Hilary Brown

Biography

Hilary Brown, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto, in the Department of Health & Society (Scarborough Campus) and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health (St. George Campus). She is cross-appointed to the Faculty of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry and is an Adjunct Scientist at Women’s College Hospital and ICES. Dr. Brown holds a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Disability & Reproductive Health. Her research program uses epidemiologic methods to examine maternal and child health across the life course, with a particular focus on populations with disabilities and chronic disease.

Education

• PhD, Epidemiology & Biostatistics (Western University), with Western Certificate in University Teaching and Learning
• MSc, Community Health & Epidemiology (Queen’s University)
• BAH, Psychology and Health Studies (Queen’s University)

Affiliations

• Graduate Cross-Appointment, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
• Cross-Appointment, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
• Adjunct Scientist, Women’s College Research Institute, Women’s College Hospital
• Adjunct Scientist, Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences

Teaching Interests

• Foundations in Epidemiology
• Introduction to Public Health
• Methods in Reproductive and Perinatal Epidemiology
• Reproductive Health

Research Interests

• Reproductive and perinatal epidemiology
• Maternal and child health​
• Chronic medical conditions and disabilities
• Health and social services administrative data

Awards and Grants

Selected Grants:

• Canadian Institutes of Health Research, “Traumatic brain injury and perinatal mental health outcomes” (2020-2023, Nominated Principal Investigator)
• National Institutes of Health, “Pregnancy in women with disabilities: Using novel methods to characterize risk” (2017-2021, Nominated Principal Investigator)
• Canadian Institutes of Health Research, “Infants born to women with disabilities: Health and health care use” (2017-2020, Principal Investigator)
• Canadian Institutes of Health Research, “Chronic medical conditions and perinatal mental illness” (2017-2019, Principal Investigator)
• Connaught New Researcher Award, “Maternal diabetes and perinatal mental illness: A population-based cohort study” (2017-2019, Principal Investigator)
• Women’s Xchange 15K Challenge, “Pilot randomized controlled trial of an interconception intervention delivered by public health nurses to improve reproductive and perinatal outcomes” (2017-2018, Principal Investigator)

Selected Awards:

• American Public Health Association Disability Section New Investigator Award (2020)
• Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Disability and Reproductive Health (2019-2014)

Publications

Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications:

• Brown HK, Chen S, Guttmann A, et al. Rates of recognized pregnancy in women with disabilities in Ontario, Canada. American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology 2020;222(2):189-192.
• Brown HK, Wilton D, Ray JG, et al. Chronic physical conditions and risk for perinatal mental illness: A population-based retrospective cohort study. PLoS Medicine 2019;16(8):e1002864.
• Brown HK, Ray J, Liu N, et al. Rapid repeat pregnancy among women with intellectual and developmental disabilities: A population-based cohort study. Canadian Medical Association Journal 2018;190(32):e949-956.
• Brown HK, Ray J, Wilton AS, et al. Association between serotonergic antidepressant use during pregnancy and autism spectrum disorder in children. Journal of the American Medical Association 2017;317(15):1544-1552.
• Brown, HK, Speechley KN, Macnab J, et al. Mild prematurity, proximal social processes, and development. Pediatrics 2014;134(3):e814-24.
• Brown HK, Speechley KN, Macnab J, et al. Neonatal morbidity associated with late preterm and early term birth: The roles of gestational age and biological determinants of preterm birth. International Journal of Epidemiology 2014;43(3):802-814.

See also: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=hilary+k+brown