The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University

06/16/2026

🎉 Congratulations to Dr. J. Dawn Abbott on being named president of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions, an international organization representing more than 5,000 members across 75 countries.

A leader in interventional cardiology, Abbott serves as director of interventional cardiology and cardiac catheterization laboratories at Brown Health's Cardiovascular Institute. Her appointment reflects a remarkable commitment to advancing cardiovascular care, education, and mentorship.

PROVIDENCE – Brown University Health cardiologist Dr. Jinnette Dawn Abbott has been selected to lead an internationally extending nonprofit, the health system announced last week. Abbott was named president of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions at the organization’s Scien...

06/16/2026

PFAS "forever chemicals" continue to raise questions about drinking water safety—but what does it actually take to reduce exposure?

David Savitz, professor emeritus of pediatrics and of obstetrics and gynecology, recently discussed the progress that's been made in lowering levels of certain PFAS chemicals and the ongoing challenges facing communities with elevated contamination levels.

As efforts to address PFAS continue, where should attention be focused next?

Read more:

The EPA plans to scrap regulations for certain 'forever chemicals' in drinking water systems among other measures that have sparked concern.

06/16/2026

The full Warren Alpert Medical School Commencement gallery is now live! Relive the celebration and see if you can spot yourself, your friends, or your family.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/alpertmedicalschool/albums/72177720334183828/with/55330920578

📸: David DelPoio

06/15/2026

What happens when a physician's patient panel doubles, but the number of appointment slots doesn't?

Caroline Richardson, chair of family medicine, spoke about a growing challenge facing primary care: physicians are being asked to manage increasingly large patient panels while struggling to maintain timely access for care.

The result? Many patients technically have a primary care physician but can't get an appointment when they need one.

As the family medicine shortage continues to grow, the pressure on clinicians—and the implications for patient care—are becoming harder to ignore.

Read more:

More than 8 in 10 U.S. adults (84%) have a family physician or primary care doctor, according to a new HealthDay/Harris Poll survey. But many of these folks have a family doctor only on paper, it seems.

06/15/2026

Anxiety among kids and teens has doubled since the pandemic — and experts say families everywhere are feeling it.

Jennifer Freeman says today’s youth are navigating rising social pressures, stress and uncertainty that can deeply affect mental health and development.

From school avoidance to social anxiety, this story explores what families are seeing — and the strategies helping kids cope.

Read more. 👇

  Anxiety has quietly become a major health condition among kids and adolescents. But with the myriad silver bullets that trigger anxious feelings Anxiety has quietly become a major health condition among kids and adolescents. Here are some pathways for parents to find solutions in this growing epi...

06/13/2026

We invite the Brown community and our friends around the world to join together in observing a moment of silence to mark six months since the shooting that occurred on our campus on December 13, 2025.

We acknowledge the void left by the two members of the Brown family we lost, and the pain that our entire community has carried since that day. We recognize our community’s grief and its resilience, and the continued healing that is part of our shared experience.

We are ever true.

06/13/2026

Six months later, the grief, courage and humanity of Dec. 13 still stay with the Brown community.

In the latest issue of Medicine@Brown, physicians, trainees and emergency responders reflect on the night a mass shooting shattered a sense of safety — and on the compassion, professionalism and connection that carried people through the unimaginable.

“It’s Always Somewhere Else Until It’s Not” is a deeply personal look at what happens when caregivers are called to treat members of their own community.

Read the full story:

Brown physicians trained for years to respond to a mass shooting. But nothing could prepare them to treat members of their own community.

06/12/2026

What if a familiar animal was doing something scientists didn't know was possible?

Brown postdoctoral researcher David Cuban led a study revealing that sunbirds use a suction-based nectar-feeding mechanism never before observed in vertebrates. Using high-speed video, fluid dynamics modeling, and microscopic CT scans, researchers uncovered a feeding strategy that challenges longstanding assumptions about how nectar-feeding birds drink.

The discovery offers new insights into evolution, animal biomechanics, and plant-pollinator relationships.

Read more:

Sunbirds use intralingual suction to drink nectar, a behavior never observed in vertebrates

06/12/2026

Bipolar depression rarely exists in isolation.

Research led by Professor Mark Zimmerman found that 80% of outpatients seeking treatment for bipolar depression had at least one comorbid psychiatric disorder, while more than 60% had two or more.

The study also revealed a notable treatment gap: patients with comorbid substance use disorders and specific phobias were among the least likely to want treatment for those conditions.

The findings raise important questions about diagnosis, patient engagement, and how clinicians address psychiatric comorbidity in everyday practice—particularly given that many clinical trials exclude patients with complex presentations.

Read more: https://ow.ly/fofS50Z7m1Z

06/11/2026

What happens when global health research funding disappears?

For researchers, it means delayed studies and lost opportunities. For trainees, it can mean abandoning careers in global health. But for patients around the world, it can mean losing access to treatments, care, and lifesaving interventions.

In this powerful feature, Brown University experts including Professor Jennifer Friedman ’92 MD’96, MPH, PhD, P’28, Associate Dean of Global Health Equity Adam Levine, Professor Rami Kantor, Director of the Brown Global Alliance for Infant and Maternal Health Research Anne CC Lee, Director of Medical Student Research Stephanie Garbern F’19, and Senior Adviser to the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health Seth Berkley ’78 MD’81, P’27MD’31 discuss how recent U.S. funding cuts are disrupting decades of progress in infectious disease research, maternal and child health, HIV care, outbreak preparedness, and scientific collaboration.

One warning stands out: We may be at risk of losing an entire generation of global health leaders.

Read the full story in the latest edition of Medicine@Brown
https://medicine.at.brown.edu/news/2026-05-15/lives-balance

US cuts to research funding are unraveling decades of global health progress and scholarship.