Brown University hosted its annual Public Health Research Day on April 7, bringing together approximately 100 students to present their research projects at Alumnae Hall as part of National Public Health Week.
The event is considered the premier showcase for student-led public health research at Brown, offering a platform for students to discuss their findings and methodologies with peers and faculty. Awards for outstanding undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral posters will be announced during a celebration on April 16.
Several students shared insights into their projects. Roya Barakzai described her evaluation of a digitized reentry health guide: “What we found was that it was perceived to be usable, feasible and acceptable — overall, there were really positive reviews. We found an extra function of the guidebook, which wasn’t intentional: that it could be used to train workers, as well. We did receive a few edits, which we’re going to apply to the guidebook, and then we’re going to start piloting the guide within reentry communities to see how it actually performs.”
Kate Choi discussed her study on hospital mergers: “The most consistent finding is that there was a lower probability of a hospital being able to maintain maternal health care services after mergers and acquisitions, which has significant implications for public health. I’m now looking at the sociological mechanism as to why this might be happening — there’s definitely more to be studied.”
Other projects included Safwan Islam’s survey of occupational hazards among gas station workers; Peyton Luiz’s agent-based model examining influenza transmission in university settings; Jake Stevens’ analysis of heat and pollution effects on heart failure hospitalization risks in older adults; and Haiyue Song’s development of statistical methods for studying brain connectivity related to Alzheimer’s disease.
Students expressed plans for further research or publication based on feedback from this event. The showcase reflects ongoing efforts by Brown University School of Public Health students to address diverse challenges in healthcare access, policy outcomes, environmental impacts on health, disease modeling, and neurological disorders.
