E. Richard “Rick” Brown, a professor in the UCLA Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health who founded the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, died on April 20. He was 70.
Brown suffered a stroke while moderating a panel at a conference on health communication at the University of Kentucky, and later died in a hospital in Lexington, Ky., said Marianne Parker Brown, his wife.
A faculty member at UCLA for 33 years, Brown founded the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research in 1994. Prior to the center’s existence, there was no focus at UCLA for people interested in that area of study, said Gerald Kominski, director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.
Brown was also the founder and principal investigator of the California Health Interview Survey, which collects health data about Californians. He served as president of the American Public Health Association, and he advised former President Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama on health care reform.
The survey that Brown created in 2001 has become a fundamental source of information for researchers, policymakers and community advocates. Most health surveys up to that point were national, but this survey focused on the state to identify the health and needs of its population.
Ninez Ponce, an associate professor for the school of public health, worked with Brown as the co-principal investigator of the survey in 2001 and 2003.
Brown was visionary in his use of research to inform political advocates, Ponce said.
Shana Lavarreda, director of health insurance studies at UCLA, first met Brown as a graduate student in the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. She worked with him on the survey, researching methodology on translating it to different languages. To her surprise, Brown threw a party for her upon her graduation, she said.
“He was a school professor, director of the center, (but still) a year and a half later, he got up and told (everyone at the party) how much of an impact I made ““ it was incredibly inspiring,” Lavarreda said.
She later returned to UCLA to earn her doctorate degree and to work as a project manager for him.
“(For) my career and who I am and what I focus on, Rick Brown was there every step of the way,” Lavarreda said.
Born on Feb. 17, 1942 in Plainfield, N.J., Brown moved out to Los Angeles at a young age. His parents, immigrants from Eastern Europe, were both social activists.
The first in his family to attend college, Brown earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology, a master’s degree in education and later a doctorate in sociology of education from UC Berkeley. Throughout his time in college, he was involved with a variety of civil rights movements.
His experience advocating for these issues, as well as growing up in a low-income family, inspired his fight for universal health care throughout his life, Marianne Parker Brown said.
Brown is survived by his wife of 46 years, Marianne, as well as his daughters, Delia Brown and Adrienne Faxio, his brother Julian Horowitz and his granddaughter Makeda.
A memorial service will be held on May 29 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. in Schoenberg Hall and will be open to the public.