Brown University School of Public Health [Providence, RI] — The American Public Health Association (APHA) concluded its annual conference on November 9th in Boston. This year’s event marked two causes for celebration: participants were able to meet in person for the first time since 2019, and this year the APHA celebrated the 150th Anniversary of its founding, just as a sizable amount of the pandemic gloom has begun to dissipate.
The conference was a well-timed opportunity for Brown community members passionate about public health to engage with each other’s work. Participants were also able to catch up with friends during the poster sessions while gaining insights into potential areas of focus for their careers.
“This year’s APHA conference was a great success,” said Ron Aubert, interim dean of the School of Public Health, “thanks in part to the presentations from Brown students and researchers. It was also an opportunity to connect with our alumni and celebrate our community.”
Brown faculty and students engaged in thought-provoking conversations about issues such as vaccine hesitancy among young people and people of color, pandemic-driven racism against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, the solitary nature of drug overdose deaths, substance use disorder services for transgender and gender-diverse residents of Rhode Island, and the ways in which people can become more involved with political decisions that affect their healthcare.
"It was a delight to celebrate the APHA and their 150-year-long commitment to advocating for public health,” said Dr. Megan Ranney, deputy dean of the School of Public Health. “I was so proud of everyone from Brown – students, faculty, researchers, and alumni - who elevated the discussion on a range of timely topics. In both scholarship and practice, our school's work is clearly helping to lead the field."
Among the Brown cohort of speakers and participants were undergraduate students Miguel Blancarte and Nelson Lin; graduate students Anthony Surace, Jordan Abelson, Anna Alikhani, Ma. Irene Quilantang, Gray Babbs, Jacqueline Ellison, and Tyler Alexander; researchers Yoojin Lee, Haley Adrian, Audrey DeBritz, Courtney DelaCuesta, Brendan Jacka, Augustine Kang, and Ariel Hoadley; and faculty members Elizabeth Tobin-Tyler, Alexandra Collins, Jaclyn White-Hughto, Rosemarie Martin, Shufang Sun, Ju Nyeong Park, Samantha Rosenthal, Patricia Markham Risica, Madina Agénor, Barbara Bardenheier, Dr. Stefan Gravenstein, Linda Resnik, Eric Jutkowitz, Omar Galárraga, Ira Wilson, Megan Ranney, and Theresa Shireman.
by Carl Dimitri