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At the 5th annual State of the School event, Dean Ashish Jha welcomed faculty, staff, students and alumni and highlighted Brown’s impact in education, research and policy. Despite the unprecedented moment we face, he assured the gathered crowd that “our school is strong.”

“It is estimated that essential medicines are unaffordable or unavailable to 1 in 4 people worldwide,” wrote the authors of a recent article published in a JAMA Health Forum that was led by Olivier J. Wouters, PhD, of Brown University School of Public Health.

Dr. Ashish K. Jha, dean of Brown University School of Public Health, says the problem with RFK Jr.’s MAHA report is it falls short in its honesty, its innovation, and the evidence.

Professor Ellen McCreedy is a musician and gerontologist whose research harnesses the power of music to recall memories. Driven to give dementia sufferers, and their caregivers, a moment of having themselves back again, McCreedy joined Humans in Public Health to discuss her work, its challenges and the grandmother who first showed her music’s power to break through Alzheimer’s disease.

Under the guidance of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., rather than relying on evidence-based recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to inform vaccination decisions, it is now recommended that vaccination involve a discussion between patients and their physicians, says Scott Rivkees, a professor of practice at the Brown School of Public Health.

The Pandemic Center celebrated its inaugural cohort of Biosecurity Game Changers with a completion ceremony highlighting the far-reaching impact of the fellows’ work.

With the CDC in disarray and its future uncertain, this episode explores what’s driving the exodus of agency staff and what this means for national health security. Jennifer Nuzzo is a featured guest.

Ashish Jha comments on the Food and Drug Administration scrutinizing the common practice of giving coronavirus and flu shots together.

As the Brown University School of Public Health welcomes 232 new graduate students, school leaders urge the incoming class to view public health not just as a career, but as a calling—one that demands resilience, collaboration and commitment to solving the world’s most pressing challenges.

The only way out is a new HHS secretary.

A study of how three popular artificial intelligence chatbots respond to queries about suicide found that they generally avoid answering questions that pose the highest risk to the user, such as for specific how-to guidance. But they are inconsistent in their replies to less extreme prompts that could still harm people.

Texas health officials on Aug. 18 declared the end of a measles outbreak that had sickened more than 760 people across the state and killed two children. Doctors and public-health officials involved in the outbreak, most of whom had previously never encountered a measles patient, are now taking stock of what they’ve learned about the virus and the best ways to prevent and control outbreaks of the disease.

New findings about loneliness among adults with disabilities underscore the need for accessible, targeted interventions.

Brown MPH student Quynh Le brought her passion for global health to a local setting this summer, working to improve patient satisfaction and language accessibility at CODAC Behavioral Healthcare.

Despite the health claims made about red wine, it turns out it’s no better than white wine, according to researchers from Brown University School of Public Health and Warren Alpert Medical Schools, who studied nearly 96,000 participants.

Stephanie Psaki writes that our best chance to reverse the decline in births is through a pro-family policy that gives Americans the freedom and support to build the lives—and families—they want.

The Little Harvest Produce Box program is delivering fresh, locally grown produce to Rhode Island child-care centers to increase access to nutritious food and encourage healthy eating habits in young children, one box at a time.

Randomized controlled trials should include pregnant women by Alyssa Bilinski, Peterson family assistant professor of health policy.

We had a playbook for handling biothreats. Then Trump pushed out the people who knew how to use it -- by Beth Cameron, Jon Finer, and Stephanie Psaki

A big, new study shows women who are victims of stalking are at significantly higher risk of heart disease. Liz Tobin-Tyler comments.

As part of Brown’s new Biosecurity Game Changers fellowship, pharmacist and policy expert Sana Masmoudi is working to close critical biosecurity gaps—building systems, shaping policy and mentoring future leaders across the Global South.

The Trump administration is canceling almost $500 million in contracts to develop mRNA vaccines to protect the U.S. against future viral threats. The move thrilled critics of the technology but horrified many public health and biosecurity experts like Jennifer Nuzzo of the Brown Pandemic Center.

Professor Liz Tobin-Tyler’s course explores the historical, social and legal forces that shape reproductive rights in the U.S.

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.

“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.”

Samantha Rosenthal MPH’10, Ph.D.’14 encourages men to prioritize their well-being and seek help when needed while working to break down the stigma surrounding men’s mental health.

GLP-1 drugs go far beyond weight loss and show a surprising ability to tame cravings for everything from alcohol to gambling. Addiction scholar Carolina Haass-Koffler offers insight on how and why these drugs work and their potential for revolutionizing addiction treatment.

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.

An innovative online summer course empowers budding environmentalists nationwide to tackle local public health challenges, fostering informed and engaged community leaders.

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.

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?

Through a pioneering fellowship with Brown’s Pandemic Center, genomic epidemiologist Edyth Parker is working to prevent man-made biological threats and foster responsible innovation by mapping DNA synthesis practices and helping to shape biosecurity policies across Africa.

Since the 1980s, the U.S. has experimented with various forms of managed health care. But none of them has managed to control costs or improve health outcomes, argues Senior Fellow Hayden Rooke-Ley. The radical new idea from CAHPR researchers for delivering lower health care costs is actually quite old-fashioned: a return to fee-for-service.

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. 

Dean of the School of Public Health Dr. Ashish Jha penned this column on the potential impacts of the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act."

Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown, provides commentary on measles vaccination and travel concerns.

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.

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.

Balancing the demands of a Ph.D. program in public health is hard enough—try doing it while starring in “Into the Woods.” This Brown University doctoral student proves you don’t have to choose between data and drama.

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.