A new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health researchers has found that it would be cost-effective to treat 48-67% of all adults aged 40-75 in the U.S. with cholesterol-lowering statins. By expanding the current recommended treatment guidelines and boosting the percentage of adults taking statins, an additional 161,560 cardiovascular-related events could be…

A panel reviewing the World Health Organization’s (WHO) response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa says WHO “must re-establish its pre-eminence as the guardian of global public health.” The epidemic began in December 2013, resulting in more than 11,000 deaths. Dean Julio Frenk is one of six members on the Ebola Interim Assessment Panel—a group…

Up to 2,100 Air Force reservists who may have been exposed to harmful levels of Agent Orange on contaminated cargo planes are now eligible for disability benefits from the Veterans Administration (VA). The VA announced its decision on June 18, 2015 after a VA-ordered report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM), issued in January, concluded…

Internationally acclaimed Cuban musician, composer, saxophonist, percussionist, bandleader, and educator Yosvany Terry has been appointed director of Jazz Ensembles and visiting senior lecturer on music at Harvard University for the 2015-16 academic year. In this new joint position of the Department of Music and the Office for the Arts at Harvard (OFA), Terry will oversee…

As we celebrate our nation’s birth this July Fourth with parades, fireworks, and BBQs, we revisit the year 1776 to ask about the reasons for the American Revolution. What inspired thousands of ordinary Americans to risk their lives and fight against the British, the most powerful empire in the world? At least part of the…

Longer secondary schooling substantially reduces the risk of HIV infection—especially for girls—and could be a very cost-effective way to halt the spread of the virus, according to researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. In a study in Botswana, researchers found that, for each additional year of secondary school, students lowered their risk…

Women who take selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as Celexa, Paxil, Prozac, and Zoloft to treat menopausal symptoms are up to 76% more likely to break a bone, according to a new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. SSRIs, most often used to treat depression, are also frequently prescribed for hot…

Women with elevated symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) consistent with the clinical threshold for the disorder had 60% higher rates of having a heart attack or stroke compared with women who never experienced trauma, according to scientists at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.…

Insomnia, sleep apnea, snoring, and other sleep difficulties common among older adults are more common among blacks, Chinese, and Hispanics in America than in whites and may contribute to health disparities, according to a study led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School (HMS). The study was published in the…

The journal Health and Human Rights, based at the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, highlights bioethics and the right to health in its June 2015 issue. It also includes papers on child trafficking in the U.S., sex workers’ right to health in Cambodia and the U.S.,…

John McDonough, professor of public health practice, was a senior adviser on health reform in the Senate from 2008 to 2010, where he worked on the development and passage of the Affordable Care Act. He weighs in on the Supreme Court’s decision upholding the constitutionality of federal tax subsidies to help lower-income people buy health…

Since at least 1983, when a Harvard Law student wrote a third-year paper exploring a human rights argument for same-sex marriage, HLS has participated in anticipating, shaping, critiquing, analyzing and guiding the long path toward marriage equality. In the 1980s, Harvard Law students wrote papers and student notes  debating the pros and cons of a constitutional right to…

Xiao-Li Meng, dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) and Whipple V. N. Jones Professor of Statistics, today announced Allen Aloise has been appointed the dean for administration and finance for GSAS effective July 15, 2015. In this leadership role, Aloise will serve as chief administrator, strengthening and sustaining the overall planning,…

Students, faculty, and staff of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health gathered on June 24 at a vigil in memory and honor of the nine victims of the June 17 massacre at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. The racially motivated killings at the historic black church shocked the nation…

A new study led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health finds that a malaria parasite protein called calcineurin is essential for parasite invasion into red blood cells. Human calcineurin is already a proven target for drugs treating other illnesses including adult rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, and the new findings suggest that…

For Ashish Jha, teaching a massive open online course (MOOC) through the digital platform HarvardX was an opportunity to try a new model for learning. Rather than attempt to replicate the classroom experience, Jha, K.T. Li Professor of International Health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and director of the Harvard Global Health…

The Wyss Institute’s human organs-on-chips, represented by the human lung, gut, and liver chips, have won the overall Design of the Year 2015 Award, which is the United Kingdom’s most prestigious design award. The honor was revealed during the annual Design of the Year awards ceremony, held on the evening of June 22 at the…

Antonella Zanobetti, principal research scientist in the Department of Environmental Health, discusses a new study that found that people appear to adapt over time as temperatures creep higher, but also may face increased mortality risk from extreme temperature swings—and their level of risk may depend on where they live. What did you discover that hadn’t…

New findings by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health researchers and colleagues have identified strategies that are effective in helping keep kids’ weight down and that get a significant bang for the health care buck. The five-year collaborative Childhood Obesity Intervention Cost Effectiveness Study (CHOICES) modeled the costs and benefits for four approaches: taxing…

On June 17, nine people were killed when Dylann Roof opened fire in Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC. David Hemenway, director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center and Harvard Youth Violence Prevention Center, weighed in on the topic of gun violence and mass shootings. Are mass shootings becoming more common in the U.S.? Most shootings…

A new drug screening technology developed at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has identified a new potential anti-diabetes compound — and a powerful way to quickly test whether other molecules can have a positive effect on a critical molecular pathway believed to be central to diseases ranging from diabetes to retinitis pigmentosa,…

A new NPR/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health poll finds that although almost three in four adults played sports when they were younger (73%), only one in four (25%) continue to play sports as adults. But that decline in interest doesn’t stop parents from encouraging their children to make sports a…

Founded in 1973, the Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies (RI) promotes research on Japan and brings together Harvard faculty, students, leading scholars from other institutions, and visitors to create one of the world’s leading communities for the study of Japan. For graduate students with a Japan interest, RI has provided dissertation completion grants, language study grants, and other travel and research…

Partially hydrogenated oils — the primary source of artificial trans fats in processed foods — are no longer “generally recognized as safe” for use in human food, according to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration decision announced June 16, 2015. Companies will have three years to remove these oils from their products. The ruling does…

Calling the Administrative Fellows Program “a time-honored cornerstone of Harvard’s diversity efforts,” Leslie Kirwan, Faculty of Arts and Sciences dean for administration and finance, paid tribute to the 21 fellows who completed the program this year. Administered by the Office of the Assistant to the President for Institutional Diversity and Equity, AFP offers a year…

In a new Nieman Reports cover package, reporters and editors discuss strategies for creating more inclusive newsrooms and how racially diverse staffs can improve coverage. Included in the issue: Myrtle Beach Sun News columnist Issac Bailey writes an impassioned personal essay on facing a barrage of insults and racist comments following the election of President Obama in…

“[Some] teachers tell us to stop being creative and to start being serious about work,” begins Harvard Professor Doris Sommer. “But we say that if you can be creative with work, you are being critical too.” This philosophy is the foundation of Sommer’s innovative “Pre-Texts” literacy program that helps children bridge the gap between creative…

On Tuesday, June 9, Harvard kicks off another farm fresh season as the Farmers’ Market at Harvard in Cambridge opens in its central campus location in the Plaza at the Science Center. Running every Tuesday from 12-6 p.m., the market hosts weekly vendors and a variety of rotating merchants and services. The new Farmers’ Market…

A groundbreaking new report on women and health has found that women are contributing roughly $3 trillion to global health care, but that nearly half of this work—2.35% of global GDP—is unpaid and unrecognized. The June 5, 2015 Lancet report, issued by the Commission on Women and Health, is being launched the same day at…

A new study by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that death rates among people over 65 are higher in zip codes with more fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) than in those with lower levels of PM2.5. It is the first study to examine the effect of soot particles in the air in…