Joe Brown

Joe Brown is an environmental scientist with broad interests in water and environmental health.  He is currently a Lecturer in Water and Health in the Department of Disease Control, Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), University of London.   His previous faculty appointment was at the University of Alabama.  Joe has also been a consultant with UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the World Bank, and numerous other organizations on topics related to water and sanitation.

Joe’s lab and field-based research at LSHTM is focused on four core areas: (1) characterizing links between pathogens in the environment and human health, using epidemiology and risk modeling; (2) drinking water and sanitation technology characterization, innovation, and sustainability; (3) disasters and health; and (4) environmental justice and public health, especially in the American South.  He and his graduate students work in Cambodia, Zambia, India, Tanzania, Malawi, Pakistan, and the UK, and the USA.

Two current projects are a randomized controlled trial of a novel water filtration device among people living with HIV in Zambia (NIH) and a four-year study of water infrastructure sustainability and health in the rural American South (EPA).  His work at UNC during the 2012-2013 academic year will build on these two projects through collaboration with UNC colleagues in environmental and global health.

Following a BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Alabama, Joe gained a Master’s degree in Geography from Cambridge University and a PhD in Environmental Sciences and Engineering from UNC’s Gillings School of Global Public Health in 2007.  In 2008, Joe’s PhD work in Cambodia received the Global Project Innovation Award from the International Water Association.