Dear beloved community, 

It is with profound sadness that we share the news that our colleague, mentor, and friend, Professor Emerita of Medical Science and Africana Studies Lundy Braun, PhD, passed away on Friday, August 9, after a tragic accident.

We remember Professor Braun as a brilliant scholar who tackled the hard issues, a master teacher, and as a kind and thoughtful colleague and friend. For many years Professor Braun was a key faculty member of the Department of Africana Studies/Rites and Reason Theatre. She served with distinction as our Director of Undergraduate Studies, played a key role in the discussions that formed our graduate program, and supervised undergraduate and graduate students interested in studies of science and technology. Professor Braun offered incredible service to our Department even prior to becoming a full Department member. She did it entirely out of the goodness of her heart and love for our undergraduates and because she believed that scholarship, particularly medical science, needed to include anti-racism in its frames. Professor Braun often supported research related to emerging plays at Rites and Reason Theatre, including June’s Blood, which was showcased at New York’s National Black Theatre in 2007. During her time at Brown, the Department of Africana Studies/Rites and Reason Theatre became a home for her, and we are forever blessed to have had her in our Department. 

Professor Braun retired from Brown in 2023. To honor the occasion the Department organized “Race, Medicine and Technology: A Retirement Event to Celebrate Lundy Braun.” We invite our extended community to watch the symposium. 

We welcome you to be a part of building a digital Memory Wall for Lundy. If you are interested, you may send photos and written tributes up to 300 words to africana_studies@brown.edu, using the subject line Lundy Braun Memory Wall Submission. 

Professor Braun made major contributions to Brown, Africana Studies/Rites and Reason Theatre, the Ruth Simmons Center, the Medical School, and her field, nationally and internationally. 

We will miss her warm, careful, and thoughtful engagement with her work, her students, and with each of us.  

In loving memory,

The faculty and staff in the Department of Africana Studies/Rites and Reason Theatre