New Edition of Brownson’s Acclaimed Public Health Text is Published

Brown School and School of Medicine Professor Ross C. Brownson has updated his classic textbook, Evidence-Based Public Health, in a third edition that includes new material from around the world.

Originally published in 2003, Evidence-Based Public Health (Oxford University Press) has become a standard guide for professionals, students and researchers in public health and preventive medicine. It has been translated into several languages and used in training programs for practitioners in Latin America, Europe and the Middle East. The American Journal of Epidemiology said of the book: “It should be recommended or assigned to all students in public health.”

Evidence-Based Public Health explains how to choose, carry out, and evaluate evidence-based programs and policies in public health settings. The new edition updates all chapters, adds a new chapter on capacity building, and draws more heavily on examples from many parts of the world.

In the preface, Brownson and his co-authors note that the new edition retains a “real-world” view and takes into account the practical, as well as scientific, challenges faced by public-health professionals.

“Evidence-based decision making is a complex, iterative, and nuanced process,” they write. “Public health decisions are shaped by the range of evidence (e.g., experience, political will, resources, values), not solely on science.”

Brownson is the Bernard Becker Professor at Washington University in St. Louis, and director of the Prevention Research Center. He is a leading expert in chronic disease prevention and applied epidemiology.

His co-authors are Elizabeth A. Baker, professor at the College for Public Health and Social Justice, Saint Louis University; Anjali D. Deshpande, clinical associate professor at the University of Iowa College of Public Health; and Kathleen N. Gillespie, associate professor at the College of Public Health and Social Justice, Saint Louis University.