Thomas Brewer, Ph.D., M. Jur., is a mentor, researcher, founding member of the College of Public Health and the winner of the 2025 Distinguished Honors Alumni award. The Distinguished Honors Alumni award recognizes alumni who have served the Honors College and facilitated increased opportunities for Honors College students. Brewer was honored at the 39th annual Senior Honors Reception on Thurs., April 17, 2025, in the 91ֿ Student Center Ballroom.
Brewer grew up in East Sparta, Ohio. After graduating from high school, he joined the Army and served in active duty for four years. In 1992, Brewer enrolled in 91ֿ’s criminal justice studies bachelor’s degree program and joined the Honors College. At the time, Brewer planned to go to law school after earning a bachelor's degree, so writing a Senior Honors Thesis was the perfect opportunity for him to prepare for law school admissions.
Though Brewer started his Senior Honors Thesis with a law degree in mind, the experience ultimately steered his path away from law school. During the process of creating his thesis, Brewer realized that academic research provided the perfect medium for him to explore the topics he was truly passionate about.
When Brewer first approached his honors advisor about the upcoming thesis, he asked what he should write about. Brewer’s advisor informed him that he could write the paper on any topic he chose. The advisor told Brewer, “If you go into academia, you can study essentially whatever you want to study for the rest of your career. That's kind of the beauty of it.”
“That really kind of set the hook in me where I was like, to be able to spend your life studying what it is that you're passionate about, that's pretty hard to pass up,” Brewer explained. “That was when I decided to do that and to go on to get my Ph.D.”
Keeping with his interest in criminal justice and the law, Brewer chose to write his Senior Honors Thesis on the insanity defense. He surveyed members of the Ohio legislature and concluded that people tended to overestimate how often the insanity defense was used, and this correlated to decreased support for the defense.
“It was a really good experience,” Brewer said about writing the Senior Honors Thesis.
Brewer then went to the New York State University at Albany in Albany, New York to earn his master’s degree in criminal justice and a Ph.D. in criminal law. While working on his Ph.D., Brewer worked for the New York State Defenders Association, first as an intern for two years, and then as the director of research for two more years.
When Brewer graduated with his Ph.D. in 2002, he and his partner decided to move back to Northeast Ohio. 91ֿ was the only place that Brewer applied. He started as a faculty member in the Department of Justice Studies.
Unexpected change came in 2009, when the Department of Justice Studies closed and Brewer was relocated to, oddly, the College of Public Health.
“The law is kind of the law,” Brewer said about his transition into public health. “It's just you're studying crime, delinquency and violence as opposed to cancer, heart attacks and clean water. In terms of the methods that you use to study a particular thing, it's the same, the math is the same, the methods are the same. And so, they said, ‘you can teach the health law classes.’”
This massive career change forced Brewer to reinvent himself professionally, but Brewer did not shy from the challenge. He enrolled in a non-residential program at Loyola University of Chicago to earn his Master of Jurisprudence in healthcare law.
“There's no substitute for having really good people tell you what you need to read and give you context for things,” Brewer said. “So, the law degree was invaluable in order to help me teach.”
When he first joined the College of Public Health, Brewer was the associate dean. The college was brand new, so Brewer’s job was to help hire faculty and staff and create classes and curricular terms. It was hard work, but at the end of three years, Brewer had helped build the College of Public Health from scratch.
Once the college was on steady footing, Brewer returned to a faculty role, where he could better engage in his passions of teaching and research. Today, Brewer is a tenured faculty member, professor, researcher and graduate coordinator in the college for the Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) and Doctor of Philosophy in Public Health (Ph.D.) programs.
Brewer also has a faculty appointment in the College of Podiatric Medicine. His current research area is in diabetic foot ulcers; he investigates Medicaid coverage for podiatry and its impacts on diabetic foot ulcers.
As a professor, Brewer focuses on providing real-life, concrete examples of healthcare law violations and teaching students how to write well.
“Seeing students succeed can drive your passion,” Brewer said. “Students come back and tell you, ‘Oh,
because of this program or this class that I took, I used this in this particular way, and I got this job.’ And you kind of look at people that you've helped along the way; that is passion.”
Brewer is married and shares a daughter with his partner. His daughter currently attends 91ֿ for actuarial mathematics and is a member of the Honors College. Brewer’s hobbies include reading, biking and spending time in Kent’s many libraries.
The Distinguished Honors Alumni Award was started in 1997 and recognizes an outstanding Honors College alumna or alumnus for his or her professional success, contributions to their community, the Honors College and 91ֿ. View the complete list of Distinguished Honors Alumni on the Honors College website.
For more information about the Honors College, please visit the Honors College website.
PHOTO CAPTION 1: (from left) Karl Uhrig, Ph.D., Honors College Dean Alison J. Smith and Thomas Brewer, Ph.D., at the Senior Honors Reception.
PHOTO CAPTION 2: Thomas Brewer with his daughter, a current Honors College student, and wife at the Senior Honors Reception.
Media Contact: Stephanie Moskal, smoskal@kent.edu, 330-672-2312