Health

All Health

  • Primary care sector projected to lose $15 billion

    As a result of COVID-19 shutdowns, a $15 billion loss in the primary care sector is expected to threaten practice viability, reducing further an already insufficient number of primary care providers in the United States.

    Doctor holding smartphone.
  • A new test method

    A novel liquid biopsy method can detect kidney cancers with high accuracy, including small, localized tumors which are often curable but for which no early detection method exists.

    test tubes.
  • The risks of ‘not trying enough’ against COVID-19

    Harvard economist and former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said we’re in greater danger of doing too little to fight COVID-19 than too much.

    Lawrence Summers.
  • Adding up the cost of pandemic health care

    A new report published by the Brookings Institution estimates national health care spending for COVID-19 care and discusses its policy implications.

    Medical masks.
  • Loss of taste and smell is best indicator of COVID-19, study shows

    Researchers deploying a smartphone app to 2.6 million users have determined that the loss of smell and taste are most predictive symptoms of COVID-19.

    Person smelling a tasting a cup of tea.
  • Pod-based e-cigarettes efficiently addictive

    A new Harvard Chan School study has found that pod-based e-cigarettes’ efficient delivery of nicotine may foster greater dependence than other types of e-cigarettes.

    Person exhaling smoke from e-cigarette.
  • Stroke, heart-attack cases plummet during pandemic

    A Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center study showed dramatic drops in hospital visits for heart attacks and stroke, which likely led to uncounted deaths at home during the COVID crisis. Perhaps more troubling is the potential for long-term damage to decades’ work to catch conditions in their earliest, most treatable stages.

    Emergency Sign.
  • Love in the time of COVID

    An expert in romantic relationships talks about the ways couples can keep relationships healthy in the time of COVID-19.

    Two hands holding a single paper heart.
  • Vaccines can protect against COVID-19 in nonhuman primates, study says

    Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has developed vaccines — currently being tested in animal models — that are designed to train the body’s immune system to recognize the virus swiftly upon exposure and respond quickly to disable it.

    NIAID Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2
  • A summer like no other

    Summer message from a health expert: Go outside and play, but don’t forget about COVID.

    Illustration of person wearing mask for travel.
  • The mother of invention

    COVID-19 pandemic spurs the creation of new, remote teaching methods at Harvard Medical School.

    Typing on a laptop with stethoscope on desk.
  • Sticking to the healthy diet?

    A newly identified “metabolic signature” can evaluate an individual’s adherence and metabolic response to the Mediterranean diet and help predict future risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to new research led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

    Healthy food, nuts and oils.
  • What pandemic dreams may come

    Harvard Medical School Assistant Professor of Psychology Deirdre Barrett created an online survey to collect dreams of people during the pandemic.

    Plague doctor illustration.
  • A COVID-19 battle with many fronts

    The Gazette asked alumni who are engaged in the battle against the novel coronavirus to share their experiences and how their work has radically changed.

    Highway scene.
  • Volunteers juice COVID testing at Beth Israel

    An outpouring of volunteers and equipment from the Harvard medical community have helped a Harvard hospital testing lab meet COVID’s challenge.

    Beth Israel's Center for Life Sciences.
  • Mapping the cancer connection

    A new study takes the most comprehensive look to date at the connection between the ancestry and the molecular makeup of cancer.

    Illustration of cancer cells.
  • Battling the ‘pandemic of misinformation’

    Analysts in public health, politics, and technology discuss the “pandemic” of COVID-19 misinformation being shared around the world.

    People looking at smartphones.
  • How far are we from a vaccine? Depends on who ‘we’ is

    Rising nationalism and global inequity will be hurdles to the distribution of COVID vaccines, despite the comparatively “lightning” fast scientific response to the pandemic so far, a Harvard infectious disease expert said Thursday.

    Lab equipment.
  • Applying wisdom from the Himalayas to the ER’s COVID battle

    Wilderness medicine fellows were among those whose attention has been turned homeward, where they’re pitching in to fight COVID-19 in the ER.

    Himalayas.
  • Intel from an outpatient COVID-19 clinic

    A new report by researchers examines the mostly overlooked, yet important, category of patients — those with symptoms concerning enough to seek care, yet not serious enough to need hospital treatment.

    Person in a mask.
  • Healthy dose of religion

    New research from the Harvard Chan School found that people who attended religious services at least once a week were significantly less likely to die from “deaths of despair,” including deaths related to suicide, drug overdose, and alcohol poisoning.

    People in line at gathering.
  • At the center of the outbreak

    Researcher Katharine Robb details how housing policies affect social and health crises, like the current pandemic.

    Katharine Robb giving presentation.
  • Social distance makes the heart grow lonelier

    Harvard experts suggest using creativity and looking out for others as ways to get over our own loneliness as keeping socially distanced grinds on.

    Man looking out the window.
  • Brothers create screening tool for refugee populations

    Brothers Hassaan Ebrahim, a student at Harvard Kennedy School, and Senan, a third-year Harvard Medical School student, founded Hikma Health, a nonprofit that builds software for organizations providing health care to refugee populations.

    Man walking between tens in refugee camp.
  • Tracking the coronavirus through crowdsourcing

    How We Feel app helps fill information gaps regarding the spread of the novel coronavirus.

    How We Feel App.
  • A day in the life of an ER doc

    Urgent-care physician Anita Chary has turned her attention to treating those suffering from COVID-19 in recent weeks.

    Anita Chary in her PPE.
  • In the trenches

    Physicians caring for different populations in three hospitals describe life in the midst of a pandemic.

    Three Harvard alums.
  • A silent epidemic

    Early data from peer-reviewed studies suggest that one-third of hospitalized COVID-19 patients of all ages, and two-thirds of those with severe disease, show signs of delirium.

    Caregiver holding elderly patients hand at home.
  • A five-layered defense for workplace reopening

    Joseph Allen laid out how existing building safety guidelines might be adapted to make workplaces safer in the age of COVID.

    Empty office.
  • Breakthrough to halt premature aging of cells

    Potential drug treatments are being developed for telomere diseases, in which cells age prematurely.

    Lab with test tubes.