On Thursday, February 27, seven Master of Public Affairs (MPA) Director's Fellows presented the results of a semester of research working with Watson faculty and other international and public affairs professionals.
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Adam C. Levine, MD, MPH, FACEP
Director, Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies, Professor of Emergency Medicine and International and Public Affairs
Stephen Robert Hall, Room 214
Areas of Expertise
Ethnic Conflict & Civil War, Global Health, Human Rights
Areas of Interest
Disasters, emerging infectious diseases, humanitarian emergencies, human rights
Biography
Dr. Adam C. Levine is a Professor of Emergency Medicine and International and Public Affairs at Brown University. Dr. Levine currently serves as the Director for the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, whose mission is to promote a just, peaceful, and secure world by furthering a deeper understanding of human rights and humanitarian challenges around the globe, and encouraging collaboration between local communities, academics, and practitioners to develop innovative solutions to these challenges. He also serves as the Associate Dean of Global Health Equity at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Dr. Levine received his Medical Doctorate from the University of California, San Francisco and his Masters of Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley before completing his specialty training in Emergency Medicine at the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency in Boston. He has previously led research and training initiatives in East and West Africa and South and South-East Asia. His own NIH and foundation-funded research focuses on improving the delivery of emergency care in resource-limited settings and during humanitarian emergencies.
Research
COVID-19: Dr. Levine has served as the site-Primary Investigator for a multicenter randomized controlled trial of convalescent plasma for outpatient treatment of early COVID-19 infection in adults, with the primary goal of reducing hospitalizations in this cohort. In addition, he was sub-investigator for a separate randomized controlled trial of outpatient monoclonal antibodies for outpatient treatment of early COVID-19 in adults, which demonstrated a greater than 70% reduction in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths. Dr. Levine is also primary investigator for a qualitative, multi-country study evaluating the role of civil society in COVID-19 response and a separate study investigating the role of military, national guard, and police during the COVID-19 response in the US and other countries.
Cholera: Despite tremendous progress over the past several decades, cholera and other severe diarrheal diseases remain a leading cause of death in both children and adults worldwide. Dr. Levine conducted a series of studies in Rwanda and Bangladesh focusing on the development of new tools for the assessment of dehydration in both children and adults with acute diarrhea. His current NIH funded research has focused on the development of a mobile health application to assist clinicians in low-resource settings to provide appropriate rehydration and treatment for patients with acute diarrhea.
Ebola Virus Disease: Dr. Levine served as Principal Investigator for International Medical Corps’ Ebola Research Team during serial outbreaks in both West Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This research has resulted in more than two-dozen publications and led to the development of new tools that front-line health workers can use to diagnose and manage patients with EVD in the context of an epidemic, as well as expanding our understanding of the natural history of this deadly disease. Most recently, he served on the Global Trial Board of the PALM Trial, which led to the discovery of the first effective treatments for Ebola Virus Disease, and also led a study of Ebola and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in eastern DRC.
Improved Diagnostics for Global Health: Dr. Levine has carried out a series of studies investigating the novel use of cost-effective diagnostic technologies for managing the most common causes of death in children and adults worldwide. This includes several studies on the use of handheld, portable ultrasound for the assessment of dehydration in children with diarrhea, new mobile health tools for managing dehydration in patients with diarrhea, and biosensor patches for monitoring vital signs in patients with suspected EVD and sepsis. Improved diagnostics can help clinicians in resource-limited settings provide the effective care for patients while limiting the overuse of precious health care resources.
Trauma Management in Austere Settings: Dr. Levine previously conducted research on the management of traumatic injuries, both in resource-limited settings such as sub-Saharan Africa and during humanitarian emergencies. This research focused both on understanding the burden of injury in these contexts, as well as developing novel methods for improving the delivery of care to patients across the globe suffering from acute injuries.
Publications
Levine AC, Barry MA, Gainey M, Nasrin S, Qu K, Schmid CH, Nelson EJ, Garbern SC, Monjory M, Rosen R, Alam, NH. Derivation of the First Clinical Diagnostic Models for Dehydration Severity in Patients over Five Years with Acute Diarrhea. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2021 Mar 10;15(3):e0009266. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0009266. eCollection 2021 Mar. PMID: 33690646.
Garbern SC, Chu TC, Gainey M, Kanekar S, Nasrin S, Qu K, Barry MA, Nelson EJ, Leung DT, Schmid CH, Alam NH, Levine AC. Multidrug-Resistant Enteric Pathogens in Older Children and Adults with Diarrhea in Bangladesh: Epidemiology and Risk Factors. Trop Med Health. 2021 May 10;49(1):34. doi: 10.1186/s41182-021-00327-x. PMID: 33966631.
Barry MA, Qu K, Gainey M, Schmid CH, Garbern S, Nasrin S, Alam NH, Lee JA, Nelson EJ, Rosen R, Levine AC. Derivation and Internal Validation of a Score to Predict Dehydration Severity in Patients over 5 Years with Acute Diarrhea. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2021 Aug 16:tpmd210143. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.21-0143. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34398821.
Lee JA, Qu K, Gainey M, Kanekar SS, Barry MA, Nasrin S, Alam NH, Schmid CH, Levine AC. Continuous diagnostic models for volume deficit in patients with acute diarrhea. Trop Med Health. 2021 Sep 6;49(1):70. doi: 10.1186/s41182-021-00361-9. PMID: 34488910; PMCID: PMC8422628.
Gainey M, Qu K, Garbern SC, Barry MA, Lee JA, Nasrin S, Monjory M, Nelson EJ, Rosen R, Alam NH, Schmid CH, Levine AC. Assessing the performance of clinical diagnostic models for dehydration among patients with cholera and undernutrition in Bangladesh. Trop Med Int Health. 2021 Sep 1. doi: 10.1111/tmi.13675. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34469615.
Nasrin S, Garbern SC, Gainey M, Kanekar S, Qu K, Chu TC, Schmid CH, Nelson EJ, Alam NH, Levine AC. Clinical and Demographic Factors for Detecting Presumed Bacterial Etiology of Acute Diarrhea in Patients Over Five Years of Age. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2021 Nov 1:tpmd210580. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.21-0580. PMID: 34724626.
Karim N, Mumporeze L, Nsengimana VJP, Gray A, Kearney A, Aluisio AR, Mutabazi Z, Baird J, Clancy CM, Lubetkin D, Uwitonze JE, Nyinawankusi JD, Nkeshimana M, Byiringiro JC, Levine AC. Epidemiology of Patients with Head Injury at a Tertiary Hospital in Rwanda. West J Emerg Med. 2021 Nov 5;22(6):1374-1378. doi: 10.5811/westjem.2021.4.50961. PMID: 34787565; PMCID: PMC8597684.
Kharel R, Baird J, Vaishnav H, Chillara N, Lee JA, Genisca A, Hayward A, Uzevski V, Elbenni A, Levine AC, Aluisio AR. Development and assessment of novel virtual COVID-19 trainer-of-trainers course implemented by an academic- humanitarian partnership. Glob Health Action. 2022 Dec 31;15(1):2010391. doi: 10.1080/16549716.2021.2010391. PMID: 35006037; PMCID: PMC8751496.
Levine AC, O'Connell KJ, Schnadower D, VanBuren TJM, Mahajan P, Hurley KF, Tarr P, Olsen CS, Poonai N, Schuh S, Powell EC, Farion KJ, Sapien RE, Roskind CG, Rogers AJ, Bhatt S, Gouin S, Vance C, Freedman SB; Pediatric Emergency Research Canada (PERC) the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN). Derivation of the Pediatric Acute Gastroenteritis Risk Score to Predict Moderate-to-Severe Acute Gastroenteritis. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2022 Feb 3. doi: 10.1097/MPG.0000000000003395. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35129163.
Sullivan DJ, Gebo KA, Shoham S, Bloch EM, Lau B, Shenoy AG, Mosnaim GS, Gniadek TJ, Fukuta Y, Patel B, Heath SL, Levine AC, Meisenberg BR, Spivak ES, Anjan S, Huaman MA, Blair JE, Currier JS, Paxton JH, Gerber JM, Petrini JR, Broderick PB, Rausch W, Cordisco ME, Hammel J, Greenblatt B, Cluzet VC, Cruser D, Oei K, Abinante M, Hammitt LL, Sutcliffe CG, Forthal DN, Zand MS, Cachay ER, Raval JS, Kassaye SG, Foster EC, Roth M, Marshall CE, Yarava A, Lane K, McBee NA, Gawad AL, Karlen N, Singh A, Ford DE, Jabs DA, Appel LJ, Shade DM, Ehrhardt S, Baksh SN, Laeyendecker O, Pekosz A, Klein SL, Casadevall A, Tobian AAR, Hanley DF. Early Outpatient Treatment for Covid-19 with Convalescent Plasma. N Engl J Med. 2022 May 5;386(18):1700-1711. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2119657. Epub 2022 Mar 30. PMID: 35353960; PMCID: PMC9006786.
Rosen RK, Garbern SC, Gainey M, Lantini R, Nasrin S, Nelson EJ, Elshabassi N, Alam NH, Sultana S, Hasnim T, Qu K, Schimid CH, Levine AC. Designing a Novel Clinician Decision Support Tool for the Management of Acute Diarrhea in Bangladesh: Formative Qualitative Research. JMIR Hum Factors 2022;9(1):e33325. doi: 10.2196/33325
Genisca AE, Chu TC, Huang L, Gainey M, Adeniji M, Mbong EN, Kennedy SB, Laghari R, Nganga F, Muhayangabo RF, Vaishnav H, Perera SM, Colubri A, Levine AC, Michelow IC. Risk Prediction Score for Pediatric Patients with Suspected Ebola Virus Disease. Emerg Infect Dis. 2022 Jun;28(6):1189-1197. doi: 10.3201/eid2806.212265. PMID: 35608611; PMCID: PMC9155869.
Rupani N, Ngole ME, Lee JA, Aluisio AR, Gainey M, Perera SM, Ntamwinja LK, Matafali RM, Muhayangabo RF, Makoyi FN, Laghari R, Levine AC, Kearney AS. Effect of Recombinant Vesicular Stomatitis Virus-Zaire Ebola Virus Vaccination on Ebola Virus Disease Illness and Death, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Emerg Infect Dis. 2022 Jun;28(6):1180-1188. doi: 10.3201/eid2806.212223. PMID: 35608607; PMCID: PMC9155898.
Teaching
IAPA 1802S: Human Security and Humanitarian Response
Recent News
In Nature, Adam Levine discusses the need for global preparedness as outbreaks of animal-transmitted diseases like Marburg become increasingly frequent.
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News from Watson
Alumni Spotlight: Laura Cianciolo ’24 MPA
Laura Cianciolo, who earned her Master of Public Affairs at the Watson Institute in 2024, credits her Watson-acquired expertise in statistics, econometrics, data visualization, problem-solving skills and interdisciplinary problem-solving with empowering her to conduct more sophisticated and meaningful research.
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In a new paper, a team of researchers led by members of the Watson Institute's Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies found that civil society organizations in the Global South played a critical role in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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This year six Watson research proposals were awarded a total of $121,486 in Birkelund Funds. The funds are used to support faculty research — especially in the early stages — and to encourage student engagement in research.
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In an article for NBC News, Adam Levine discussed the risk of tainted water in war zones, noting that in other conflicts around the world, infectious diseases actually kill more civilians than bombs or bullets.
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