About

Benjamin H. Brown, MD, MPH, is a board-certified family medicine physician affiliated with the University of Utah Health. He received his bachelor's degree in Biochemistry from Utah State University and attended medical school at the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont. Following his medical training, he earned a Master of Public Health degree from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, focusing on social and behavioral health. Dr. Brown completed his residency in Family Medicine at the University of Utah. His professional interests include immigrant health, health disparities, and disease prevention. He divides his time between clinical practice and research within the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, emphasizing holistic, patient-centered care. His approach incorporates mindfulness and lifestyle strategies aimed at improving health outcomes.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Computer Science
• Sociology
• Medicine
• Computer Security
• Demography
• Environmental health
• Geography
• Statistics
• Socioeconomics
• Business
• Mathematics
• Psychology
• Ecology
• Physical therapy

Selected publications

• Local environmental attributes and type 2 diabetes: Green amenities, walkability indicators, and air pollution are associated with incidence

  Environment International · 2025-10-17 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Although multiple environmental attributes have been associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D) incidence, longitudinal evidence is needed that accounts for co-exposures and key confounding variables. This study estimates associations between environmental attributes (i.e., green amenities, air pollution, neighborhood walkability indicators, and availability of food retailers) and T2D incidence. Records came from the Utah Population Database and included individuals born from 1970 to 1990 and their parents residing in the four-county urban core of Utah (N = 909,729). T2D diagnoses came from multiple health data sources, spanning from 1996 to 2019. Time-varying environmental attributes were objectively measured, and covariate adjustment included area- and individual-level socioeconomic characteristics, geographic correlates of environmental attributes, and family history of T2D. Results from Cox regression models indicated that higher block group-level residential greenness (HR = 0.945, 95% CI: 0.92, 0.97), green land cover (HR = 0.984, 95% CI: 0.97, 1.00), and active commuting rate (HR = 0.964, 95% CI: 0.95, 0.98) were independently associated with reduced T2D hazard. In contrast, higher concentration of ambient particulate matter (HR = 1.079, 95% CI: 1.04, 1.12) and intersection density (HR = 1.026, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.04) were associated with increased T2D hazard. Population density and food retailer availability were not associated with T2D hazard. Inferences were similar in sensitivity tests that aimed to remove prevalent cases, accounted for period effects, and modeled attributes at the scale of census tracts. Our findings suggest that green amenities, air pollution, and land use should not be overlooked in societal efforts to improve population-level metabolic health.

  PublisherDOI

• Residential environments and active living

  Elsevier eBooks · 2025-01-01

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• List of contributors

  Elsevier eBooks · 2025-01-01

  book-chapter
  PublisherDOI

• Family history of type 2 diabetes and the risk of type 2 diabetes among young and middle‐aged adults

  Chronic Diseases and Translational Medicine · 2024-07-23 · 7 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Background The prevalence of type 2 diabetes has been growing among younger and middle‐aged adults in the United States. A portion of this increase for this age group may be attributable to shared type 2 diabetes risks with family members. How family history of type 2 diabetes history is associated with type 2 diabetes risk among younger and middle‐aged adults is not well understood. Methods This population‐based retrospective cohort study uses administrative, genealogical, and electronic medical records from the Utah Population Database. The study population comprises offspring born between 1970 and 1990 and living in the four urban Utah counties in the United States between 1990 and 2015. The sample comprises 360,907 individuals without a type 2 diabetes diagnosis and 14,817 with a diagnosis. Using multivariate logistic regressions, we estimate the relative risk (RR) of type 2 diabetes associated with the number of affected first‐ (FDRs), second‐ (SDRs), and third‐degree (first cousin) relatives for the full sample and for Hispanic‐specific and sex‐specific subsets. Results Individuals with 2+ FDRs with type 2 diabetes have a significant risk of type 2 diabetes in relation to those with no affected FDRs (RR = 3.31 [3.16, 3.48]). Individuals with 2+ versus no SDRs with type 2 diabetes have significant but lower risks (RR = 1.32 [1.25, 1.39]). Those with 2+ versus no affected first cousins have a similarly low risk (RR = 1.28 [1.21, 1.35]). Larger RRs are experienced by males (2+ vs. 0 FDRs, RR = 3.55) than females (2+ vs. 0 FDRs, RR = 3.18) ( p < 0.05 for the interaction). These familial associations are partly mediated by the individual's own obesity. Conclusions The risks of type 2 diabetes are significantly associated with having affected first‐, second‐, and third‐degree relatives, especially for men. One of the forces contributing to the rising patterns of type 2 diabetes among young and middle‐aged adults is their connection to affected, often older, kin.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Instrumental variables in the cost of illness featuring type 2 diabetes

  Health Services Research · 2024-11-26

  articleOpen access

  OBJECTIVE: To ascertain how an instrumental variables (IV) model can improve upon the estimates obtained from traditional cost-of-illness (COI) models that treat health conditions as predetermined. STUDY SETTING AND DESIGN: A simulation study based on observational data compares the coefficients and average marginal effects from an IV model to a traditional COI model when an unobservable confounder is introduced. The two approaches are then applied to real data, using a kinship-weighted family history as an instrument, and differences are interpreted within the context of the findings from the simulation study. DATA SOURCES AND ANALYTIC SAMPLE: The case study utilizes secondary data on type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) status to examine healthcare costs attributable to the disease. The data come from Utah residents born between 1950 and 1970 with medical insurance coverage whose demographic information is contained in the Utah Population Database. Those data are linked to insurance claims from Utah's All-Payer Claims Database for the analyses. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The simulation confirms that estimated T2DM healthcare cost coefficients are biased when traditional COI models do not account for unobserved characteristics that influence both the risk of illness and healthcare costs. This bias can be corrected to a certain extent with instrumental variables. An IV model with a validated instrument estimates that 2014 costs for an individual age 45-64 with T2DM are 27% (95% CI: 2.9% to 51.9%) higher than those for an otherwise comparable individual who does not have T2DM. CONCLUSIONS: Researchers studying the COI for chronic diseases should assess the possibility that traditional estimates may be subject to bias because of unobserved characteristics. Doing so may be especially important for prevention and intervention studies that turn to COI studies to assess the cost savings associated with such initiatives.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Social inequities in neighborhood health amenities over time in the Wasatch Front Region of Utah: Historical inequities, population selection, or differential investment?

  Cities · 2023-11-27 · 6 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The changing food environment and neighborhood prevalence of type 2 diabetes

  SSM - Population Health · 2023-01-10 · 11 citations

  articleOpen access

  In this ecological study, we used longitudinal data to assess if changes in neighborhood food environments were associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) prevalence, controlling for a host of neighborhood characteristics and spatial error correlation. We found that the population-adjusted prevalence of fast-food and pizza restaurants, grocery stores, and full-service restaurants along with changes in their numbers from 1990 to 2010 were associated with 2015 T2DM prevalence. The results suggested that neighborhoods where fast-food restaurants have increased and neighborhoods where full-service restaurants have decreased over time may be especially important targets for educational campaigns or other public health-related T2DM interventions.

  PublisherDOI

• Lean legacy, heavy heritage: family history of diabetes and its association with young adult body mass index

  Journal of Biosocial Science · 2023-06-02 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  Substantial intergenerational transmission of diabetes mellitus (DM) risk exists. However, less is known regarding whether parental DM and DM among extended family members relate to adult offspring's body mass index (BMI), and whether any of these associations vary by sex. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1997 cohort (NLSY97), we assess the sex-specific relationship between DM present in first-degree parents and second-degree relatives and BMI among the parents' young adult offspring.Multivariate regressions reveal a positive relationship between parental DM and young adults' BMI for both daughters and sons, and the magnitude of coefficients is somewhat larger for the same-sex parent. Further, we observe that the link between parental DM and young adults' BMI is strongest when both parents have diagnosed diabetes. In contrast, the relationship between second-degree relatives with DM and the respondent's BMI is weaker and appears to be sex-specific, through same-sex parent and respondent. Logistic regressions show the association is especially strong when assessing how parental DM status relates to young adults' obesity risk. These results generally persist when controlling for parental BMI. The findings of this study point to the need to better distinguish the role of shared family environments (e.g., eating and physical activity patterns) from shared genes in order to understand factors that may influence young adults' BMI. Young adult offspring of parents with diabetes should be targeted for obesity prevention efforts in order to reduce their risks of obesity and perhaps diabetes.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Social Inequities in Neighborhood Health Amenities Over Time in the Wasatch Front Region of Utah: Historical Inequities, Population Selection, or Differential Investment?

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2023-01-01 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Policy and Environmental Predictors of Park Visits During the First Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Getting Out While Staying in

  Environment and Behavior · 2021 · 55 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Political Science
  • Geography

  The COVID-19 pandemic may have altered visitation patterns to parks, with potential effects on human health. Little is known about park use early in the pandemic, how park availability influenced use, and whether park visits accelerated COVID-19 spread. Using weekly cell phone location data for 620 U.S. counties, we show park visits decreased by an average 26% between March 15 and May 9, 2020. Net of weekly trends, park visits were 2.2% lower when stay-at-home orders were in effect, yet increased by 8.4% with school closures and 4.4% with business closures. Park visits decreased less during the pandemic in counties where park availability was high. Levels of park visits were not associated with COVID-19 growth rate or incidence in the following weeks. Thus, parks served as recreation and leisure outlets when schools and businesses closed, especially where parks were more available, with no evidence of park use increasing COVID-19 spread.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Complete the Streets 3 Ways: Effects on activity and BMI

  NIH · $2.2M · 2011–2017

• Complete the Streets 3 Ways: Effects on activity and BMI

  NIH · $573k · 2011–2016

Frequent coauthors

• Ken R. Smith

  83 shared

• Carol M. Werner

  51 shared

• Lori Kowaleski‐Jones

  University of Utah

  26 shared

• Harvey J. Miller

  The Ohio State University

  23 shared

• Calvin P. Tribby

  Beckman Research Institute

  22 shared

• Cathleen D. Zick

  University of Utah

  22 shared

• Jessie X. Fan

  University of Utah

  18 shared

• Wyatt A. Jensen

  Utah Department of Health

  18 shared

Education

• B.S., Biochemistry

  Utah State University

• M.D.

  University of Vermont

• Other, social and behavioral health

  Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

• Other, Family Medicine

  University of Utah