — is showing up first thing in the morning. You may wake up with a pit already forming in your stomach and your anxiety high before you even get out of bed.

What to do if you have morning anxiety? Anxiety can also turn into a habit that you may unconsciously foster over time, said Judson Brewer, a professor at Brown University’s School of Public Health and the author of the book “Unwinding Anxiety.”
Read Article
Of all the misguided decisions Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made as secretary of Health and Human Services, canceling Moderna’s contract to develop a bird flu vaccine may be the most dangerous yet. Dr. Ashish K. Jha is dean of Brown University School of Public Health and a contributing Globe Opinion writer.
Read Article
Medicaid, the largest payer for long-term care facilities, covers around 2 in 3 nursing home residents, and reducing dollars to the massive, yet already resource-limited, program could have disastrous effects on older adults’ health, safety and quality of life. Vincent Mor, professor of health services, policy and practice at the Brown University School of Public Health, comments.
Read Article
The federal government announced Wednesday that it is canceling a contract to develop a vaccine to protect people against flu viruses that could cause pandemics, including the bird flu virus that's been spreading among dairy cows in the U.S., citing concerns about the safety of the mRNA technology being used. Ashish Jha and Jennifer Nuzzo comment.
Read Article
How does exposure to “forever chemicals” impact pregnancy? Is there a connection between firearm ownership and elevated lead levels in children? These are the kinds of studies Brown University carried out through its Center for Children’s Environmental Health in recent years, placing an emphasis on solutions-oriented research, said environmental epidemiologist Joseph Braun, the center’s director.
Read Article
A new study about affordability standards for hospitals in Rhode Island was recently released by Brown University. The study looks into how these standards enacted by the state resulted in lower prices in hospitals and insurance premiums. Andrew Ryan, director of Brown’s Center for Advancing Health Policy Through Research, joined 12 News at 4 Friday to talk about the findings.
Read Article
The Nation

Disaster Awaits Us if the NIH Dies

Biomedical and public health research in the United States now finds itself in an existential moment. The government’s proposed changes, if allowed to take place, will absolutely decimate not just the nation’s but the world’s ability to study disease, therapeutics, and health outcomes.
Read Article
In 2010, Rhode Island attempted a lively experiment in health care costs by limiting how much hospitals could increase the prices they charge. Fifteen years later, a new study led by a team of Brown University researchers suggests the hospital price growth mandate worked, not only cutting hospital prices directly, but also flowing downstream to lower consumer spending on health plan premiums.
Read Article
Next week at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, 193 member countries of the World Health Organization (with the U.S. notably absent) are expected to adopt the Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response Agreement, also known as the Pandemic Treaty. In anticipation of its adoption, the final agreement has been celebrated as a triumph of multilateralism. The co-chairs of the negotiations described the agreement as a plan to “protect future generations from the suffering and losses [experienced] during the COVID-19 pandemic” and to ensure that in the next pandemic, “the response will be faster, more effective and more equitable.”
Read Article
Wall Street Journal

Fatal overdoses in U.S. fall to pre-pandemic levels

The number of people who died of drug overdoses in the U.S. dropped dramatically in 2024, a promising sign amid a national fentanyl crisis that has fueled a surge in drug-related deaths in recent years. “This progress is encouraging, but it’s fragile,” said Alexandria Macmadu, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Brown University’s School of Public Health. “We can’t mistake this progress for victory. Sustained investment is essential if we want to build on this momentum instead of backsliding.”
Read Article
In Rhode Island, the terminations have come in steadily since February, officials at both Brown University and the University of Rhode Island said, and it’s not clear when they will stop. The Trump administration is also seeking to slash overhead costs for research across the board, and has threatened to freeze an unspecified $510 million from Brown, roughly double the Ivy League institution’s annual federal funding.
Read Article
With the United States facing its largest single measles outbreak in 25 years, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will direct federal health agencies to explore potential new treatments for the disease, including vitamins, according to an H.H.S. spokesman. The decision is the latest in a series of actions by the nation’s top health official that experts fear will undermine public confidence in vaccines as an essential public health tool.
Read Article
Cuts to the Veterans Affairs department aren’t just about budgets — they’re about whether we, as a nation, truly honor those who’ve served, writes Dean Ashish Jha in a Boston Globe Opinion.
Read Article
Disease trackers say cases are likely not connected, but definitive answers may prove elusive....“Without additional information, no conclusion can be reached: if it is due to chance, or some potential work-related exposure,” said Tongzhang Zheng, an epidemiology professor in the Brown School of Public Health, who is not involved in the Newton-Wellesley investigation.
Read Article
There’s a theory of cancer causation that I’ve been thinking about recently called the two-hit hypothesis. It proposes that cancer begins with two mutations: one that can be inherited and one that is influenced by environmental or other factors. Public health seems to be in the midst of experiencing two hits. The result could be deadly.
Read Article
What are the biggest threats to the health security of the American people? There are some strong candidates. Avian influenza is spreading in birds, cattle, and 50 mammalian species. Measles cases are surging at home and abroad. COVID-19 is still spreading and could mutate into a more deadly strain. Farther afield, Uganda continues to respond to an Ebola outbreak and Mpox has been seen in 127 countries. But perhaps the biggest threat to America’s health could be self-inflicted.
Read Article
A friend called recently asking about measles. She’s the mother of four very young kids and wanted to know if she should be worried. She’d heard about the large measles outbreak in northwest Texas. Since January, more than 159 people are known to have been infected, and the outbreak has resulted in two deaths and dozens of hospitalizations. Now, this measles outbreak has spread into nine other states, and there’s an alert to travelers passing through the Los Angeles Airport
Read Article
The Atlantic

The Diseases Are Coming

Elon Musk’s slash-and-burn government tear will have lasting effects on global health.
Read Article
Air pollution results in over 7 million deaths each year. In this episode of Possibly, we look at the most common way to measure air quality, the Air Quality Index, and what it means for you.
Read Article
In a Cabinet meeting, Elon Musk defended the actions his team has made to cut government jobs, but public health experts say Musk is wrong. USAID's Ebola prevention efforts have been largely frozen since the agency was mostly shuttered last month. Laura Barrón-López discussed more with Dr. Craig Spencer, who survived Ebola after treating patients in Guinea with Doctors Without Borders in 2014.
Read Article