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The number of private equity firms has exploded in health care in recent years, spending hundreds of billions of dollars to buy physician practices, hospitals, laboratories and nursing homes. It’s a trend that should have everyone’s attention, from politicians to patients, because it can significantly increase costs, reduce access and even threaten patient safety.

Taking a closer look at how human behavior, design and public health form a 21st-century partnership.

Enrollment in Medicare Advantage plans has grown substantially in the past few decades, enticing more than half of eligible people, primarily those 65 or older, with low premium costs and perks like dental and vision insurance. And as the private plans' share of the Medicare patient pie has ballooned to 30.8 million people, so too have concerns about the insurers' aggressive sales tactics and misleading coverage claims.

As founder and leader of the Community Noise Lab, Professor Erica Walker develops practical tools to help people advocate for healthier neighborhoods, and explores how social disparities and environmental exposures harm communities.

Together, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute have awarded a 5-year, $5 million grant to create the Learning Health systems training to improve Disability and chronic condition care (LeaHD) center at Brown University.

Tracing the history of biostatistics at Brown — an essential component of all branches of public health and medical research.

Who owns your doctor’s office? More and more often nowadays, the answer is a private equity firm — a type of investment fund that buys, restructures, and resells companies.

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.

The world’s first MPH graduates with a concentration in mindfulness completed their degrees at Brown in 2023. Instructed by interdisciplinary faculty from the Mindfulness Center at Brown, the concentration focuses on the impacts of mindfulness on physical and mental health, analysis of mindfulness-based interventions and applicable theoretical frameworks.

We all understand the dangers of smoking—but the debate over vapes, nicotine pouches and other tobacco alternatives rages on: Can vaping really save lives? Or are nicotine alternatives a slippery slope: a dangerous gateway to lifelong substance use? Professors Jasjit Ahluwalia and Jennifer Tidey discuss their takes on a harm reduction and how it applies to the modern nicotine landscape.

The debate over vapes, nicotine pouches and the quest to reduce the global scourge of tobacco-related diseases and fatalities.

In celebration of Brown SPH's 10th Anniversary, we're featuring an alum on the 10th of each month who is advancing public health in Rhode Island.

With the expanded scope of biosecurity involving human, animal, and plant-based pathogens, there is a need for increased collaboration across sectors — human health, veterinary and agricultural authorities must work together to address potential biosecurity threats comprehensively.

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.

Over his 50 years at Brown University, Professor Peter M. Monti has not only been witness to a sea change in our understanding of addictive disorders, but has contributed to that understanding with his research and leadership. At the School of Public Health’s 10th anniversary, he reflects on the decades of work defining Brown’s public health legacy.

With Intus Care, Robbie Felton, Evan Jackson and Alex Rothberg are building healthcare analytics software to help identify risks and optimize healthcare for low-income seniors. Health insurers use the Intus Care platform to help 1,500 providers treat 15,000 patients representing $1.5 billion in value-based care payments. The company expects more than $2.1 million in revenue in 2023.

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

Life expectancy in the United States rose in 2022, the first increase since the COVID pandemic began, according to new federal data. But those gains were not enough to compensate for the years of life lost to the virus, which remains one of the nation’s top causes of death.

One of the newest branches of the Health Equity Scholars program equips Rhode Islanders with the skills to make their home state healthier.

Summit led by Brown researchers makes shared space between mindfulness training and Indigenous cultural practice

Dr. Francesca Beaudoin was the first physician in the nation to serve patients in a mobile drug recovery unit. The van, an innovative public health intervention on wheels, delivers services to individuals suffering from substance use disorder in Rhode Island’s underserved communities.

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.

Brown researchers study how unhealthy noise levels are impacting Cranston's schools and neighborhoods

Director of the Mindfulness Center at Brown University, Eric Loucks' work in the areas of mindfulness-based stress reduction and heart health are demonstrating how mindfulness can improve people’s lives and change their perceptions. We chat with Professor Loucks about his journey into this area of study and what the future holds for mindfulness.

Information Futures Lab study identifies urgent need for improved research on how to respond to misleading health information

A pair of preliminary studies presented at an American Heart Association conference over the weekend sparked intrigue for Rhode Island health professionals and academics.

In celebration of Brown SPH's 10th Anniversary, we're featuring an alum on the 10th of each month who is advancing public health right here in Rhode Island.

The Pandemic Center kicked off a new Brown Arts IGNITE film and media series with the pre-release screening of Scott Hamilton Kennedy’s documentary “Shot in the Arm,” followed by panel discussion.

The CDC says we should isolate for five days after testing positive. Other public health officials disagree. Who is right?

Mindfulness coupled with information on how food and exercise can impact blood pressure may be a winning combination that could improve heart health, according to a new study published today in JAMA Network Open.

Dr. Ashwin Vasan, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, visits Brown to share perspective on public health response in New York — from the Omicron wave to today.

Second-year Brown MPH students share outcomes from their MPH Practicum during annual poster session

Many Americans have lost confidence in the importance of public health recommendations like vaccines. Here’s why—and why they still matter.

PFAS can be found in just about everything, but there are a few things you can do to reduce your exposure.

The Rhode Island Community Food Bank and the Brown University School of Public Health Survey Research Center release new data on Rhode Islanders seeking food assistance.

In celebration of Brown SPH's 10th Anniversary, we're featuring an alum on the 10th of each month who is advancing public health right here in Rhode Island.

For her summer MPH Practicum, MPH student Yuchan Cao investigated the patterns between smoking and cancer progression among lung cancer survivors in China.

Health care policymakers and industry leaders must reckon with the difficulties facing workers if we want to avert strikes.

From the Ebola epidemic to COVID-19, former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain discussed the intersection of public health and politics with Dean Ashish K. Jha.

Data shows harm reduction works. Here's how to read it properly.