Brown University School of Public Health

The School of Public Health is rooted in Brown’s tradition of academic excellence and innovative collaboration across disciplines. In fact, the field of public health is much like Brown itself: grounded in interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary synergies and focused on service to populations.

Public health is a discipline devoted to preventing disease and promoting health in the human population. The threats challenging the health of the public include a variety of acute and chronic diseases and conditions including AIDS, addiction, obesity, and aging and pervasive conditions based on gender, race, socioeconomics, and level of education. Graduate study in public health at Brown has a singular purpose: to train leaders in public health who are armed with the skills to conduct research, bring about policy change, and positively affect the health of populations.

The key values of the School of Public Health are to preserve and enhance the health and well-being of human populations by integrating knowledge, skills and data to advance public health. The focus of this mission is the promotion of physical and mental health, and prevention of disease and disability, through the development of new knowledge relevant to public health, the teaching and application of that knowledge, and the translation of data and research findings into information to be used in public health policy and practice.

The School benefits from its connection to Rhode Island's only school of medicine and from its strong ties to the Rhode Island Department of Health, and provides substantial public service activities to organizations, agencies, and residents throughout the state and region.

The School is thus a point of convergence for public health-related activities throughout Brown, and local and national governmental, public, and private entities with a public health interest. The School's faculty and students strengthen these community relationships by helping translate research findings into policy and practice.