The People, Place & Health Collective: A New Vision for Improving People’s Health
We are people centered, place oriented, & data driven
Today, I’m very proud to launch The People, Place & Health Collective, a new research laboratory in the Department of Epidemiology at the Brown University School of Public Health. We are a diverse team of staff, students, postdocs, and faculty who are tackling the most pressing challenges in America today, from the nation’s overdose crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, to the synergistic effects of overlapping infectious disease and substance use epidemics.
We study drugs, infectious disease, and intersecting epidemics
We are launching this new initiative because traditional epidemiological research — so often disconnected from the communities it studies — is insufficient to improve health and affect policy change. Through the People, Place & Health Collective, we aim to tackle this challenge by conducting research that pairs rigorous epidemiological methods with broad, accessible communication to generate measurable and meaningful community impact. We work directly and collaboratively with members of the community, advocates, state agencies, journalists, and policymakers to achieve that change. Most of this work takes place at the local level, recognizing that where we live influences health and shapes population health outcomes.
Public health solutions for our communities
Our team works in research pods, which anchor our rich methodological expertise and support our various research projects, grants, and contracts. Our Community-Engaged Research Pod works in tandem with community organizations and people directly affected by public health crises throughout the research process.
Our specialized pods make epidemiology accessible & impactful.
Our Computational Epidemiology Pod conducts modeling and simulation work that reflects health challenges faced by real people and informed by local needs. This team leads the TITAN Model, which simulates the transmission of HIV to optimize the impact of public health interventions and increase health equity.
Staff in our Data Management & Visualization Pod offer technical support and data literacy tools needed to advance and enhance our research and service projects. They create trusting partnerships with state agencies and community partners, built upon data security, transformation, and translation. The team also provides support to investigators affiliated with the NIH-funded COBRE on Opioids and Overdose, and manages Rhode Island’s nationally renowned overdose dashboard, PreventOverdoseRI.org.
Finally, through our Narrative Projects and Policy Impact Pod, we produce publications, advocacy documents, and plain language communications that help our partners achieve their goals. We link researchers to the media, organizers and activists, policymakers, and the public to maximize impact and drive change. This team manages our Medium page, which we encourage you to follow for all of the latest insights and thoughts from our collaborators and members of our team.
Over the coming months we’ll be launching additional initiatives and projects, all with the goal of bringing our work directly to the people of Rhode Island and beyond. Stay in touch with us on Medium, Twitter, and Instagram.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought extraordinary challenges, immense hardship, and yawning health inequities that demonstrate the fight for racial and social justice is far from over. But it’s also shown us the need for a bolder, more expansive vision of public health. A public health which is the people’s health: a discipline that studies the systems, policies, and conditions that make us sick, and works with communities to advocate for change. I hope you’ll join us.
