How much of a role do genes play in the onset of diseases and how much of a role does an individual’s environment play? It’s a question that has long intrigued epidemiologists. “It’s really the core question we’ve been asking in epidemiology,” said David Hunter, Richard Doll Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine at the University…

The Sustainability and Health Initiative for NetPositive Enterprise (SHINE) at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has published a paper, “A New Approach to the Well-being of Factory Workers in Global Supply Chains: Evidence from Apparel Factories in Mexico, Sri Lanka, China and Cambodia,” which was one of only eight selected papers chosen…

Edgar Grossman ’66, a man who had a pivotal role in establishing the roots of the Harvard Extension Alumni Association community, comprised of 20,000 members worldwide, was honored at a special ceremony inside the Harvard Faculty Club this weekend. A cold Saturday in December was no match for the warmth and festivities taking place inside…

The Harvard T.H. Chan SHINE program, a well-being initiative that unites academic research with business innovation to advance progress for all, was invited to participate in the prestigious Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Sixth World Forum on Statistics, Knowledge, and Policy this November in Incheon, Korea. The OECD World Forums bring together policy…

A study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, which found that the death toll from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico was likely much higher than initial estimates, was the most popular academic paper of 2018, according to the data science company Altmetric. The Harvard Chan School paper, “Mortality in Puerto Rico after Hurricane…

On Dec. 6, 2018, faculty, students, and staff gathered to celebrate the awarding of this year’s Tazuko Ajiro Monane and Noma-Reischauer Prizes. Co-sponsored by the Japanese Language Program and the Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, the event was well attended, including an appearance by Rokuichiro Michii, the consul general of Japan in Boston.…

The Sustainability and Health Initiative for NetPositive Enterprise (SHINE) at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has been awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of State to develop a blockchain-based platform that will enable a holistic and secure approach to tracking workers’ health and well-being.  This is the first-ever opportunity via a…

The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, a leading research center at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, today named Works Wonders, a job training and placement initiative in Rhode Island aimed at youth who have aged out of — or are about to age out of — state care,…

The Graduate School of Design (GSD) is pleased to announce the six winners of the 2019 Richard Rogers Fellowship, a residency program at the Wimbledon House, the landmarked residence designed by Lord Richard Rogers for his parents in the late 1960s. Now entering its third cycle, the fellowship is inspired by Lord Rogers’s commitment to cross-disciplinary…

The Center on the Developing Child’s Djokovic Science and Innovation Fellowship supports the research of Harvard advanced doctoral students whose work is related to early childhood health, learning, and behavior. Selected fellows receive a stipend and join an active, interdisciplinary learning community for one academic year. The goal of the fellowship is to create a…

Telehealth — accessing health care via a smart phone, tablet, or computer — is on the rise in the U.S., but it’s still relatively uncommon, even though 32 states have enacted laws mandating insurance reimbursement for such services, according to a new study led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study, which…

At the turn of the 19th century, the idea of women working was a foreign one, but at the Harvard College Observatory (HCO), it was the norm. From 1877 to 1919, Edward Charles Pickering, director of the HCO, led a team of more than 80 women to study glass plate photographs of the night sky.…

The Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School has named Malala Yousafzai — the 2014 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and an inspiration across the world — as this year’s recipient of the Gleitsman Award. The award honors Yousafzai, co-founder of Malala Fund, for her courageous leadership of a global movement to equip girls with…

On Nov. 9, 2018, doctors, veterinarians, scientists, and politicians arrived at Boston’s Colonnade Hotel to celebrate trailblazing AIDS researcher Max Essex. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health along with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health AIDS Initiative, hosted the scientific symposium to honor Essex, the Mary Woodard Lasker Professor of Health Sciences, as he…

Oral rehydration therapy (ORT) — a mixture of water, sugar, and salt that is remarkably effective at rehydrating people with cholera or other diarrheal diseases — is credited with saving tens of millions of lives worldwide. On Nov. 19, 2018, a standing-room-only crowd gathered in Kresge G3 at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health…

Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election thanks in large part to overwhelming support from one particular group of folks: white evangelicals. In fact, a whopping 81 percent of self-identified evangelicals voted for President Trump. That’s even more support than President George W. Bush received, and he’s actually an evangelical. And despite what seems to…

In 1802, Jacob Bigelow, the son of a farmer, entered Harvard at the age of 15 to study medicine. By 1818 he was appointed professor of materia medica at Harvard Medical School, a post he retained until 1855. During this time he also lectured on botany and eventually wrote “American Medical Botany,” which combined his passions…

Andrew Leon Hanna ’19, a Harvard Law School student and c0-founder of a Harvard Innovation Labs’ VIP startup, has won the 2018 Bracken Bower Prize for best business book proposal by an author under the age of 35. Hanna’s book, “25 Million Sparks,” will examine the rise of refugee entrepreneurs in a global crisis. The…

Master of public health students at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health gathered to display and discuss their field work at a poster session on Nov. 13, 2018 in Kresge Cafeteria. The event featured work from more than 25 students from the fields of environmental health, global health, health policy, and social behavior who…

The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard and the Novak Djokovic Foundation launched the Djokovic Science and Innovation Fellowship in 2016 in an effort to contribute science-based innovation in early childhood development. The Djokovic Fellowship supports the research of Harvard University advanced doctoral students whose work is related to early childhood health, learning, and…

On Nov. 1, a group of incarcerated youth and staff from the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services (DYS) visited different Harvard University centers and Schools. “We wanted DYS youth and staff to know that a university education is accessible, and within their reach.” said Pedro De Abreu, a fellow at Harvard University’s Phillips Brooks House,…

For the past 25 years, Harvard departments have worked with Phillips Brooks House to collect gifts during the holiday season for nearly two dozen community-based youth service programs in Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville.  This year, Phillips Brooks House is excited to partner with Memorial Church and the Harvard Black Men’s Forum to support our campus…

The promises of big data in health care are seemingly endless, but so are the challenges — poor data quality, byzantine medical codes, and the complexity of human genetics, to name just a few. A recent event, hosted by the Program in Quantitative Genomics at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, tackled some of…

New initiatives, such as additional funding for winners, a new venue for finalists, and increased support for participants, are at the heart of efforts to continue to grow participation and access around the 2019 Harvard President’s Innovation Challenge. The Challenge brings the Harvard community together to engage with pressing issues facing the world and explore turning…

Harvard is being recognized for its commitment to the biking community.  The University just received a Gold level, Bicycle Friendly University award, from the League of American Bicyclists.  The awards are given to schools that demonstrate outstanding support of bicycling to ensure healthy, accessible, and eco-friendly transportation. “More than 15% of Harvard commuters ride bikes…

In the early 1970s, the Finnish province of North Karelia had one of the world’s highest death rates from heart disease. Responding to an appeal from the community, local authorities partnered with the World Health Organization to launch the North Karelia Project, a community-wide effort to change the physical and social environment to promote healthier…

Sangeeta Bhatia knew in her teens that she wanted to work on improving human health and, after studying biomedical engineering at Brown University, took her first job at a pharmaceutical company. That foray lasted less than a year, and sent her “running back to grad school” to recover her connection to what she calls “the…