Partnerships in Health

The researchers of the Program in Public Health, in every discipline, share a common goal: to disseminate and facilitate application of their findings and to influence public policy for the improvement of population health. At Brown, faculty go beyond conducting research and work as advocates for applying it.

Because the Program in Public Health developed as a partner with the Rhode Island Department of Health, faculty inform state policymaking on issues ranging from bioterrorism preparedness to health care standards in the state prison. These partnerships have grown to include the Department of Human Services and other agencies. Students, whether they are medical or graduate students or even undergraduates, have the rare opportunity to see up close the continuum of public health – from learning methodology to conducting research to delivery in community-based settings to effecting change in policy.

The research products of Brown’s public health centers have historically informed policy at the national and international level on a number of issues, and current research will help us address some of the most pressing health issues of our day – tobacco use and addictions, obesity and diabetes, aging, long-term and end-of-life care, and health care delivery.

One example is the leadership provided by faculty to prepare the Annual Report of the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Health. Faculty from the Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research worked with the state’s attorney general on a major public initiative to improve end-of-life-care, including a newspaper insert sent to a majority of Rhode Island households.

For more than 20 years, the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies has used the data from its research to advocate for changes in policies and legislation surrounding the addictions. Physicians and Lawyers for National Drug Policy: A Public Health Partnership (PLNDP), an advocacy group that emerged from the Center, is an organization of the nation’s leading physicians and attorneys whose goal is to promote and support public policy and treatment options that are scientifically based, evidence driven, and cost effective.

These are just a few examples of the ways researchers in the Program in Public Health are contributing to health policy at the local, state, and national level.

In addition to the close relationship with the Rhode Island Department of Health, faculty and students are engaged in research and evaluation programs with the Rhode Island Department of Human Services, the agency responsible for administering the state Medicaid program and other programs critical to public health. Non-governmental agencies, such as Quality Partners of Rhode Island have also provided excellent training opportunities for Brown MPH Students.

Hospitals affiliated with the Brown Medical School are also sites of important applied public health work. Examples include the Center of Excellence in Women’s Health at Women & Infants Hospital, the Injury Prevention Center at the Hasbro Children's Hospital/Rhode Island Hospital, and the Department of Family Medicine at Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island. Students are encouraged to explore the range of options available for research and public health practice at the Brown affiliated hospitals.