COVID-19

Health and Medicine

What the COVID-19 pandemic teaches us about the future of public health

January 4, 2021

Scholars from Brown and its School of Public Health take stock of what went wrong during the pandemic, what went right, and what needs to change so the nation is better prepared for the next health crisis.

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Social Sciences

Conversations on COVID: How the pandemic could increase homelessness in 2021

December 18, 2020

Francesca Mari, a visiting lecturer at Brown, spoke about what might happen when the federal eviction moratorium ends on Jan. 31 — and why millions of disadvantaged Americans have struggled to afford urban housing for years.

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Arts and Humanities

Online and on-site, Brown and its partners ‘top off’ future Performing Arts Center

December 10, 2020

To celebrate the topping-off of its future hub for performing arts scholarship, University leaders joined construction workers and key project partners for a live-streamed virtual ceremony complete with on-site drone footage.

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Science and Technology

Research reveals how airflow inside a car may affect COVID-19 transmission risk

December 4, 2020

A new study uses computer simulations to track airflows inside a car’s passenger cabin, providing potential strategies — some of them counterintuitive — for reducing the risk of transmitting airborne diseases.

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Health and Medicine

With COVID-19 vaccine near, Brown researchers to track adverse impacts in nursing home residents

December 2, 2020

A new federal grant will enable a Brown research team and Genesis HealthCare to identify and track health impacts after elderly residents in long-term care facilities receive vaccinations.

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Health and Medicine

New communications toolkit aims to encourage routine COVID-19 testing across the U.S.

November 19, 2020

The Brown University School of Public Health, Harvard Global Health Institute and the Rockefeller Foundation launched a toolkit to help health officials, community organizations convey the importance of asymptomatic testing.

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University Initiatives

Healthy Ambassadors play crucial role in promoting healthy behavior, curbing COVID-19 on campus

November 19, 2020

A new initiative has both encouraged adherence to health protocols, contributing to Brown’s low COVID-19 case count, and mobilized more than 70 staff members whose work responsibilities were altered by the pandemic.

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University Initiatives

Staff members lend creativity, commitment to Brown’s pandemic response

November 19, 2020

Employees from across the University have redefined their roles to address challenges arising from the ongoing pandemic, supporting world-class teaching, research and student opportunities.

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News and Events

Final week of fall courses at Brown will be conducted remotely

November 17, 2020

With increasing COVID-19 cases in Rhode Island and nationally, and an uptick of positive cases on campus, Brown will move to online-only instruction for undergraduate and graduate students for the final six days of classes.

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News and Events

What to expect on Election Day, according to Brown's faculty experts

October 29, 2020

Eight faculty members shared their analysis on what the nation can expect on Election Day and beyond — at the polls, on the streets and potentially in the courts.

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Student Life

PHOTOS: Some in-person activities resume at Brown, with creative twists to maintain health and safety

October 26, 2020

With the second phase of the University’s return to fall term in-person operations underway, students have more opportunities to engage in campus activities that have been modified to meet health guidelines.

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Social Sciences

Political, environmental, race scholars share presidential debate takeaways

October 23, 2020

Faculty at Brown shared their thoughts on the final televised presidential debate before the 2020 election, where the two major candidates sparred over COVID-19, climate change and racial justice.

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Health and Medicine

Dr. Ashish Jha: For public health leaders, ‘expertise plus humanity’ is key to success

October 1, 2020

A prominent global voice on COVID-19 and the new dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, Dr. Jha weighs in on lessons from the pandemic and how educators can best train future leaders in health and medicine.

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News and Events

Political, economic, health scholars weigh in on first presidential debate

September 30, 2020

Faculty at Brown shared their takeaways on the first U.S. presidential debate, where the two candidates discussed the COVID-19 pandemic, the economy, the U.S. Supreme Court and voting by mail.

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Health and Medicine

COVID-19 Biobank at Brown and Lifespan fuels critical research amid pandemic

September 15, 2020

A bank of biological samples created by medical scholars and clinicians could help Brown researchers answer pressing questions about diagnosing and treating COVID-19.

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News and Events

Brown to welcome more students to residence halls, begin limited in-person instruction

September 10, 2020

As part of a phased approach to welcoming students to campus for the fall, the University will allow additional undergraduates to move in this month, with some small undergraduate classes to be held in-person beginning in October.

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Arts and Humanities

With COVID-19 archives, Brown students, faculty and staff aim to diversify the historical record

August 31, 2020

In the midst of the first global pandemic of the digital age, historians and archivists, both at Brown and across the globe, have launched countless efforts to record history in the making.

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University Initiatives

Brown launches community-wide effort to promote healthy behaviors during the pandemic

August 27, 2020

A new Brown Takes Care initiative will directly engage students, faculty and staff as storytellers and influencers to promote essential health practices to fight COVID-19, both on campus and in the greater Providence community.

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Health and Medicine

Cesar Orduña: Delivering free virus tests to Rhode Island’s underserved

August 12, 2020

Since May, a Brown senior and other students have played an instrumental role in providing COVID-19 tests to low-income, uninsured Rhode Island residents, many of whom are working on the front lines amid a global pandemic.

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Stay-at-home orders significantly associated with reduced spread of COVID-19, study finds

August 12, 2020

As COVID-19 swept across the nation, most states went into lockdown — new research and state-by-state data suggests that stay-at-home orders helped slow the pandemic significantly.

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News and Events

Brown to stagger fall student arrivals, attentive to COVID cases rising locally and nationally

August 11, 2020

The University will implement a phased approach to move-in and in-person undergraduate instruction, with the goal of bringing most returning undergrads to campus by late September, provided the public health situation improves.

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News and Events

Dr. Anthony Fauci: ‘Maybe this will be a wake-up call for society to change’

August 7, 2020

In a virtual forum hosted by the Brown University School of Public Health, Dr. Fauci joined incoming dean Dr. Ashish K. Jha to address the challenges and responsibilities as public health leaders work to limit COVID-19’s spread.

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News and Events

Widespread testing remains key factor in nation’s ability to reopen, experts say

August 6, 2020

In a virtual discussion, economist Emily Oster and public health expert Dr. Ashish Jha agreed that embracing imperfect but effective methods, including testing and contact tracing, can keep Americans safe as the country reopens.

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Science and Technology

Portia Tieze: Conducting science research from home in a pandemic

July 30, 2020

Novel coronavirus and its effect on University science laboratories has kept engineering student Portia Tieze from working on campus this summer — so she brought the lab to her apartment to continue her research.

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Health and Medicine

In upcoming events, Dr. Fauci, Brown scholars to discuss nation’s challenges, readiness to reopen

July 30, 2020

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, one of the world's leading infectious disease physicians, will join incoming Brown School of Public Health dean Dr. Ashish K. Jha for a publicly accessible, live-streamed event on Aug. 7.

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University Initiatives

Letter from President Paxson: Supporting Brown’s International Students

July 8, 2020

President Christina H. Paxson wrote to the campus community about University opposition to new federal guidance on the Student and Exchange Visitor Program and how Brown can best support its international students.

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News and Events

Brown invites students back to campus with three-term model, reduced density for 2020-21

July 7, 2020

To mitigate the pandemic’s impact, the University will allow undergraduates back for two terms in a three-term model, reduce the density of students in campus housing, offer instruction in person and remotely, and implement extensive testing, tracing and public health measures.

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Social Sciences

Annenberg Institute to provide research-based advice for educators amid COVID-19

June 30, 2020

Project led by the Annenberg Institute and Results for America will equip educators with research briefs on addressing teaching challenges, from coping with learning loss to protecting the most vulnerable students.

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Health and Medicine

Brown’s medical school leads the way in establishing first USMLE regional testing site

June 25, 2020

In the face of COVID-19, leaders at the Warren Alpert Medical School worked with the U.S. Medical Licensing Examination on a solution enabling medical students to take essential licensing exams that had been cancelled.

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News and Events

Brown suspends standardized test requirement for 2020-21 undergraduate admissions cycle

June 12, 2020

The University has made standardized test scores optional for applicants in the upcoming undergraduate admissions cycle to account for the unprecedented obstacles to testing arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

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News and Events

Paxson tells U.S. Senate stakes are high as universities seek to safely reopen

June 4, 2020

Testifying before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Brown President Christina H. Paxson detailed the complex decisions facing university leaders as they assess how to deliver education safely this fall.

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Social Sciences

Conversations on COVID: How science, data can inform personal choices during the pandemic

June 3, 2020

Emily Oster, an economist and public policy expert at Brown, has partnered with medical experts, data scientists and Brown students to create a hub of helpful information about COVID-19.

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News and Events

Conversations on COVID: Students organize to take food from farms to food banks

May 26, 2020

The FarmLink Project, started by students from Brown and other schools, is moving food that farmers would normally sell to restaurants to food banks around the country, putting it in the hands of those in need.

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News and Events

Brown to confer 2,657 degrees at Virtual Degree Conferral ceremonies

May 23, 2020

At three Virtual Degree Conferral ceremonies on Sunday, May 24, Brown will confer 2,657 degrees — undergraduate, graduate and medical — in advance of Class of 2020 Commencement activities in Spring 2021.

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Health and Medicine

Brown physician-scholar testifies on COVID-19 before U.S. House committee

May 21, 2020

Megan Ranney, an associate professor of emergency medicine, urged the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis to ramp up manufacturing and distribution of personal protective equipment.

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Student Life

From Brown-RISD undergraduate, ‘20 Drawings for the Class of 2020’

May 20, 2020

With seniors who are culminating their undergraduate experiences remotely in mind, Brown-RISD dual degree student Yunni Cho created a digital collection of drawings depicting favorite sites on the College Hill campuses.

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Social Sciences

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Brown economist, colleagues develop real-time economic tracker

May 7, 2020

The research team Opportunity Insights, co-directed by Professor of Economics John Friedman, developed a tool to help policymakers and nonprofits respond to rapid economic shifts during the global health crisis.

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News and Events

With Commencement postponed until May 2021, Brown will honor 2020 graduates virtually

May 6, 2020

Virtual Degree Conferral ceremonies on May 24 will mark the milestone of graduation in advance of next spring’s Commencement and Reunion Weekend, which will honor the classes of 2020 and 2021.

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News and Events

Brown research teams mobilize to investigate COVID-19 solutions

May 6, 2020

Brown’s new COVID-19 Research Seed Fund is supporting 15 teams of faculty researchers who are working rapidly to develop solutions that could impact the world’s response to the pandemic.

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Social Sciences

Conversations on COVID: How to persuade loved ones to stay at home

April 30, 2020

Rob Grace, a Ph.D. student at Brown, drew from his research on humanitarian negotiation to offer advice on how to convince skeptical friends and family to protect themselves from COVID-19 via social distancing.

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Social Sciences

Choices Program offers Rhode Island teachers access to digital course content

April 28, 2020

The Choices Program at Brown is granting high school teachers in Rhode Island free access to digital editions of its classroom units, which cover topics including war, genocide and climate change.

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News and Events

Paxson in New York Times: Colleges have a duty to reopen campuses, safely, as soon as possible

April 26, 2020

Students, and local economies, will depend on the efforts of colleges and universities to marshal the resources and expertise to make it possible to safely reopen, Brown’s president argues.

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News and Events

Andrew Yang reflects on campaign, talks new initiatives in virtual discussion

April 23, 2020

A conversation between former presidential candidate Andrew Yang and Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez, both Brown alumni, touched on the upcoming general election and the social consciousness of the Brown community.

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Arts and Humanities

First from Giza, now from home, Brown Egyptologist dives into innovation in online teaching

April 23, 2020

Victoria Almansa-Villatoro, a Ph.D. student in Egyptology, worked with learning designers at Brown to create an interactive online course about the pyramids, kings and societies of the third millennium B.C.

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News and Events

Brown provides short-term residence hall housing to front-line personnel fighting COVID-19

April 21, 2020

In partnership with the State of Rhode Island, the University has opened currently unoccupied residence halls to front-line personnel seeking to isolate from family members while supporting the state’s pandemic response.

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Health and Medicine

Amid COVID-19 crisis, more than 30 Brown med students graduate early to begin hospital work

April 17, 2020

Fourth-year medical students at the Warren Alpert Medical School who have completed requirements and elected to graduate early will join the fight against COVID-19 both locally and in residencies nationwide.

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Science and Technology

Conversations on COVID: Tracing contacts while preserving privacy

April 16, 2020

Researchers including computer science professor Anna Lysyanskaya are working on a way to use cell phones to track people who may have been exposed to coronavirus — without revealing any personal information.

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Arts and Humanities

Brown Arts Initiative thinks creatively about sparking creativity in the age of social distancing

April 15, 2020

A new virtual arts hub, BAI at Home, details live-streamed concerts, online exhibitions and creative challenges for students, faculty, staff and members of the greater community.

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News and Events

Virtual discussion offers Brown community members forum to discuss COVID-19’s impact

April 14, 2020

Nearly 1,000 students, faculty and staff participated in a remote meeting of the Brown University Community Council, which included a moderated Q&A session with senior leaders.

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Science and Technology

Brown Design Workshop responds to COVID crisis with custom-made solutions

April 14, 2020

In the University’s makerspace, 3D printers and other rapid prototyping equipment are being used to make personal protective equipment and other components that address the specific needs of local health providers.

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