Jennifer Nazareno

Dr. Jennifer Nazareno, Ph.D. is interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs & Innovation at Brown University’s School of Professional Studies. She is also the inaugural Associate Director of the online Master in Public Health (MPH) program, which she helped create and launch in Fall 2022.

She holds a dual faculty appointment at Brown with the School of Public Health (SPH) in the Department of Behavioral & Social Sciences and the Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship, where she is the Endowed Barrett Hazeltine Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship Practice. Dr. Nazareno is the first faculty member to have been awarded Dean’s Awards for teaching and mentorship for three consecutive years at the School of Public Health.

Dr. Nazareno holds a Ph.D. in Medical Sociology from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Her dissertation won the UCSF Anselm Strauss Award for Most Distinguished Qualitative Dissertation and was the first study to examine the lived experiences of immigrant Filipino women who emerged as owners of health and long-term service-related businesses. Her research focuses on the intersection of immigrant Filipino women’s migration, labor, and entrepreneurship in the U.S. health and long-term care industry.

In 2019, Dr. Nazareno co-founded the Philippine Health Initiative for Research, Service, & Training (PHIRST), a global health initiative at Brown School of Public Health. The growing PHIRST team has since published dozens of research articles focused on improving the health and well-being of people in the Philippines and immigrant and US-born Filipinx/a/o Americans.