Dear Members of the SPH Community,

I write to share heartbreaking news. Angela (Angee) Stevens, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies (CAAS), passed away unexpectedly on Sunday, August 1, 2021 due to natural causes.

Angee was a beloved and invaluable member of the CAAS community lauded for her outstanding collaborative ability, leadership, and analytical skills. She received the 2021 Sharon Chauncey Fellowship Award, an annual award that honors the postdoctoral fellow who best embodies the generous and collegial spirit and is the most supportive of the training program and its trainees’ success. Angee's research interests included the interplay of impulsivity, impaired control, and problematic alcohol and cannabis use in young adults, and her work in these areas earned her an excellent K-award score as well as a 2021 Award for Outstanding Paper by an Early Career Investigator from Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research journal. She was also a member of the Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network LEAP Investigator Program, where she was committed to advocating for the use of harm reduction strategies to address the current overdose epidemic.

CAAS Training Director Robert Miranda Jr. described the impact Angee’s legacy will have at Brown: “There is no question that she was a gifted and distinctively hardworking early career scientist with an already impressive scholarly record. Many of us benefited from her commitment to excellence, and we will miss her positivity and support. Her many contributions will leave a lasting mark on our program for years to come, and we will forever be grateful to her.”

Angee received a Master of Public Health with a focus on health behavior from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She then earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology in 2019 from Texas Tech University, where she studied the role of impulsivity-like facets in the etiology of young adult alcohol use and cannabis use. She also completed a doctoral-level certificate in Psychological Methods and Analysis, and focused a great deal on psychometrics and advanced data analysis. Angee was recruited to complete her clinical psychology internship at the Alpert Medical School at Brown University, and her colleagues were delighted that she decided to remain at Brown for the postdoctoral fellowship at CAAS.

In remembering Angee, her mentor Kristina Jackson shared, “Beyond her many accomplishments and a promising research career, Angee was a wonderful human being. She was genuine, kind, humble, warm, and was inspiring in the level of integrity she brought to her work and her life. Angee was also exceptionally generous with her time and knowledge in helping others.”

Angee will be so profoundly missed. Students, faculty, postdocs, and staff in need of support or counsel are urged to reach out to any of the following offices for assistance: Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) or 401-863-3476; or the Office of the Chaplains & Religious Life, 401-863-2344.

On behalf of the entire School of Public Health family, we extend our deepest sympathy to Angee’s husband Ryan, her family, and to all her friends and colleagues.

Most sincerely,

Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH
Dean, School of Public Health