Featured series 
Tag: government and public policy
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Science & Tech
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 U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, ” which will allow promising stem cell research to continue while we present further arguments…
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Science & Tech
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 yielding clues to cures for a number of fatal illnesses and chronic diseases. Harvard has been in the vanguard of such research, and the University,…
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Health
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 to industry collaboration. Among many provisions, the new policy includes a streamlined central system for reporting faculty financial interests with industry; requires the public disclosure of certain…
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Science & Tech
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 limited uptake of the H1N1 influenza vaccine. First, many people who did not get the vaccine were not convinced that the illness was a serious…
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Health
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 42 percent higher risk of heart disease and a 19 percent higher risk of type 2 diabetes. In contrast, the researchers did not find any…
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Science & Tech
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 health, to $2 billion a year. The report, unveiled at a Boston University (BU) conference co-sponsored by BU, Harvard, and the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Center for Strategic and…
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Health
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 were 5 feet, 3 inches or taller, according to a new study from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). The risk was higher — almost…
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Health
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 (CIA) called today for sodium reduction strategies that are strong and effective—and that maximize the enjoyment people derive from food. “There is now overwhelming evidence…
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Health
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 to a new study from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), the Northern Ohio Poison Control Center, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…
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Health
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 the Mongan Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) report finding that currently implemented systems have little effect on measures such as patient…
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Science & Tech
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 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the Department of Health and Human Services. The reports have not been confirmed by either the White House…
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Science & Tech
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 in the sciences and technology, but also to get the progress of the nation’s research back on track. “We can only imagine the new discoveries…
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Health
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 those who had continuous insurance coverage in the years prior to Medicare eligibility. On average, those who were previously uninsured cost Medicare an additional $1,000…
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Health
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 of infectious disease. The rise and rapid spread of H1N1 flu virus, known as swine flu, has kept Lipsitch busy in recent months. An expert…
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Health
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 two and a half times higher than an estimate from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 2002. The study, conducted at Harvard Medical School and…
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Science & Tech
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 we welcomed the opportunity to show him the range of projects ongoing at Harvard, in both Cambridge and Longwood, that are cutting-edge, multidisciplinary and often…
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Science & Tech
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 Graham Allison announced April 1. “Dean Venky,” as he is widely known, is the John A. and Elizabeth S. Armstrong Professor of Engineering and Applied…
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Health
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 estimate of the prevalence of EHR use among U.S. hospitals. In a new study, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), Massachusetts General…
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Science & Tech
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 institutions do not have clear policies covering the industrial relationships of members of institutional review boards (IRBs), committees charged with ensuring that clinical studies uphold…
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Health
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 be assistant secretary for health in the Department of Health and Human Services. Koh is also the school’s Associate Dean for Public Health Practice and…
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Health
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 cancer screenings were more likely to schedule screenings than those who didn’t. Forty-four percent of patients who received a reminder in the mail got screened,…
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Science & Tech
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 care. The research, conducted by Harvard physicians at the Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School (HMS) and published today by the American Journal of…
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Science & Tech
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, popularly known as “the President’s science advisor,” also includes directorship of the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President…
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Health
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 experience for the first-time smoker. Menthol masks the harshness and irritation of cigarettes, allowing delivery of an effective dose of nicotine, the addictive chemical in…
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Science & Tech
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 of tight budgets may limit the practical changes researchers see. Warren Wollschlager, founding chair of the Interstate Alliance on Stem Cell Research and chief of…
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Science & Tech
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 in health, that is, the inequities between higher-income and lower-income groups or people of different race/ethnicities. In the most comprehensive study to date addressing this…
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Health
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 ‘just wasn’t lucky,’ and my aunt said that ‘longevity doesn’t run in our family,’” Dwojak said. Growing up, she saw many of her family members…
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Health
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 School researchers based at the Cambridge Health Alliance. The study is published in the December, 2007 issue of the American Journal of Public Health. Just…