Tag: government and public policy
-
Nation & World
NIH resumes funding stem cell research – for now
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today announced that it is resuming funding embryonic stem cell research. “We are pleased with the…interim ruling” yesterday by a three-judge panel of the…
-
Nation & World
President Faust issues statement supporting federal funding of stem cell research
A temporary restraining order last month that blocked federal funding for certain kinds of stem cell research was viewed by many as a blow to cutting-edge science that already is…
-
Nation & World
Medical School revises conflict of interest policy
Harvard Medical School (HMS) released a series of revisions to its conflict of interest (COI) policy today that strengthens its commitment to transparency and financial disclosure while recognizing the School’s commitment…
-
Nation & World
Most Americans who skipped H1N1 vaccines weren’t concerned about the illness
A comprehensive review of 20 national opinion polls, including 8 by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers, taken during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic finds two key reasons for the…
-
Nation & World
Processed meats come with increased risk of heart disease, diabetes
In a new study, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) have found that eating processed meat, such as bacon, sausage, or processed deli meats, led to a…
-
Nation & World
Panel examines New England’s contributions, role in global health
A new report on global health policy calls for the United States to maintain its commitment to fight HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis and to double the funds committed to maternal and child…
-
Nation & World
Height and death
Mothers shorter than 4 feet, 9 inches in low- to middle-income countries had about a 40 percent higher risk of their children dying within the first five years of life than mothers who…
-
Nation & World
Get the salt out
Responding to the health threat posed by Americans’ over-consumption of sodium, experts in the department of nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and The Culinary Institute of America…
-
Nation & World
Researchers warn new, dissolvable nicotine products could lead to accidental poisoning in children and youths
A tobacco company’s new, dissolvable nicotine pellet–which is being sold as a tobacco product, but which in some cases resembles popular candies–could lead to accidental nicotine poisoning in children, according…
-
Nation & World
Electronic medical records not a panacea?
The implementation of electronic health record systems may not be enough to significantly improve health quality and reduce costs. In the April 2010 issue of Health Affairs, Harvard researchers from…
-
Nation & World
Media reporting HSPH professor to be named head of federal Medicare, Medicaid programs
Major media outlets are this weekend reporting that President Barack Obama has selected Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) professor Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, to head the federal government’s…
-
Nation & World
Stimulus funds provide welcome research boost
In remarks last month at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., President Barack Obama said not only do we need stimulus money to create thousands of jobs…
-
Nation & World
Not having health insurance is expensive
New findings from researchers at Harvard Medical School (HMS) demonstrate that individuals who were either continuously or intermittently uninsured between the ages of 51 and 64 cost Medicare more than…
-
Nation & World
School of Public Health professor advising feds on H1N1 policy
One thing certain about the flu is uncertainty, according to Marc Lipsitch, a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health and a prominent authority on the spread…
-
Nation & World
New study finds 45,000 deaths annually linked to lack of health coverage
Nearly 45,000 annual deaths are associated with lack of health insurance, according to a new study published online today by the American Journal of Public Health. That figure is about…
-
Nation & World
Massachusetts Lt. Governor tours Harvard research facilities
Massachusetts Lt. Governor Timothy Murray on Wednesday toured Harvard labs in both Cambridge and Boston. “The Patrick Administration has been very supportive of the university research sector in Massachusetts and…
-
Nation & World
Narayanamurti named director of Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program at Belfer Center
Venkatesh “Venky” Narayanamurti will be the new director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Belfer Center director…
-
Nation & World
U.S. hospitals slow to adopt electronic health records, citing cost
There is broad consensus that electronic health records (EHR) have the potential to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of health care providers. Yet, to date, there has been no reliable…
-
Nation & World
Policies regarding IRB members’ industry contacts often lacking
At a time of heightened concern about conflicts of interest posed by relationships between academic medical researchers and commercial firms, a new study finds that a significant number of academic…
-
Nation & World
President Obama taps Howard Koh for Assistant Secretary for Health
President Barack Obama announced today his intent to nominate Howard Koh, the Harvey V. Fineberg Professor of the Practice of Public Health at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), to…
-
Nation & World
Patients are untapped resource for improving care, study finds
A 15-month study of 21,860 patients and 110 primary care physicians at 11 Harvard Vanguard health centers found that patients who received mailed reminders that they were due for colorectal…
-
Nation & World
Inmates suffer from chronic illness, poor access to health care
The nation’s prison and jail inmate population struggles with high rates of serious illness and poor access to care, according to the first nationwide study of inmate health and health…
-
Nation & World
John P. Holdren named President-elect Obama’s Science Advisor
President-elect Barack Obama today announced that he has selected Harvard’s John P. Holdren to serve as Assistant to the President for Science and Technology in the new administration. The post,…
-
Nation & World
Tobacco industry used cigarette menthol to recruit new adolescents and young adult smokers
Researchers at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) have found that tobacco companies have deliberately adjusted menthol levels in cigarettes to recruit and addict young smokers by creating a milder…
-
Nation & World
Presidential election will bring change in federal stem cell policy
Embryonic stem cell research will likely have a more sympathetic ear in the White House after November’s presidential election, but a panel of speakers said last night that an era…
-
Nation & World
Growing U.S. disparities in health not inevitable
In the public health field, there is an ongoing debate as to whether improvement in the overall health of the population is linked to increases or decreases in social inequities…
-
Nation & World
Symposium addresses disparities in Native American health care
Sunshine Dwojak, a fourth-year Harvard Medical School student, was 26 when her mother died of heart disease, leaving behind three children. Dwojak’s mother was 48. “My grandmother said our family…
-
Nation & World
Almost two million veterans lack health coverage
One in every eight (12.2 percent) of the 47 million Americans without health insurance is a veteran or member of a veteran’s household, according to a study by Harvard Medical…