Heidi Brown

Heidi Brown
Job Title(s)
Associate Professor,
Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department
E-mail
heidibrown@arizona.edu
Courses Taught
  • CPH 676:  Spatial  Epidemiology (spring semester)
  • CPH 309:  Introduction to Epidemiology (spring semester)

Dr. Brown is an interdisciplinary research scientist investigating the effects of environmental factors on disease risk. Her research centers on not only elucidating why disease exists in the places it does but also how it spreads to and establishes in new locations. She is drawn to public health because of the scientific challenge in understanding the complexities of disease transmission but also because the field has a long history of working alongside practitioners and policy planners to bring about change, both aspects of which are reflected in her work.

Since 2015, Dr Brown and her Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) team coordinates yearly reports on the Arizona county pilot projects to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention BRACE national program. These yearly reports consist of information gathering on key metrics for each pilot project, synthesizing the results, and providing a summary report to the agency. Results and information from the pilot projects are collected through a data management system over the course of the year to facilitate easier reporting. In addition to information management for yearly reports, the University team also provides technical assistance and project coordination throughout the duration of the county projects. The University team helps coordinate climate and health projects related to vector-borne diseases (Pinal County), extreme heat and heat-related illness (Pinal County, Pima County), and strategic planning initiatives involving local stakeholder networks (Maricopa County).

Selected Publications
  1. Roach, M., Brown, H.E., Wilder, M., Smith, G. R., Chambers, S., Patten, I. E., **Rabby, Q. (2017) Assessment of Climate and Health Impacts on Vector-Borne Diseases and Valley Fever in Arizona. A report prepared for the Arizona Department of Health Services and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Climate-Ready States and Cities Initiative. http://www.azdhs.gov/preparedness/epidemiology-disease-control/extreme-weather/index.php#news-publications
  2. Roach, M., Barrett, E., Brown, H.E., Dufour, B., Hondula, D.M., Putnam, H., Sosa, B. (2017) Arizona's Climate and Health Adaptation Plan. A report prepared for the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Climate-Ready States and Cities Initiative. http://www.azdhs.gov/preparedness/epidemiology-disease-control/extreme-weather/index.php#news-publications
  3. Austhof E.C., Anderson C.L., Berisha V., Gettel, A., Domky, I., Brown, A.F., Hondula, D.M., Brown, H.E. Nguyen, H. Gap Analysis of Climate and Health Research in Arizona: A report by the Research Action Team of Bridging Climate Change and Public Health in cooperation with the Maricopa County Department of Public Health. September 4, 2020. maricopa.gov/climateandhealthworkgroup.

Her expertise in climate and climate adaptation led to her appointment to serve as the lead on the vector-borne disease chapter of the National Academy of Science review panel for the US Global Change Research Program's (USGCRP) report, The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States. In 2017-18, she co-authored the Southwest Chapter of the 4th National Climate Assessment, a Highly Influential Scientific Assessment.

  1. Gonzalez, P., Garfin, G.M., Breshears, D.D., Brooks, K.M., Brown, H.E., Elias, E.H., Gunasekara, A., Huntly, N., Maldonado, J.K., Mantua, N.J., Margolis, H.G., McAfee, S., Middleton, B.R., and Udall, B.H. (2018). Southwest. In Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II [Reidmiller, D.R., Avery, C.W., Easterling, D.R., Kunkel, K.E., Lewis, K.L.M., Maycock, T.K., and Stewart, B.C. (eds.)]. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, USA. doi: 10.7930/NCA4.2018.CH25
  2. Brown, H.E., Comrie, A.C., Tamerius, J., Khan, M., Tabor, J.A., Galgiani, J.N. "Climate, windstorms, and the risk of valley fever (Coccidioidomycosis)," The Influence of Global Environmental Change on Infectious Disease Dynamics: Workshop Summary. 2014, Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
  3. Ernst, K.C., Morin, C., Brown, H.E. "Extreme Weather Events and Vector-borne Diseases," Public Health in Natural Disasters: Nutrition, Food, Remediation and Preparation (Watson, R.R., Tabor, J.A., Ehiri, J.E., and Preedy, V.R. (eds.) 2014, The Netherlands: Wageningen Academic Publishers.