Contested Illnesses Research Group
Brown University , Providence RI
Publications
Research supported by
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Investigator Awards in Health Policy Research Program (Grant # 036273), the National Science Foundation Program in Science, Technology, and Society (SES-9975518, SES-0401869, and SES-0350691), the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (1 R25 ES013258-01, P42 ES013660-01), and the Brown University Salomon Faculty Research Award Program
Books
Phil Brown and Stephen Zavestoski, eds. Social Movements in Health (2005, Blackwell Publishers).
Phil Brown, Toxic Exposures: Contested Illnesses and the Environmental Health Movement (2007, Columbia University Press)
Brian Mayer, Blue-Green Coalitions: Fighting for Safe Workplaces and Health Communities. (2008, Cornell University Press)
Sabrina McCormick, Mobilizing Science: Movements, Participation, and the Remaking of Knowledge (2009, Temple University Press)
Sabrina McCormick, No Family History: The Environmental Links to Breast Cancer (2009, Rowman and Littlefield)
Phil Brown, Rachel Morello-Frosch, and Stephen Zavestoski, eds., Contested Illnesses: Ethnographic Explorations (2011, University of California Press)
Articles
“A Gulf Of Difference: Disputes Over Gulf War-Related Illnesses” (Phil Brown, Stephen Zavestoski, Sabrina McCormick, Joshua Mandelbaum, Theo Luebke, Meadow Linder) Journal of Health and Social Behavior 2001, 42:235-257
"Print Media Coverage Of Environmental Causation Of Breast Cancer” (Phil Brown, Stephen Zavestoski, Sabrina McCormick, Joshua Mandelbaum, and Theo Luebke) Sociology of Health and Illness 2001, 23:747-775
“Science, Policy, Activism, and War: Defining the Health of Gulf War Veterans” (Stephen Zavestoski, Phil Brown Meadow Linder, Brian Mayer, and Sabrina McCormick) Science, Technology, and Human Values 2002 27:171-205.
“Moving Further Upstream: From Toxics Reduction to the Precautionary Principle” (Brian Mayer, Phil Brown, and Meadow Linder). Public Health Reports 2002 117:574-586.
“Policy Issues in Environmental Health Disputes” (Phil Brown, Stephen Zavestoski, Brian Mayer, Sabrina McCormick, and Pamela Webster). 2002. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 584:175-202.
"The Social Context of Science: Cancer and the Environment” (Devra Davis and Pamela Webster) 2002. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 584:13-34.
“Chemicals And Casualties: The Search For Causes Of Gulf War Illnesses” in Monica Casper, ed., Synthetic Planet: Chemical Politics and the Hazards of Modern Life 2003: Routledge. (Phil Brown, Stephen Zavestoski, Meadow Linder, Sabrina McCormick, and Brian Mayer)
“The Health Politics of Asthma: Environmental Justice and Collective Illness Experience in the United States” (Phil Brown, Stephen Zavestoski, Theo Luebke, Joshua Mandelbaum, Sabrina McCormick, and Brian Mayer). 2003. Social Science and Medicine 57:453-464. Reprinted in Where We Live, Work, and Play: A Critical Appraisal of the Environmental Justice Movement, David Pellow and Robert Brulle, eds. Cambridge: MIT Press.
“The Personal Is Scientific, The Scientific Is Political: The Public Paradigm of the Environmental Breast Cancer Movement” (Sabrina McCormick, Phil Brown, and Stephen Zavestoski) Sociological Forum. 2003 18:545-576
“Patient Activism and the Struggle for Diagnosis: Gulf War Illnesses and Other Medically Unexplained Physical Symptoms in the US” (Stephen Zavestoski, Phil Brown, Sabrina McCormick, Brian Mayer, Maryhelen D’Ottavi, and Jaime Lucove) Social Science and Medicine 2004. 58:161-175.
“Lay Involvement in Breast Cancer Research” (Sabrina McCormick, Julia Brody, Phil Brown, and Ruth Polk), International Journal of Health Services 2004 34:625-646
“Qualitative Methods In Environmental Health Research” (Phil Brown) Environmental Health Perspectives 2003. 111:1789-1798
“Embodied Health Movements: Uncharted Territory in Social Movement Research” (Phil Brown, Stephen Zavestoski , Sabrina McCormick, Brian Mayer, Rachel Morello-Frosch, and Rebecca Gasior,). Sociology of Health and Illness 2004 26:1-31
“Clearing the Air and Breathing Freely: Disputes Over Air Pollution and Asthma” (Phil Brown, Stephen Zavestoski , Theo Luebke, Joshua Mandelbaum, Sabrina McCormick, and Brian Mayer), International Journal of Health Services 2004 34:39-63. Also reprinted in Smoke and Mirrors: Air Pollution as a Social and Political Artifact, Melanie Dupuis ed., 2004, New York: New York University Press.
“Children’s Asthma Experience and the Importance of Place” (Kirsten Rudestam, Phil Brown, Christine Zarcadoolas, and Catherine Mansell). Health 2004 8:423-444
“Embodied Health Movements and Challenges to the Dominant Epidemiological Paradigm” Research in Social Movements, Conflict and Change 2004. 25:253-278. (Stephen Zavestoski, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Phil Brown, Brian Mayer, Sabrina McCormick, and Rebecca Gasior Altman)
“Gender, Embodiment, and Disease: Environmental Breast Cancer Activists’ Challenges to Science, the Biomedical Model, and Policy” (Stephen Zavestoski, Phil Brown, Sabrina McCormick) Science as Culture 2004 Vol. 13.
“ Embodied Health Movements: Responses to a ‘Scientized’ World” In The New Political Sociology of Science: Institutions, Networks, and Power. Kelly Moore and Scott Frickel, eds. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. (Rachel Morello-Frosch, Stephen Zavestoski Phil Brown, Rebecca Gasior Altman , Sabrina McCormick, and Brian Mayer), forthcoming
“‘A Lab of Our Own’: Environmental Causation Of Breast Cancer and Challenges to the Dominant Epidemiological Paradigm” (Phil Brown, Sabrina McCormick, Brian Mayer, Stephen Zavestoski, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Rebecca Gasior Altman, and Laura Senier), in press, Science, Technology, and Human Values
"Is It Safe? New Ethics for Reporting Personal Exposures to Environmental Chemicals" (Julia Green Brody, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Phil Brown, Ruthann A. Rudel, Rebecca Gasior Altman, Margaret Frye, Cheryl C. Osimo, Carla Perez, and Liesel M. Seryak). American Journal of Public Health, 2007 97: 1547-1554.
"School Custodians and Green Cleaners: New Approaches to Labor-Environmental Coalitions" (Laura Senier, Brian Mayer, Phil Brown, and Rachel Morello-Frosch). Organization and Environment 2007 20:304-324
"Democratizing Science Movements: A New Framework for Contestation." (Sabrina McCormick). Social Studies of Science 2007. 37: 609-623.
"Social Movements and Health" (Phil Brown, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Stephen Zavestoski, Laura Senier, Rebecca Altman, Elizabeth Hoover, Sabrina McCormick, Brian Mayer, and Crystal Adams) In Bernice A. Pescosolido, Jack K. Martin, Jane McLeod, and Anne Rogers, eds. Handbook of Health, Illness & Healing: Blueprint for the 21st Century New York: Springer (in press)
"Pollution Comes Home and Gets Personal: Women’s Experience of Household Chemical Exposure." (Rebecca Gasior Altman, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Julia Green Brody, Ruthann Rudel, Phil Brown, and Mara Averick) Journal of Health and Social Behavior 2008 49:417-435.
“ Teaching Small and Thinking Large: Effects of Including Social and Ethical Implications in an Interdisciplinary Nanotechnology Course” (Elizabeth Hoover, Phil Brown, Mara Averick, Agnes Kane, and Robert Hurt) Journal of Nano Education 2008 1:1-10.
"Field Analysis and Policy Ethnography: New Directions for Studying Health Social Movements" (Phil Brown, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Stephen Zavestoski, Laura Senier, Rebecca Altman, Elizabeth Hoover, Sabrina McCormick, Brian Mayer, and Crystal Adams) In Mayer Zald, Jane Banaszak-Holl, and Sandra Levitsky, eds., Social Movements and the Development of Health Institutions. Oxford University Press (in press).
"Experts, Ethics, and Environmental Justice: Communicating and Contesting Results from Personal Exposure Science" (Rachel Morello-Frosch, Phil Brown, Julia Green Brody, Rebecca Gasior Altman, Ruthann A. Rudel, Ami Zota, and Carla Perez). In Gwen Ottinger and Benjamin Cohen, eds., Engineers, Scientists, and Environmental Justice . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press (in press).
"Brown Superfund Basic Research Program: A Multistakeholder Partnership Addresses Real-World Problems in Contaminated Communities." Environmental Science and Technology 2008 42(13): 4655-4662 (Laura Senier, Benjamin Hudson, Sarah Fort, Elizabeth Hoover, Rebecca Tillson, and Phil Brown).
"Health Social Movements: History, Current Work, and Future Directions" (Phil Brown, Crystal Adams, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Laura Senier, and Ruth Simpson). Forthcoming in Peter Conrad, Chloe Bird, Allan Fremont, and Stefan Timmermans, eds., Handbook of Medical Sociology
“Elevated house dust and serum concentrations of PBDEs in California: Unintended consequences of furniture flammability standards?” (Ami Zota, Ruthann Rudel, Rachel Morello-Frosch, and Julia Brody). Environmental Science and Technology 2008 42:8158–8164.
“Pollution Comes Home and Pollution Gets Personal: Women’s Experience of Household Toxic Exposure” (Rebecca Altman, Julia Brody, Ruthann Rudel, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Phil Brown, and Mara Averick). Journal of Health and Social Behavior 2008 49:417-435.
“Tangible Evidence and Common Sense: Finding Meaning in a Community Health Study” (Madeleine Kangsen Scammell, David Ozonoff, Laura Senier, Jennifer Darrah, Phil Brown, and Susan Santos). Social Science and Medicine 2009 68:143-153.
“‘Toxic Ignorance’ and the Right-to-Know: Assessing Strategies for Biomonitoring Results Communication in a Survey of Scientists and Study Participants” (Rachel Morello-Frosch, Julia Green Brody, Phil Brown, Rebecca Gasior Altman, Ruthann A. Rudel, Carla Pérez. Environmental Health. 2009 8:6.
“Linking Exposure Assessment Science with Policy Objectives for Environmental Justice and Breast Cancer Advocacy: The Northern California Household Exposure Study” (Julia Green Brody, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Ami Zota, Phil Brown, Carla Pérez, and Ruthann A. Rudel) American Journal of Public Health 2009 99:S600-S609
“Cross-Movement Coalition Formation: Bridging the Labor-Environment Divide” (Brian Mayer) Sociological Inquiry 2009 79:219-239.
“Achieving Healthy School Siting and Planning Policies: Understanding Shared Concerns of Environmental Planners, Public Health Professionals, and Educators” (Alison Cohen) New Solutions 2010 20(1):49-72.
“Labor-Environmental Coalition Formation: Framing and the Right-to-Know" (Brian Mayer, Phil Brown, and Rachel Morello-Frosch), Sociological Forum 2010 25:745-768.
“Institutional Review Board Challenges Related to Community-Based Participatory Research on Human Exposure to Environmental Toxins: A Case Study” (Phil Brown, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Julia Green Brody, Rebecca Gasior Altman, Ruthann A. Rudel, Laura Senier, Carla Pérez and Ruth Simpson) Environmental Health 2010 9:39.
“Community Voice, Vision and Resilience in Post-Hurricane Katrina Recovery” (Rachel Morello-Frosch, Phil Brown, Mercedes Lyson, Alison Cohen, and Kimberly Krupa). Environmental Justice 2011 4:71-80.
“Disentangling the Exposure Experience: The Roles of Community Context and Report-back of Environmental Exposure Data” (Crystal Adams, Phil Brown, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Julia Green Brody, Ruthann Rudel, Ami Zota, Sarah Dunagan, Jessica Tovar, and Sharyle Patton). In Press Journal of Health and Social Behavior
“From Diagnosis to Social Diagnosis” (Phil Brown, Mercedes Lyson, and Tania Jenkins) Social Science and Medicine In press.
“Lessons Learned from Flame Retardant Use and Regulation Could Enhance Future Control of Potentially Hazardous Chemicals” (Phil Brown and Alissa Cordner). Health Affairs 2011 30 (5):1-9.
“Public Sociology for Environmental Health and Environmental Justice” (Alissa Cordner, Alison Cohen, and Phil Brown). Pp. 97-106 in Philip Nyden, Leslie Hossfeld, and Gendolyn Nyden, eds. Public Sociology; Research, Action, and Change. Los Angeles: Sage. 2012
“Place-based Environmental Health Justice Education: A Community-University-Government-Middle School Partnership” (Alison K. Cohen, Allison Waters, and Phil Brown) Environmental Justice In press.
“Our Environment, Our Health: A Community-Based Participatory Environmental Health Survey in Richmond, California” (Alison Cohen, Andrea Lopez, Nile Malloy and Rachel Morello-Frosch) Health Education and Behavior published online 8 July 2011
“Measuring The Success Of Community Science: The Northern California Household Exposure Study” (Phil Brown, Julia Green Brody, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Jessica Tovar, Ami R. Zota, and Ruthann A. Rudel). Environmental Health Perspectives (in press).
"Reflexive Research Ethics for Environmental Health and Justice" (Alissa Cordner, David Ciplet, Phil Brown, and Rachel Morello-Frosch) Social Movement Studies (in press)
"Reflexive research ethics in fetal tissue xenotransplantation research" (Bindu Panikkar, Natasha Smith, and Phil Brown) Social Science and Medicine (in press)
Reports
“Boston Public Schools Green Cleaners Project: Pilot Program Assessment.” Report to Massachusetts Committee on Occupational Safety and Health and Boston Urban Asthma Coalition (Laura Senier, Brian Mayer, Phil Brown). | PDF
"Body of Evidence: Reproductive Health and the Environment" Report published by Collaborative on Health and the Environment-Alaska and Alaska Community Action on Toxics (Rebecca Altman) 2006
"Research and Action for Environmental Health and Environmental Justice: A Report on the Brown University Contested Illnesses Research Group" (Laura Senier, Rebecca Gasior Altman, Rachel Morello-Frosch, and Phil Brown) Collective Behavior and Social Movements Newsletter (American Sociological Association) 2006
"Environmental Sociologists Help Form Local Environmental Justice Organization" Environment and Technology Section Newsletter (Phil Brown and Laura Senier) (American Sociological Association) (2008)
Articles and Reports Available From the CONTESTED ILLNESSES RESEARCH GROUP Brown University Department of Sociology. Center for Environmental Studies, Department of Community Health | PDF