PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — The Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly known as Obamacare, has reduced the number of Americans without health insurance from 18 percent to about 13 percent, statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show.

At the 2018 China Heart Congress (CHC), where over 10,000 cardiovascular disease researchers from around the world gather, Dr. Simin Liu, Professor of Epidemiology, Medicine, and Surgery and Director of the Center for Global Cardiometabolic Health, was awarded an Honorary Adjunct Professorship at the Chinese National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases, Fuwai Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Contrary to popular belief amony some college students, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medications may fail to improve cognition in healthy students and actually can impair functioning, according to a study by researchers at Brown University and the University of Rhode Island (URI).

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — New research from Brown University suggests that federal rankings of Medicare Advantage plans may unfairly penalize those that enroll a disproportionate number of non-white, poor and rural Americans.

The Brown University School of Public Health will distribute $100,000 in loan forgiveness funds from the Lucius N. Littauer Foundation to 20 public health Master's alumni engaged in work that improves the health of underserved populations. Congratulations to all of the recipients!

The Academy Health Annual Research Meeting is the gathering place for individuals leading the charge to transform delivery systems and health care in a rapidly changing landscape. Over the course of the three-day conference, more than 2,500 individual attendees work together to share and strengthen the evidence needed to inform the decisions that affect the health of individuals and communities.

The Milken Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank working to increase global prosperity by advancing collaborative solutions that widen access to capital, create jobs, and improve health. According to the Institute, “We are strong believers that the only way to solve today’s most pressing public health challenges is by bringing prevention to the forefront, engaging unlikely partners, and collaborating to create and implement actionable solutions that are tailored to community needs.”

A new study comparing the health outcomes of more than 300,000 Medicare patients who completed rehabilitation therapy after hospitalization for hip fractures found that more care may not translate to better long-term health.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] —A new study led by Nan Li, a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Epidemiology, found that children on the threshold of obesity or overweight in the first two years of life had lower perceptual reasoning and working memory scores than lean children when tested at ages five and eight. The study also indicated that IQ scores may be lower for higher-weight children.