Research News

6th annual statewide survey is a partnership between Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island and Brown University School of Public Health

Professor Alyssa Bilinski set out to answer a seemingly simple question: how often are pregnant people included in medical trials? But finding the answer was anything but simple. With 90,000 records to analyze, she turned to AI for help—but ensuring the accuracy of the results required a creative approach.

As opioid-related hospitalizations rise, skilled nursing facilities could offer a crucial bridge to recovery for patients with opioid use disorder. However, stigma, regulatory hurdles and funding challenges limit their potential. New research highlights policy solutions to ensure these facilities can better meet the needs of a growing and aging population with OUD.

81% of children in the United States are categorized as "flourishing": indicating the presence of physical, mental and developmental well-being. A new Brown research study looks closer at these numbers, and how parental health has an impact on a child's flourishing.

Firearms are dangerous, but their ammunition holds a silent threat: dangerously high levels of lead. Brown doctoral student Christian Hoover teams up with Professor Joseph Braun to examine the connection between guns and elevated lead levels in America’s children and adults.

Brown researchers are developing a mobile app aimed at reducing high-risk alcohol use among young adults.

A team of Brown faculty members is conducting the first study of its kind to investigate whether MDMA-assisted therapy can relieve the suffering of Veterans with PTSD and alcohol use disorder.

People and organizations talk a lot about climate change online, but only 3.1 percent of content mentions connections to health, a new analysis reveals.

In celebration of this year's National Postdoc Appreciation Week, the Brown University School of Public Health is proud to showcase its postdoctoral researchers and to thank them for their contributions to our public health community.

Most of us know that lead exposure is bad for our health. To protect us, especially children, the US hasn’t allowed lead in gasoline, house paint, children’s toys, dishware or jewelry for decades. But there are a few places where lead has stuck around. Today we’re taking a look at one of the least well known, and most stubborn sources of lead exposure in the US - guns and ammunition. 

A decades-long debate about prescribing habits in long-term care facilities is renewed with heartening evidence.

Meehir Dixit ’24, a newly minted Brown alumnus with a concentration in public health, has already found a home as a research assistant in the School of Public Health’s Center for Gerontology & Health Research and Center for Advancing Health Policy through Research (CAHPR).

A team led by Professor Erica Walker has received federal funding to conduct the first air-quality and community noise assessment of Mississippi communities impacted by the production of wood pellets.

Taking an HIV test in the privacy of your own home is as simple as swabbing your cheek. A new study from Tyler Wray finds compelling evidence that mailed tests could be a game changer.

Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is among the most common conditions facing U.S. Veterans, with no effective cure. Additionally, many Veterans use alcohol to alleviate their trauma, making medical treatment even more complex. For these high risk patients, Professors Christy Capone and Carolina Haass-Koffler are thinking outside the box: Could a treatment involving psychedelic drugs potentially save Veteran lives?

The School of Public Health’s newest research center focuses on health care cost, access and outcomes by comparing data across the globe.

Brown University researchers take a deep dive into the barriers that are disincentivizing health insurers from covering the mindfulness–based health program.

Brown researchers partnered with influencers to screen potential participants for eligibility into ongoing trials and compare the effectiveness of public health-based influencer ads with traditional advertising.

Research team hopeful that the method, called IRIS, can provide more detailed information for precision health treatment plans and health outcomes.

Brown researchers find that routine testing of asymptomatic residents identifies carriers and prevents outbreaks within long-term care settings.

Brown researchers compared assisted living residents in Florida who evacuated during Hurricane Irma to those who sheltered in place in order to determine the health risks inherent in long-term care disaster planning and response.

Brown researchers examined hundreds of thousands of veterans’ health records to determine if exposure to burn pits on military bases correlates with elevated risk for respiratory and cardiac health conditions.

Erica Walker explores the hidden health impacts of wood pellet production in her home state of Mississippi

This is the third article in Unmasked, a series by undergraduate Chris Walsh ’25.5. With a mix of personal perspective and research analysis, Unmasked addresses the public health value of greater openness and self-advocacy around autism.

NCCIH funding will allow Brown researchers to evaluate complementary and integrative health interventions and produce a public-facing database to support rigorous systematic reviews.

Student-run journal features scientific articles authored by undergraduate students at Brown.

Innovative behavioral interventions—that prevent the spread of HIV, or improve mental health outcomes—only work for those who are able to access them, and only if they reach their intended communities.

Despite being on the front lines of the climate crisis, the health care sector is also one of the greatest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. A new study from Brown researchers looks at these decarbonizing efforts across the globe.

Four years out from the onset of the COVID-19 epidemic, a new study explores the extent to which COVID-19 and influenza vaccines are being distributed and employed simultaneously, particularly among high-risk populations.

MPH student Rosemelly Jimenez Medal's father has worked as a short-haul trucker for over 25 years, and she noticed that he was struggling to hear conversations at dinner. So Jimenez Medal teamed up with her father and noise researcher Erica Walker, RGSS Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at Brown University, to conduct hearing screenings on short-term truckers in California.

The Global Consortium for Depression advocates for a systemic approach to preventing depression and suicidal behavior in teens and adolescents.

An analysis of health care claims data, conducted in partnership with Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, finds billions in excess health care spending following COVID-19 infection, and has important implications for pandemic preparedness.

As cannabis legalization continues to spread, a Brown researcher is driven to understand the risks of impaired driving and to help drivers make safer choices.

Examining over a decade of motor vehicle crash data involving older drivers, Brown study sheds light on a worrying trend: an increase in the prescription of potentially impairing medications, post-accident.

5th annual statewide survey is a partnership between Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island and Brown University School of Public Health.

An ongoing project will help the School of Public Health generate recommendations for how to handle another event like COVID-19.

A study co-led by a Brown University researcher indicates that overdose prevention centers, like the one poised to open in Providence next year, do not lead to increased neighborhood crime rates.