Brown Alumni & Friends

"One of my favorite aspects of Brown University is the Open Curriculum — another is my job here. I graduated in 1993 and am now a Nurse Practitioner at Brown University Health Services. I did leave campus in between for over 20 years! Being a provider here is the best job I have ever had, and I have been working since I was 14.

At Health Services we see a variety of patients from new first year undergraduate students through folks finishing their PhDs. We provide urgent care (yes to wound care, no to casting), primary care, and screening/preventative care. During a visit here I talk to my patients about their current symptoms, medical history and family history but also their favorite classes, clubs they have joined and even favorite places to get falafel on Thayer Street.

When patients I have cared for are approaching graduation, they often stop in for a final check up or to say goodbye. We talk about where they can go for follow up care, how to transfer prescriptions and get their medical records sent to new providers. My favorite question to ask is 'what will you miss most about Brown' and then I remind them that they can always come back. I am so happy I returned to College Hill."

Heather Aliotta '93
Nurse Practitioner, Health Services
🐻

If you’re looking for the perfect summer read, look no further than your fellow Brunonians! ⛱️ 📚

+ Discover books across genres that are written by authors via Brown Alumni Magazine: bit.ly/3OCwdvv

🗓️ July 27 at 2:30 p.m. ET: Calling all recent graduates in the New York City area! 📣

Join the Alumni Relations Career and Life Design team for a career exploration event in Brooklyn. Recent graduates from the Classes of 2019-2024 will explore career paths, forge connections, and discover new engagement opportunities within the Brown community.

The two-part event will include a vision board workshop followed by a community-building social gathering featuring VP of Alumni Relations Zack Langway ’09; Chandra Metzler ’95, P’26; Veronica Espaillat ’21; and Vanessa Garcia ’20.5 ScM’22. Appetizers and refreshments will be locally and sustainably sourced by Farm to People.

Alumni are welcome to attend either or both portions of the event. Spots for the workshop are limited so early registration is encouraged.

+ Register now to reserve your spot ⬇️

Brown Alumni: Career & Life Design in NYC Attendees will take part in a vision board workshop based on Life Design principles, followed by a community-building social hour!

The late Galen Henderson MD’93, the country’s first African American neurointensivist and the first African American fellow to be inducted into the Neurocritical Care Society, was an unstinting and magnanimous member of the Brown community, sharing his time, knowledge, and energy on service to various committees, large and small.

At the peak of his career, Henderson, who passed away last December, made time to mentor students and prepare “his shoulders for the next generation of people who don’t fit the stereotype of what a physician looks like.”

In 2021, he was the inaugural recipient of the Warren Alpert Medical School’s Senior Alumni Award for Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for his work to increase the number of women and physicians from underrepresented backgrounds in academic medicine. The award will bear his name going forward.

+ Read more about the legacy he leaves behind in the latest issue of Brown Alumni Magazine.

‘Galen Had Time for Everybody’ Remembering a physician who crossed all types of barriers

It’s ! Can you guess which building at Brown bears these monumental bronze doors? 🤔 🔍

RNA may have burst into the public consciousness due to COVID, but scientists have been exploring its function for decades. A number of RNA-based therapies are already in use, some for rare diseases like spinal muscular atrophy. And, vaccines have already been developed for rabies and several cancers; clinical trials are still underway.

There is much more to come, according to Dr. Mukesh K. Jain, senior vice president for health affairs and dean of medicine and biological sciences.

“We have real potential to make significant contributions to alleviating suffering from disease, and it’s a thrill to see it happening here at Brown,” said Jain.

Unlocking the full genetic picture Brown's new RNA center is expanding RNA research and positioning Rhode Island to be a leader in the development of advances to improve human health.

Hydrangeas are popping up across campus and the blooms this season are nothing short of spectacular! 🤩

“Some of the blooms this year are the size of basketballs, like the endless summer hydrangea variety by the Nelson Fitness Center, and we’re seeing pink and purple blooms that we don’t experience very often,” marveled Nick Mol, who leads the 25-person grounds crew that carefully tends the University’s 155-acre campus.

+ Read more: https://bit.ly/4d4x6I5

Bruno is keeping busy on campus until students return in August.

Earlier today, Brown’s beloved mascot joined members of the football team in the Pizzitola Sports Center to read stories and play games with local children as part of a series of free educational events organized by the Brown University Library.

+ View the 2024 summer program schedule: bit.ly/4602cOF

The summer is heating up with exciting gatherings across the globe!

Recently, the Jabberwocks, Brown’s oldest a ca****la group, returned to Seoul after 30 years for a special dinner and musical performance in partnership with the Brown Club of Korea.

+ Want to stay connected to your fellow Brunonians—no matter where you are in the world? Check out our events calendar for upcoming alumni gatherings in your region: bit.ly/3NZCodE

As climate change intensifies, Brown is working to mitigate its effects through collaboration and interdisciplinary research.

“We are pulling together faculty from across Brown and having conversations around how we could leverage the research strengths that we have at Brown and lift our ambitions and focus them at the same time,” said Kim Cobb, director of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society.

Ashish K. Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, who participated in a discussion with Cobb on the human health impacts of climate change, highlighted a collaboration between a Brown infectious disease researcher and climate scientists. They are working together to discover how climate change is affecting disease spread, he said.

“There are multiple examples of multidisciplinary efforts like this that are not possible at most universities,” he explained. “Brown is naturally suited for this.”

Brown experts on public health in a changing climate Brown University leaders Ashish K. Jha and Kim Cobb discuss the intersection of climate change and people’s health, the challenges of our information ecosystem, and how the University’s collaborative efforts are fostering innovative solutions and preparing future leaders.

Miller Hall 1910 ➡️ Now

: Can you spot the differences? 👀

For the past eight years, Samuel M. Mencoff ’78, P’11, P’15 has served as Brown University's 21st chancellor, leading the Brown Corporation in its responsibilities as the University’s highest governing body.

Among key successes of the University during his tenure, Mencoff pointed to financial aid initiatives, including the Brown Promise and the move to need-blind admissions for international students, which have lowered barriers and increased access to a Brown education. He also noted the University’s work to double the number of military veterans enrolled as students.

“Every day in this role has been a gift,” said Mencoff, whose term culminated on June 30. “To be part of a community dedicated to the most consequential and lasting of all human creations — knowledge and ideas. Even the toughest challenges were an opportunity to learn and grow, and hopefully in some small way, to give something back to a place that has given me so much.”

+ Read more: bit.ly/3zsYj8N

The conservatory, a tropical oasis atop College Hill, provides a moment of tranquility. 🌿

Farrah Simpson ’21 ScM, ’24 PhD has just become the first Black woman to earn a doctorate in physics from Brown. Hailing from Jamaica, Simpson has traversed the country learning and gaining wisdom from some of the most prominent physicists and giving back, but her accomplishments have not come without its difficulties. Learn more about her journey from making breakthroughs in particle physics to being a champion for diversity to the next generation of Black physicists in our latest issue.

While pursuing a medical degree, Ho-Shia Thao ’09 took beginner ballet classes at a local dance studio. What began as a hobby quickly became a passion.

“There is a throughline in my trajectory from medical anthropology to medicine to dance, and that lies in the concept of healing as it pertains to the human body and experience,” said Thao, who serves as artistic director of the Hudson Ballet Theatre.

The decision to make the leap from medicine to a professional career in ballet was an easy one.

“I felt prepared for the change because I had already mastered perseverance and resiliency at Brown,” he said. “The mentality that there is no wrong choice in life continues to be a driving force for me some 15 years after graduating and it’s a message that embeds itself in my work as a choreographer as well.”

Tapping into the transformative power of dance After initially pursuing a career in medicine, choreographer Ho-Shia Thao ’09 is putting the complexities of the human experience front and center on the stage.

The Institute at Brown for Environment and Society recently celebrated a decade of driving equitable and scalable solutions to the most complex climate and sustainability challenges of the 21st century.

Hear from IBES Director Kim Cobb about its vision for the future and how the institute is creating a new model to outline the ways institutions can be catalysts for change.

“Even as we look to the past and understand all the growth and success that we’ve had to bring us to this moment, we are looking forward right now with a bold new strategic plan,” said Cobb. “And there is no doubt that we can’t do this alone.”

Celebrating 10 Years of IBES: Empowering people, driving solutions for a sustainable world Founded in 2014 and built upon a long legacy of visionary environmental scholarship at Brown University, the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society (...

Soldiers Memorial Gate is a sight to see as it radiates with the sun. 🔆

A new exhibit on view at Stonewall House is shedding light on the history of q***r activism on campus through collaborative journals written by .

The entries cover topics like self-identity, LGBTQ community and activism during the height of the AIDS epidemic, and they are accompanied by present-day reflections from alumni who contributed to the journals.

At its core, Caitlin O’Neill, director of Brown’s LGBTQ Center, said the exhibit offers current Brown students a unique opportunity for historical and personal contemplation.

“They’re able to reflect on the experiences of past iterations of the LGBTQ community at Brown and how vastly different their experiences on campus have been, while also acknowledging how similar some of their hopes and desires were for their futures,” said O’Neill.

Student-curated exhibition explores history of LGBTQ student experiences at Brown "So That We May Write and Be Heard," on view at Stonewall House, unearths and expands on a decades-old collection of collaborative journals written by students at Brown, and adds alumni reflections.

Whether you're just a few steps from College Hill or anywhere around the world, your Brown professional networks are just a few quick clicks away!

Thanks to a wide range of virtual communities, can connect with fellow Brunonians across industry sectors, from engineering and tech to arts and media.

📈 Finance | Brown Investment Group: https://bit.ly/3yUzLoG

🔬 Life Sciences | Brown Public Health Alumni: https://bit.ly/3RcFgW5

⚛️ Engineering & Technology | Brown in Technology: https://bit.ly/4c5ZU2d

❣️ Nonprofit, Social Enterprise & Public Service | Careers In Common Good: https://bit.ly/459bAyY

📽️ Arts & Media | Brown in Media: https://bit.ly/3Rc2iwq

It’s officially the first day of summer and campus is in full bloom! ☀️

In an interview with Brown’s research magazine Impact, Lina Fruzzetti, the University’s first tenured woman of color, reflected on her trailblazing career in anthropology and ethnographic filmmaking.

“The skills I gained from anthropology were the skills I lived with and experienced,” explained Fruzzetti, who retired this past May after teaching at Brown for nearly 50 years.

Born to an Eritrean mother and an Italian father, Fruzzetti arrived in the US during the 1960s as a young college student from Northeast Africa’s Nile River Valley in Sudan and the mountainous terrain of Eritrea.

Fruzzetti hopes her contributions and experiences as a displaced person, refugee, and immigrant will foster greater representation in academia.

“That's the legacy I want to leave: more people like me teaching in the different disciplines,” she said.

A Legacy of Inclusion Internationally renowned anthropologist and ethnographic filmmaker Lina Fruzzetti, Brown’s first tenured woman of color, retires after joining the anthropology department in 1975.

🗓️ June 20 at noon ET: As part of the Brown Global Alumni Career Initiative, Brunonians who share aspirations and experiences related to global or transnational careers are invited to participate in a virtual event centered on working abroad.

Thursday’s discussion will feature insights from Zack Langway ’09, vice president for alumni relations; Andrew Heald, director of the Global Brown Center; and Olivia Watson ’16 and Alexea Benros of the Office of Alumni Relations’ career and life design team.

Get ready to learn how to navigate the global employment landscape, leverage your Brown resources, and find community wherever you are.

+ Register: https://bit.ly/4b3I5A0

A record-breaking 39 Fulbright scholarships were awarded to recent Brown graduates for the 2024-25 academic year, making the University a top producing institution of The Fulbright Program

“This is our largest group of ‘Fulbrighters’ to date, and once more, this group reflects the ambitious paths all students at Brown take as they venture forth and make an impact in the world,” says Joel Simundich, assistant dean of the College for fellowships.

Brown’s newest cohort of Fulbright recipients submitted project proposals to teach and conduct research in 23 countries across North and South America, Asia, Europe and Africa. Research award recipients will pursue projects in a variety of fields, from microbiology and journalism to computer science and musicology.

Recent Brown graduates earn 39 Fulbright scholarships This year’s 39 Fulbright awardees — Brown’s largest group of recipients to date — will begin teaching and research assignments in 23 countries across five continents in Fall 2024.

Landing in mailboxes now, our newest June-August 2024 issue celebrates the triumphs of Brunonians both within and outside the gates.

From victory on the rugby fields to defying the odds in particle physics, saving the lives of millions by redefining food insecurity research or transforming the pain of the past into artistic prowess in stage and in print; these stories both on campus and beyond remind us all of the power of the human spirit!

You can get inspired by our newest issue by checking your mailbox or this link: https://bit.ly/3XutXwv

Photo: Alex Gagne

Happy to the greatest mascot Brown University could ever ask for! 🐻 🐾

Though their discoveries have led to the creation of hundreds of the medications we use today, physician-scientists constitute about 1.5 percent of all physicians in the United States. What’s more, the numbers are declining.

It’s one of the many pressing global health issues that Brown aims to address as it blazes a trail in biomedical research. In addition to building an integrated biomedical ecosystem with The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Brown University School of Public Health, and Brown University Engineering, the University is expanding opportunities for trainees to seek dual careers as physician-scientists, among other things.

“Medical schools and health systems need to work together because we both share the view that physician-scientists are critical to our efforts to impact human health,” said Mukesh K. Jain, senior vice president for health affairs and dean of medicine and biological sciences. “I do not believe that everybody needs to be a physician-scientist. But we do need a critical mass, and that is being threatened today.”

Future Impact Finding a shared North Star for Brown, Lifespan, and Care New England during his first year at Brown, Dean Jain looks forward to integrating their research activities and benefiting patients in the Providence community and beyond.