Skip over navigation

Phil Brown

Professor:
Sociology and Environmental Studies
Phone: +1 401 863 2633
Phil_Brown@Brown.EDU

My research includes disputes over environmental causation of illness, community response to toxic waste-induced disease, race and class differences in exposure to environmental hazards, and the Jewish cultural experience in the Catskill Mountains resort area.

Biography

Phil Brown is Professor of Sociology and Environmental Studies, and has taught at Brown since 1980. He is a founding member of the Committee on Science, Technology, and Science and an Associate Member of the Program in Judaic Studies. His research includes disputes over environmental causation of illness, social movements in health, and the Jewish experience in the Catskill Mountains. His recent books are "Illness and the Environment: A Reader in Contested Medicine," "Catskill Culture: A Mountain Rat's Memories of the Great Jewish Resort Area," "In the Catskills: A Century of the Jewish Experience in 'The Mountains,'" and "Social Movements in Health." His most recent book is "Toxic Exposures: Contested Illnesses and the Environmental Health Movement." He directs the Contested Illnesses Research Group, the Community Outreach Core of Brown's Superfund Basic Research Program, and the Ethical and Social Implications component of Brown's National Science Foundation NIRT project in nanotechnology/nanotoxicity.

Interests

My research includes disputes over environmental causation of illness, community response to toxic waste-induced disease, social movements in health, and the Jewish experience in the Catskill Mountains resort area. My most recent books are Illness and the Environment: A Reader in Contested Medicine; Catskill Culture: A Mountain Rat's Memories of the Great Jewish Resort Area; In the Catskills: A Century of the Jewish Experience in 'The Mountains'; and Social Movements in Health. I am finishing up a book, Contested Illnesses: Toward a New Environmental Health Movement, and revising my reader Perspectives in Medical Sociology for its fourth edition.

One of my projects examines labor-environment coalitions, and another examines the intersection of breast cancer advocacy and environmental justice. I co-lead the Contested Illnesses Research Group with Professor Rachel Morello-Frosch. I direct the Community Outreach Core of Brown's Superfund Basic Research Program [http://www.brown.edu/Research/SBRP/] and direct the Ethical and Social Implications component of Brown's National Science Foundation NIRT project in nanotechnology [http://www.engin.brown.edu/Facilities/LINC/NSF-NIRT.htm]. My newest project is "Katrina and the Built Environment: Spatial and Social Impacts," a multidisciplinary effort with four other colleagues, funded by the National Science Foundation. [http://www.s4.brown.edu/katrina/index.html]

I have a joint appointment in Environmental Studies, which offers B.A., Sc.B., and M.A. degrees [http://envstudies.brown.edu/env/index.php]. I am also affiliated with the Committee on Science, Technology, and Science, which offers an undergraduate concentration [http://www.brown.edu/Faculty/COSTS/]. I am an associate member of the Program in Judaic Studies [http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Judaic_Studies/].

I teach the following undergraduate courses: Environmental Sociology: An Environmental Justice Approach; Perceptions of Mental Illness; Contested Environmental Diseases; and a first-year seminar on Environment and Society; and the following graduate seminars: Social Movements in Health; Health Institutions and Providers; Qualitative Methods and Field Work.

Awards

1976-1979: Danforth Foundation Fellow

1981-1982: Lilly Endowment Teaching Fellow

1985-1986: Peter Livingston Fellowship, Harvard Medical School, Department of Psychiatry

1996-1997: Chair, Medical Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association

2003-2005: Chair, Environment and Technology Section of the American Sociological Association

2006: Fred Buttell award for lifetime achievement in environmental sociology, from the American Sociological Association's Environment and Technology Section.

Affiliations

American Sociological Association

Society for the Social Study of Science

American Public Health Association

American Jewish Historical Society-Academic Advisory Council

Teaching

Medical Sociology
Environmental Sociology
Qualitative Methods

Funded Research

Completed Research Support

Grant #036273, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
PI: Phil Brown, 1999-2002
"Contested Illnesses -- Disputes Over Environmentally-Induced Disease":
This project examines "contested illnesses," which involve disputes over environmental causes of Gulf War-related illnesses, asthma, and breast cancer, as well as the toxics reduction.
Role: Principal Investigator

SES-9975518, National Science Foundation
PI: Phil Brown, 2000-2003
"Citizen-Science Alliances in Contested Environmental Diseases":
This project examines citizen-science alliances that deal with contested illnesses that involve major scientific disputes and public debates over environmental causes.
Role: Principal Investigator

T15 49650, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
PI: Dianne Quigley, 2000-2003
"Short Courses for Environmental Health Research Ethics":
This project develops curriculum and runs training workshops for community groups and professionals involved in collaborative research approaches to environmental justice issues.
Role: Consultant

Grant #039732, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
PI: Robert Klein, 2000-2003
"Draw a Breath/Providence School Partnership Asthma Program":
This program provides school-based intervention for children with asthma, combined with hospital-based medical care and parent support groups, all located in Providence, R.I.
Role: Consultant

57-247-5351, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
PI: David Ozonoff, 2002-2004
"Survey Development: Youth Stress and Toxics":
This project brings together experts in environmental health, maternal and child health, environmental stress, survey research, and neuropsychology to develop an instrument to examine childhood environmental stress.
Role: Consultant

SES-0324956, National Science Foundation
PI: Phil Brown, 2003-2004
Doctoral Dissertation Research: "Transnational Activism, Oil Politics and Environmental Justice in Ecuador":
This supports the dissertation research of my advisee, Patricia Widener
Role: Principal Investigator

SES-0401869, National Science Foundation
PI: Phil Brown, 2004-2005
Doctoral Dissertation Research: "Blue and Green Shades of Health: The Social Construction of Health Risks in the Labor and Environmental Movements."
This supports dissertation research of my advisee, Brian Mayer.
Role: Principal Investigator

Ongoing Research Support

1 R25 ES012084-01, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
PI: David Ozonoff, 2002-2007
"Community Environmental Health Research: Finding Meaning":
This project works with four communities that are undergoing community environmental health studies. It identifies the advantages and disadvantages of such studies, and educates those and other communities on how academic-community collaborations can help them study environmental hazards.
Role: Consultant

2 T15 HL69792-01, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
PI: Dianne Quigley, 2003-2006
"Short Courses for Environmental Health Research Ethics" (renewal of T15 49650):
This project develops curriculum and runs training workshops for community groups and professionals involved in collaborative research approaches to environmental justice issues.
Role: Consultant

SES-0350691, National Science Foundation
PI: Phil Brown, 2004-2007
"Blue and Green Shades of Health: The Social Construction of Health Risks in the Labor and Environmental Movements":
This project examines how labor and environmental movement organizations discover and socially construct health risks in the workplace and the general environment.
Role: Principal Investigator

1 R25 ES013258-01, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
PI: Julia Brody, 2004-2008
"Linking Breast Cancer Advocacy and Environment Justice":
This project conducts air, dust, and urine samples in two locations to examine the role of endocrine disrupters and other chemicals in causing breast cancer and other diseases, and also conducts educational activities on the common interests of breast cancer advocacy and environmental justice.
Role: Co-PI

SES 0450837, National Science Foundation
PI: Julia Brody, 2004-2007
"The Research Right-To-Know: Ethics and Values in Communicating Research Data to Individuals and Communities":
This project examines the ethics of combined individual and community report-back of health data from environmental epidemiology studies.
Role: Co-PI

1 P42 ES013660-01, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
PI: Kim Boekelheide, 2005-2009
"Reuse in RI: A State-Based Approach to Complex Exposures":
This includes seven projects that study toxics found in Superfund sites, and also includes a training core for students, a community outreach core that works with community groups, and a research translation group that works with government agencies, business, and professionals
Role: Co-PI

DMI-050661, National Science Foundation
PI: Robert Hurt, 2005-2009
"Micropatterned Nanotopography Chips for Probing the Cellular Basis of Biocompatibility and Toxicity":
This examines nanoparticle toxicity, improves university safety department practices, conducts surveys of researchers' awareness of risks, and provides educational forums on social and ethical impacts.
Role: Co-PI

BCS-0555025, National Science Foundation
PI: John Logan, 1/1/2006-12/31/2006
"Katrina and the Built Environment: Spatial and Social Impacts":
This project studies the social vulnerability of Gulf Coast communities and their efforts at recovery, using remote sensing, GIS, census data, interviews and observations with community organizations.
Role: Co-PI

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (Superfund Basic Research Program): Supplement to Community Outreach Core of "Reuse in RI: A State-Based Approach to Complex Exposures" ($36,000) 2008-2009 (co-PI)

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Partnerships in Environmental Public Health supplement to "Linking Breast Cancer Advocacy and Environment Justice"($139,805) 2008-2009 (co-PI)

Environmental Protection Agency, CARE grant awarded to the Environmental Justice League of Rhode Island. ($100,000) 2008-2010 (co-PI)

Web Links

Curriculum Vitae

Download Phil Brown's Curriculum Vitae in PDF Format