Dear Members of the Brown Community,

After serving five years as dean of the School of Public Health, Dr. Ashish K. Jha will depart Brown at the end of this calendar year to lead an initiative that aims to bolster our nation’s defenses against emerging pandemic and biological threats. The initiative builds on work Ashish started while serving as the White House’s coronavirus response coordinator during a short-term leave from Brown in 2022 and has further cultivated during his term as dean.

Dr. Francesca L. Beaudoin, academic dean of the School of Public Health and a professor of epidemiology and emergency medicine, will serve as interim dean of the school beginning Jan. 1, 2026.

While Ashish’s leadership will be missed at Brown, he is embarking on exciting work that will have an impact far beyond the University. As the U.S. and other nations have continued to witness the impact of avian flu, mpox, COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, Ashish’s work can bring scientists, policymakers and organizations together to develop solutions to confront a new era of biological threats. This work holds the potential to connect directly with the pioneering work in the School of Public Health to advance pandemic preparedness and response.

As a practicing physician with expertise in infectious diseases, Ashish was appointed to lead SPH in February 2020, weeks before COVID-19 grew to a major public health crisis for the country. He began his tenure as dean in September 2020, and in the years since, SPH has become one of the leading public health institutions in the U.S. in the study of biological threats, mitigating the health effects of climate change, improving the quality and efficiency of health care systems, and targeting addiction and the impact of substance abuse disorders on communities and populations, among areas.

This work has translated to an increase in policy influence in the areas of climate change and public health, health policy reform, and overdose prevention, in addition to biosecurity and pandemic preparedness. Ashish has recruited world-class faculty with expertise across many of these areas, in addition to building the school’s work in global health and information disorders.

Beyond expanding its policy impact, SPH has experienced a period of growth and expansion under Ashish’s leadership. In Fall 2023, SPH expanded into 155 South Main St., which now houses the school’s Mindfulness Center; the Survey, Qualitative and Applied Data Research Core; and Hassenfeld Child Health Innovation Institute. The school also opened an office in Washington, D.C., in 2024, contributing to the national impact of the Pandemic Center that launched in 2022. The new presence in the capital complements the work of other research units dedicated to driving policy changes as the school has continued to build upon its tradition of research excellence by tackling some of the most pressing public health issues facing society. 

Ashish’s dedication to serving the nation and the world has been the hallmark of his work at the School of Public Health. His legacy at Brown will be his cultivation of high-impact initiatives that improve the health and lives of millions of people around the world. We have strengthened our reputation for leveraging data and science to develop solutions to complex public health challenges.

The school has also prioritized training the next generation of health leaders. Since Ashish’s arrival, graduate student enrollment at SPH is at an all-time high, more than doubling since 2020. More than 660 graduate students are actively enrolled, which is the largest graduate population in the school’s history. At the same time, more than 150 undergraduate students are currently pursuing public health as their concentration.

Ashish arrived at Brown after serving as the faculty director of the Harvard Global Health Institute. While in that role, he was a practicing general internist at the V.A. Boston Healthcare System, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a professor of global health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. At the Harvard Chan School, he served as dean for global strategy from 2018 until departing to come to Brown. 

In addition to serving as the White House’s coronavirus response coordinator at the request of President Joe Biden in 2022, Ashish previously served in a number of roles at the federal level, including as special assistant to the secretary in the Department of Veterans Affairs from 2009 to 2013. He is a globally recognized expert on pandemic preparedness and response as well as on health policy research and practice, having testified multiple times before Congress. Ashish was elected as a member of the National Academy of Medicine in 2013.

Interim Leadership of SPH

Ashish’s final day at Brown will be Dec. 31, 2025. As noted above, Dr. Francesca L. Beaudoin will oversee the school’s academic departments, research centers, doctoral and master’s programs, and undergraduate concentrations as interim dean. With more than 150 faculty and 800 undergraduate and graduate students, the school is home to 13 nationally renowned research centers and receives more than $90 million in external funding annually.

For the past two years, Francesca has been part of an exceptional leadership team at SPH and has been a key partner in the school’s growth and success. Under her leadership, the school will continue to build its national influence in using data and analysis to inform recommendations for public health policy and concrete actions to improve population health.

In addition to the national and global public health initiatives that will continue to engage faculty and student scholars across the school in the coming months and years, SPH will continue research and education initiatives to make a positive impact on local communities. This includes work on public health challenges like Rhode Island’s overdose epidemic, efforts to address air and water pollution, and collaborating with scholars across disciplines to help families cope with Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Please join us in thanking Ashish for his service to Brown. We also extend our appreciation to Francesca for preparing to propel the School of Public Health forward as it continues to make a positive impact with its education and research serving people and communities across the nation and the world. 

Christina H. Paxson
President

Francis J. Doyle III
Provost