99-053 (Jane Brody)
Distributed November 23, 1999
For Immediate Release
News Service Contact: Janet Kerlin



New York Times health reporter Jane Brody at Brown Dec. 8

Jane Brody, health columnist and science writer for The New York Times, will bring her insights to Brown when she delivers the Rothman Forum, “Taking Charge of Your Health,” Wednesday, Dec. 8, at 7 p.m. in Sayles Hall.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Jane Brody, best known for her Personal Health column in The New York Times, will deliver the Rothman Forum, “Taking Charge of Your Health,” Wednesday, Dec. 8, at 7 p.m. in Sayles Hall on The College Green. Doors will open at 6:15 p.m.

For Brody, personal health columns sometimes mean delving into her closet and shaking out the skeletons. “People love it. They especially love it when I admit to my fallibilities, like the column I wrote about trying to get over my addiction to chocolate-covered coffee beans. I substituted chocolate-covered raisins,” she said.

She maintains that personal connection even when the news is more serious. Brody was diagnosed with breast cancer and wrote about her experience.

“The feedback has been phenomenal. People tell me they have gotten mammograms, they’ve gotten their mothers to go for mammograms, they’ve realized that just because they’ve gotten negative mammograms doesn’t mean they’re home free. Some people have reconciled their decision not to take tamoxifen. So it really helps.”

Brody, armed with a degree in biochemistry from Cornell University and two years of covering medicine and biology for The New York Times, started her personal health columns in 1967, when the idea of people as active participants in their own good health was not widespread.

“They were hungry for this information,” Brody said. “They were seeing their parents in nursing homes, suffering from heart disease and cancers. Many of these diseases were avoidable. That’s the main message I have.”

Brody is the author of eight books on cooking and health, including, Secrets of Good Health and Jane Brody’s Nutrition Book.

The Rothman Forum is underwritten by a grant from Brown’s 17th president, Vartan Gregorian, to honor Professor Frank Rothman, former provost and dean of biology, and his wife Joan and to recognize their service to Brown. This year, the Rothman Forum is one of three lectures to honor the 25th anniversary of the Brown University School of Medicine.

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