Lori DiPrete Brown

Department of Civil Society and Community Studies, School of Human Ecology; 4W Initiative

Education

MS, Health Policy and Management, Harvard School of Public Health

MTS, Religion, Gender and Social Change, Harvard Divinity School

BA, Philosophy and Psychology, Yale College

Lori DiPrete Brown is distinguished teaching faculty and director of Global Health and Human Ecology in the Department of Civil Society & Community Studies in the School of Human Ecology.

DiPrete Brown works at the interface of public health and human ecology to advance quality of life and environmental sustainability worldwide. Her community-engaged teaching, outreach, and scholarship focus on the health and well-being of women and children around the world.

DiPrete Brown leads Global Health and Human Ecology at the School of Human Ecology and serve as the director of the campus-wide 4W Women and Wellbeing Initiative, which has catalyzed a range of innovative programs that address gender-based inequality and injustice. She is also a co-chair for UW’s UniverCity Alliance, where they collaborate to address complex challenges in urban-centered systems within the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

As an associate director for the UW Global Health Institute from 2010-2022, she led the design and implementation of global health education programs for both health science students and undergraduates. DiPrete Brown is the lead author and editor of Foundations for Global Health Practice (Wiley 2018), a text that articulates a local to global vision of health that goes beyond healthcare systems, to include topics such as human rights, global mental health, water and sanitation, food systems, climate change and urban health.

Throughout her career, DiPrete Brown has had the privilege of collaborating with international leaders to strengthen health and social service programs. In Latin America she has lived or worked in Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, and Mexico. In Africa she led capacity-building exchanges in Ethiopia, Cameroon, Malawi, Ghana, Zambia, South Africa, Tanzania, and Senegal. She also carried out QI training in India, Nepal, Thailand, and Pakistan. From 2011-2016 she directed UW–Madison’s Quality Improvement Leadership Institute, which engaged more than 100 leaders from 24 countries. Many of these leaders have continued collaborations throughout UW–Madison. She enjoys connecting colleagues and students with places that have been part of her life.

DiPrete Brown has served in the Peace Corps (Honduras) and holds degrees from Yale College, the Harvard School of Public Health, and the Harvard Divinity School.