Brown SPH in the news

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.

A new study by researchers from Brown University School of Public Health reveals that a simple writing exercise could be used as a harm reduction tool for heavy-drinking college students.

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.

Avoidable deaths are rising in the U.S. while they’re decreasing in other high-income nations. It’s a worrisome trend, which is partly responsible for the growing gap in life expectancy between the U.S. and its peers.

By getting serious about accelerating emissions reductions, we will see immediate health benefits in communities across the region.

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.

Research out of Brown University is making its way to the national spotlight. It concerns the overdose prevention center in Providence.

Aggressive deportation tactics have terrorized farmworkers at the center of the nation’s bird flu strategy, public health workers say, including Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University.

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.

As the United States faces one of its worst measles outbreaks in decades, a new analysis finds that nearly a third of young children who were eligible to be vaccinated against the disease did not get their first shot on schedule.

Everyone knows that Europeans tend to live longer than Americans. But a new study has a surprising twist: Even the richest Americans only live about as long as the poorest western Europeans.

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.

If the administration acts immediately, it will protect the economy now
and lives in the future.

Fatalities from drugs including fentanyl are down from recent peaks.

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

Elon Musk’s slash-and-burn government tear will have lasting effects on global health.

Public health experts discuss lessons learned from the U.S. response to the COVID pandemic, on topics ranging from school closures to trust in science

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.

But Trump and RFK Jr could make things worse.

The Trump administration changed course on Tuesday, deciding to keep the government's free COVID test program running, just minutes before the website, COVIDtests.gov, was set to shut down.

Sonya Stokes, an emergency room physician in the San Francisco Bay Area, braces herself for a daily deluge of patients sick with coughs, soreness, fevers, vomiting, and other flu-like symptoms.

The Trump administration's foreign aid freeze is happening as a deadly Ebola outbreak spreads in Uganda. Some U.S. health officials are concerned that the situation will only worsen with USAID in limbo. Dr. Craig Spencer, emergency medicine physician and associate professor at Brown University School of Public Health, joins "America Decides" to explain.

A flurry of Trump orders has put health researchers in the federal government’s crosshairs, and forced many into an ethical dilemma

A dairy worker in Nevada may have tested positive for a strain of H5N1 bird flu known to have killed one person and severely sickened another. CNN reported Saturday night that a worker tested positive for the D1.1 version of the H5N1 bird flu virus. Confirmation testing by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is underway.

Two weeks into the Trump administration, external communication from federal health agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with the nation and world has gone dark.

Several US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention websites and datasets related to HIV, LGBTQ people, youth health behaviors and more have been removed after the agency was directed to comply with executive orders from President Donald Trump. Epidemiologist Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo explains the consequences.

Last week, the National Institutes of Health abruptly cancelled long-scheduled grant review panels and shut down external communications — with little explanation.

With federal health agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under a temporary freeze on public communications, some data and publications have not been released on their normal schedule.

Many of the World Health Organization’s problems come down to its own mission confusion

A new proposal seeks to limit the amount of nicotine in certain combusted tobacco products.

Bird flu's unprecedented spread among livestock and other mammals in the U.S. has raised fears that another pandemic could be in store.

The U.S. has recorded its first death of a person infected with bird flu.

The patient was a resident of southwest Louisiana who was hospitalized last month with the first known severe case of bird flu in the country.

From weight-loss drugs to nonopioid pain killers to AI, here are some important -- and positive -- trends in health care.

Experts are skeptical that USDA’s theory of viral spread is telling the whole story.

America’s global health commitments keep us all safer

Dean of Brown University School of Public Health Dr. Ashish Jha, Senior National Correspondent for HuffPost Jonathen Cohn, and New York Times Opinion Columnist David French join Katy Tur to discuss Secretary of Health and Human Services appointee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the potential radical decisions he can make regarding vaccines and other health initiatives in America.

Health insurers and hospitals increasingly treat patients less as humans in need of care than consumers who generate profit.

Nearly a year after a wild bird infected with H5N1 avian flu presumably passed its viral baggage to a dairy cow in the Texas panhandle — which has subsequently led to the infection of more than 700 herds nationwide and sickened at least 35 dairy workers — the nation’s agriculture department announced Friday that it will sample the nation’s milk supply to test for the virus.

The question of whether harm reduction efforts are failing remains complex. To delve deeper into this evolving issue, Newsweek has reached out to medical experts for further insights.

With the recent conclusion of the 2024 election, the spotlight now shifts back to Congress as it enters the final weeks of the 118th session. While time is limited and there is much to accomplish, Congress has a critical opportunity to reshape health care affordability, enhance transparency, reduce costs, and lay a strong foundation for future reforms through the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act (LCMT) and Health Care PRICE Transparency Act 2.0. Taking action on key provisions during the lame-duck session could serve as a catalyst for addressing issues such as health care consolidation, cost disparities, and opaque pricing structures before turning the page to a new legislative chapter.

The Food and Drug Administration has rejected some products because of concerns about youth users.

State agriculture officials on Thursday banned Fresno-based Raw Farm from distributing its raw dairy products to retailers amid ongoing concerns about possible bird flu infections among its cattle.

The health of the American people is on the line with Trump's appointments

President Donald Trump’s pick of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services “is an extraordinarily bad choice for the health of the American people,” Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, warned Thursday.

Canadian health officials announced Tuesday that a teenager infected with H5N1 bird flu from an unknown source is in critical condition.

A Canadian teenager is hospitalized in critical condition with suspected bird flu, health officials reported Tuesday. The teen has been receiving care at BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver since Friday, the same day an initial test came back positive for H5 influenza.

Researchers around the globe are tinkering with viruses far deadlier than covid-19.