Our very own, Omar Galarraga, PhD has been selected in the Atlas of Inspiring Hispanic/Latinx Scientists.

Congratulations to Alyssa Bilinski for winning the Salomon Award. The Richard B. Salomon Faculty Research Awards are competitively awarded and support excellence in scholarly work by providing funding for selected faculty research projects deemed to be of exceptional merit.

The Diamond Fund provides resources to the School of Public Health (SPH) through the Center for Gerontology and Healthcare Research to support several types of activities for SPH faculty and students. This support is intended to facilitate aging research collaborations Rhode Island community-based organizations, healthcare providers, or state agencies (e.g., Department of Health).

Ellen McCreedy, assistant professor of health services, policy and practice, and Ann Reddy, project director in the Center for Gerontology and Healthcare Research were granted funding for their collaborative projects with community health organizations. Their work focuses on addressing public health challenges that impact children and older adults.

A recent study evaluating COVID-19 vaccine safety was conducted by adjunct faculty member Kevin McConeghy in collaboration with Veteran Health Administration researchers in the Center for Medication Safety and other faculty members in the Brown Departments of Health Systems, Policy and Practice and Epidemiology. The researchers acknowledged concerns about vaccine safety and hesitancy and sought to evaluate overall risk of death with the primary series vaccination. The study utilizes target trial emulation methods to compare risk of death from to any cause in the first 60 days among 3 million Veterans assigned to either COVID-19 vaccination versus no vaccination from March 1, 2021, and July 1, 2021. Veterans assigned to a vaccination strategy experienced a 12–14% lower risk of death at 60 days versus unvaccinated, although the difference was not statistically significant. These findings align with prior scientific knowledge suggesting that vaccination is safe and emphasizes the importance of observational studies, and the VA healthcare system, to assess the risks of rare adverse events and long-term complications.