PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Dr. Megan L. Ranney, deputy dean at Brown University’s School of Public Health and a professor of emergency medicine at the University’s Warren Alpert Medical School, has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine as a member of its 2022 class.
Ranney is one of 100 new members invited by current members to join this year’s class. Election to the academy is considered one of the highest honors in health and medicine, and recognizes individuals at the top of their field who have demonstrated “outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service.”
“I am beyond honored by this election,” Ranney said. “The National Academy of Medicine serves as a touchstone for rigorous science and respectful scientific debate. This evidence-centered community matters immensely as we confront multiple medical and public health challenges — particularly in this moment, when science and scientific communication matter so deeply to the world. It is so meaningful to have been elected as a member.”
According to a statement from the academy, Ranney was elected in recognition of her role as a national public health leader and communicator “who has brought deeper understanding of public health challenges” and “who has changed public health paradigms through technology-based interventions to reduce violence (particularly firearm injury), mental illness, substance use and infectious disease risk.”
Over the past five years, Ranney has worked with the National Academy of Medicine and its members on issues related to firearm injury, COVID-19, and science communication. As a researcher, she has focused on developing, testing and disseminating digital health interventions to prevent violence and related behavioral health problems, as well as on COVID-related risk reduction. She is well-known for her work on firearm injury prevention and education and is the co-founder and senior strategic advisor for the American Foundation for Firearm Injury Reduction in Medicine, a nonprofit committed to ending the gun violence epidemic through a non-partisan public health approach.
Ranney is a national advocate for innovative approaches to public health and in 2019 founded the Brown-Lifespan Center for Digital Health, in which physician-scientists at Brown and its affiliated hospital partners collaboratively design, test and deploy digital solutions to pressing health challenges. She has received numerous awards for technology innovation, public health and research. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ranney, a practicing emergency physician, co-founded GetUsPPE.org, a start-up nonprofit that delivered donated personal protective equipment to medical professionals.
Ranney earned a master’s degree in public health from Brown, completed her residency in emergency medicine and a fellowship in injury prevention research at Brown, and joined the faculty of the Warren Alpert Medical School in the Department of Emergency Medicine in 2010. She earned her bachelor’s degree in history of science from Harvard University and her M.D. from Columbia University.
Ranney joins other Brown community members in the National Academy of Medicine, including Dr. Eli Adashi, professor of medical science and former dean of medical and biological sciences; Dr. Phyllis Dennery, professor and chair of pediatrics; John Donoghue, professor of neuroscience and engineering; Tejal Desai, dean of engineering; Dr. Jack A. Elias, professor of translational science and former dean of medical and biological sciences; Dr. Mukesh K. Jain, dean of medical and biological sciences; Dr. Ashish K. Jha, dean of the School of Public Health; Vincent Mor, professor of health services policy and practice; James Morone, professor of public policy; Dr. Josiah Rich, professor of medicine and epidemiology; David Savitz, professor of epidemiology, obstetrics and gynecology, and pediatrics.