Health

All Health

  • Harvard Medical School students mobilize

    To help in that effort, within days of the escalation of infections in Massachusetts, hundreds of Harvard Medical School students began mobilizing to provide voluntary support to clinicians.

    Medical people in masks.
  • Labs donate protective equipment to health care workers

    As University facilities close, faculty and staff gather gear to pass along amid a nationwide shortage.

    Fist bump wearing gloves.
  • Harvard coronavirus survey: How’re we doing? Not bad so far

    An ongoing survey by researchers at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative is examining public attitudes toward the coronavirus pandemic.

    Smiling woman in a window.
  • Could a new test identify immunity?

    Harvard epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch outlined several scenarios — most of them bad — for getting America back to work

    Doctors and nurses walking down a corridor.
  • App predicts hospital capacity

    Harvard’s Global Health Institute puts its research expertise into motion, helping hospitals assess capacity and quality of care so they can prepare for COVID-19 patients appropriately.

    Screen shot of data from the model.
  • Talking about the emotional toll of the pandemic

    The Harvard Chan School of Public Health will launch a series of weekly interactive forums to discuss issues and options.

    Empty auditorium.
  • COVID test debacle: ‘We hoped it would go away before it reached us’

    Massachusetts may need 1.4 million COVID-19 tests and ramp up to tens of thousands given a day, Harvard experts said.

    SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
  • Designing a coronavirus vaccine

    In response to this public health crisis, researchers in the Precision Vaccines Program at Boston Children’s Hospital are on the front lines of developing a vaccine specially targeted toward older populations

    Illustration of Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2
  • Vital challenge, for those always ready

    With cases of COVID-19 multiplying, a Massachusetts General Hospital preparedness expert discusses existing challenges and the ways first responders can get ready to meet the new coronavirus.

    Fireman, EMT and doctor next to ambulance.
  • ‘Worry about 4 weeks from now,’ epidemiologist warns

    Harvard epidemiologist says U.S. needs to dramatically increase testing and social distancing, adding to the closings, cancellations, and shifts online.

    An empty Quincy Market in Boston.
  • Why does Alcoholics Anonymous work?

    Researchers have found that Alcoholics Anonymous and related 12-step treatments lessen addiction severity as effectively as other treatments, while reducing health care costs.

    AA medallions
  • A virus that targets the elderly

    Harvard-affiliated doctors try to safeguard nursing-home patients from COVID-19 by reducing number of visitors, adding health screenings.

    Older man looking out of window.
  • Bridging gaps

    The Dental School’s Colleen Greene is having a lot of fun tackling some of Wisconsin’s biggest oral health issues.

    Collage of map of Wisconsin, photo of Colleen Greene, photo of her family and photo of an oral model
  • Helping hands bring laser light to Armenia

    Lilit Garibyan has brought her medical skills back to her native Armenia, decades after her family fled during war with neighboring Azerbaijan.

    Rex Anderson and Lilit Garibyan
  • How to reduce the spread of coronavirus

    Health experts highlight basic hygiene measures to prevent infection spread of the new coronavirus that has affected more than 90,000 around the world.

    Hands being washed.
  • An egg a day is OK

    A new study that includes up to 1.7 million participants, found eating up to one egg per day is not associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease.

    Eggs stacked up.
  • Coronavirus screening may miss two-thirds of infected travelers entering U.S.

    Harvard epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch says two-thirds of travelers with coronavirus who are entering U.S. may have been missed by screening efforts.

    People in an airport.
  • So how bad is coronavirus in U.S.? We don’t know yet

    A rapid expansion of coronavirus testing is needed to understand the extent and nature of the epidemic’s track in the U.S., Harvard experts said.

    Barry Bloom.
  • A big coronavirus mystery: What about the children?

    A key unanswered question in the coronavirus epidemic concerns why children seem to be getting fewer or less-serious infections from the new contagion.

    Adult and child wearing flu masks.
  • Endurance athletes found to have enlarged aortas

    A new study has found that like their younger counterparts, a high percentage of endurance athletes aged 50 to 75 years have an enlarged aorta. Now researchers must determine if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

    The old and young sportsmen running on the road.
  • A ‘call to duty’ to battle a deadly global threat

    Boston-area researchers are collaborating as part of an international partnership working on a response to the new coronavirus.

    Lab with researcher doing test.
  • What we know and don’t know about pot

    With legal marijuana easier to find, a Harvard professor addresses myths and progress finding answers about pot’s health impacts.

    A jar with marijuana in it.
  • Scientists from Harvard, China to unite against coronavirus

    With nearly 78,000 cases and more than 2,300 deaths from the novel coronavirus, Harvard University scientists will join forces with colleagues from China to improve diagnostics, develop vaccines to prevent new infections, and antiviral therapies to treat existing ones.

    Pipette dripping sample into test tube on color background, closeup.
  • Drop in cancer deaths lifts U.S. life expectancy

    A decline in cancer mortality was a prominent feature of recent good news about U.S. life expectancy. The Gazette spoke with the director of the Chan School’s Zhu Family Center for Global Cancer Prevention to understand why.

    Timothy Rebbeck, who heads up Chan School's Center for Global Cancer Prevention.
  • In soda tax fight, echoes of tobacco battles

    Taxes on sugary drinks are potentially effective tools to fight the obesity epidemic and advocates are drawing lessons from the long battle against tobacco as they plot what they know will be a tough road ahead.

    Three people sitting in front of a screen with Soda Taxes on it.
  • ‘Game Changers’ puts muscle behind plant-based diet

    “The Game Changers” brought a panel of athletes and experts to tout the benefits of a plant-based diet to Harvard.

    Vegan runner set to take off.
  • Coronavirus likely to infect the global economy

    A Harvard Business School expert says effects will strengthen as manufacturers everywhere feel the pinch of slowing one of the world’s largest economies.

    HBS Prof Willy Shih.
  • Targeted drug shows promise in advanced kidney cancer

    Harvard researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have developed a novel targeted drug that shows promise in advanced kidney cancer by interfering with the abnormal blood vessel formation that fuels tumor growth.

    Micrograph of clear cell renal cell carcinoma.
  • Coronavirus likely now ‘gathering steam’

    Harvard’s Marc Lipsitch said evidence indicates that the international cordon keeping coronavirus cases bottled up in China is a leaky one, and it’s likely that the relative handful of global cases reported so far are undercounted. If true, that will lead to widespread illness internationally, including in the U.S.

    Patients in a makeshift hospital in China.
  • Heatwave = heat stroke = ER visit

    Bringing climate change into the examining room by discussing links between a warming environment and the everyday health of patients.

    Renee Salas.