Brown enters academic alliance with state health department

The Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) and the Brown University School of Public Health recently signed an agreement to create an academic partnership that makes RIDOH an academic health department, in a manner similar to affiliations creating teaching hospitals.

“The Brown University School of Public Health and RIDOH have worked side by side for the well-being of Rhode Islanders for many years as we strive together to improve population health," Brown University School of Public Health Dean Terrie Fox Wetle said. "This new agreement strengthens our ties to better translate public health science into policy and delivery of services across the state."

This agreement builds on the RIDOH Academic Center, which is working to improve the state’s health workforce through the promotion of innovation, research, evaluation and quality improvement and academic collaboration. The agreement will allow Brown students will be able to work in the RIDOH Academic Center’s Public Health Scholars Program and foster collaborative research between the institutions, amongst other measures.

“This new collaboration will allow us to develop, implement and evaluate cutting-edge public health interventions that will help improve health outcomes and build healthier communities in every zip code in Rhode Island,” RIDOH Director Nicole Alexander-Scott said. “Good public health does not happen without research and collaboration. I’m proud to be entering into this partnership with the Brown University School of Public Health and to establish a national model for partnerships between academic institutions and public health departments.”