Dr. Brown’s research focuses on racial health disparities across the life course, with a particular emphasis on Black aging and the cumulative effects of structural racism. Her work centers Black Appalachian communities and examines how place, economic systems, and historical exclusion shape health outcomes. She also explores the mental and emotional impacts of racial capitalism across generations.
Dr. Brown teaches courses like Introduction to African American Studies, The Black Woman, Black Men and Masculinities, and Race, Health, and Structural Inequality. Her teaching focuses on connecting different generations. She often brings together younger and older people through oral history, life course perspectives, and community projects. She uses fugitive pedagogy as a way to encourage critical engagement. This approach highlights lived experience, narrative, and community knowledge as valid forms of scholarship.
Dr. Brown’s service focuses on community-engaged work, particularly with organizations addressing health disparities in Black and underserved populations. This includes building partnerships, supporting community-based initiatives, and developing programming that connects research to practice.
Dr. Brown brings expertise in qualitative research (interviews, focus groups, narrative analysis), community-engaged research, program development, grant writing, and translating research into accessible, community-centered initiatives. She also has experience recruiting and working with hard-to-reach populations, particularly within Black and rural Appalachian communities.