Created in 1965, Brown University’s Division of Biology and Medicine is the center of Rhode Island’s biomedical research and education enterprise and has experienced rapid growth in recent years. The Division includes The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University; five biological science departments; and the Program in Public Health.
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Division of Biology and Medicine

Alpert Medical School

Founded in 1975, Alpert Medical School is Rhode Island’s only medical school and the state’s nexus for biomedical research.

Alpert Medical School is affiliated with seven hospitals: Emma Pendleton Bradley Hospital, Butler Hospital, The Miriam Hospital, Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence VA Medical Center, Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island.

Program in Public Health

The program’s academic and research home is the Department of Community Health, which offers an undergraduate concentration, a Master of Public Health program, and graduate degrees in epidemiology, biostatistics and health services research. The Program is home to nine nationally renowned research centers, which currently have funding in excess of $250 million.

Program in Biology

Biology is one of the most popular undergraduate and graduate concentrations at Brown, in large part due to the high-caliber faculty in five departments: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry, Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology and Biotechnology, and Neuroscience.

Recent Achievements: Division of Biology and Medicine

• In 2007, Alpert Medical School graduated 93 students, the largest class since the school started awarding medical degrees in 1975.
• Brown recently opened two major life science research buildings – the Sidney E. Frank Hall for Life Sciences on the main campus in 2006 and the Laboratories for Molecular Medicine, located in Providence’s Jewelry District, in 2004.
• In 2005, Brown purchased a new home for the Program in Public Health, located at 121 South Main Street in Providence.
• Brown’s four-year-old research and teaching affiliation with the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Mass., has already produced its first joint Ph.D. graduate and enrolled 20 more doctoral candidates.
• External funding for biomedical research is on the rise, due in part to major grants such as the five-year, $14.1-million contract from The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The contract was awarded to Brown in 2007 to join the National Children’s Study, a landmark research project aimed at improving children’s health.

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