Dear SPH Community Members,

We want to take this time to welcome you all back to Brown and the School of Public Health after what we hope was a restful, healthy, and happy winter break! Following a great fall semester, we look forward to an even better spring of ‘23. The start of a new year provides an ideal time to reflect on where we have been and where we’re heading. We are eager to highlight some of the priority activities that are on the horizon.

In academics, we continue to grow and support the in-person and online MPH and other educational opportunities such as the Digital Health Innovation Certificate, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction teacher training, and collaborations with state and territorial health organizations. We are creating new internships for our students in varying public health disciplines. Recognizing that the spring semester is a critical time to recruit the next cohort of public health leaders to our academic programs, we appreciate all the efforts of staff, faculty, students, and alumni in helping us find and support the very best students in public health.

The School is increasing our federal and non-federal funding footprint in key strategic areas such as pandemic response, information futures, health data science, health policy, addiction, aging, and other public health disciplines. In addition, there are many opportunities this semester for our faculty, staff, and students to expand upon their skills in communication, data science, and grant writing.

We are excited to be working to expand our capacity to intentionally and ethically collaborate with community organizations, locally, nationally, and globally. We welcome a number of new faculty and staff to this core work of public health.

We continue to support ongoing work to develop and support a solid and nimble administrative structure. Under the leadership of Executive Dean Sara Walsh, our administrative offices are embracing a culture of collaboration and doing extraordinary work on behalf of our faculty and students. As we all know, it takes a village to operate this fantastic school.

This will be an exciting semester to bring our community together for several signature events. Understanding the connection between climate change and health is more urgent than ever, and we invite you to join us for a Dean’s series on climate and health that will unpack these connections and more. February is Black History Month, and we are fortunate to have epidemiologist, Dr. Frank Richards, as a guest speaker to lead an important lecture on River Blindness eradication efforts. Each year, the American Public Health Association convenes National Public Health Week to spark conversation and call attention to the issues most affecting the health of Americans across the nation. We are pleased to say that the School of Public Health will again have a full portfolio of events and activities from April 3-10, including Public Health Research Day and the annual Barnes Lecture with Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the White House National Monkeypox Response Deputy Coordinator.

The School of Public Health will mark the tenth anniversary of its founding in July 2023. It's hard to believe that it has already been ten years! We have charged a core committee to create events and opportunities to acknowledge the milestones of the past and celebrate future School breakthroughs. Stay tuned for more information about our 10th anniversary celebrations, which will kick off in the fall.

One last note is about mask wearing. Wearing masks is strongly recommended for all Brown community members when indoors with large numbers of people, regardless of vaccination status, including on the Brown University shuttle. Masking can help limit the rate of spread of COVID-19 and common respiratory viruses, particularly during periods of high transmission. Please continue to use the Healthy Brown website as your guide.

We look forward with excitement to the spring semester. Thank you for all that you do to make the Brown University School of Public Health such a vibrant community!

Sincerely,

Ronald Aubert Ph.D., MSPH
Interim Dean, School of Public Health

Megan L. Ranney MD, MPH
Deputy Dean, School of Public Health