Current limits on fine particulate matter in the air set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may not be sufficient to protect elderly people from the risk of premature death from air pollution, according to a large study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Looking at 13 years’ worth of data from…

Debate as pedagogy: Practices, tools, and examples from Harvard faculty Monday, April 24 from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.  Boylston Hall 110 – Fong Auditorium Why and when should debate be used as a teaching and learning tool? Eric Beerbohm (government), Jill Lepore (history), and Charles Nesson (law) will share their experiences and approaches with…

The FDR Foundation at Adams House, Harvard College, has selected The Honorable Henry Cisneros, the former secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and Solomon D. (“Sol”) Trujillo, an entrepreneur and former global telecommunications, media and technology CEO, to deliver the eighth annual Roosevelt Memorial Lecture at Harvard University on April 8.  FDR’s Good Neighbor Policy…

Last year’s outbreak of the mosquito-borne Zika virus in Brazil did not lower the country’s birth rates, despite warnings from the government that women should delay pregnancy to avoid increased risk of severe birth defects caused by the virus. According to Marcia Castro, associate professor of demography at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health,…

A new vaccine for rotavirus was found to be 66.7 percent effective in preventing severe gastroenteritis caused by the virus, according to a new study from researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Epicentre, Paris. Rotavirus is responsible for about 37 percent of deaths from diarrhea among children younger than 5 years…

The stories told by health workers from Syria were heartbreaking. They spoke of making desperate attempts to save people injured in a chemical attack on a hospital… of struggling to save people’s eyesight after they were hit in the face by shrapnel and rocks… of delivering babies, only to have them die later because they…

Environmental exposures in school buildings — to mold, poorly ventilated air, uncomfortable temperatures, inadequate lighting, or noise — can negatively impact student health, thinking, and performance, according to a new report from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Healthy Buildings Program. The report reviewed findings from more than 200 scientific studies. Some findings included:…

Patients who receive expensive care in the hospital are readmitted and die at similar rates to patients whose doctors order fewer or less expensive tests and procedures, according to a new study by researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School. They suggest that policies to reduce wasteful spending should…

Children are especially vulnerable to the consequences of climate change—including reductions in the nutritional quality of staple crops, increases in asthma and heart disease due to air pollution, and the expanded geographical range of insects that carry disease. In fact, the risks may be severe enough to reverse gains made in childhood survival over the…

Improving lighting, ventilation, and heat in office buildings can boost workers’ performance and productivity and can even help them sleep better at night—which is why developers, architects, and businesses are becoming increasingly interested in “healthy” buildings. In a March 10, 2017 article in the Boston Globe, Joseph Allen of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public…

Researchers have identified an enzyme that plays a key role in malaria parasite replication in the human bloodstream. The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health scientists say that developing drugs that target the enzyme could be a potential approach in efforts to treat and prevent the spread of the deadly disease. The study was…

A team of researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) reported that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program appears to have reduced depression among eligible undocumented immigrants, often referred to as the “Dreamers.” These findings come on the heels of ongoing debates around the future under…

The Korea Institute at Harvard University announced today that longtime benefactor SBS Foundation has committed to further the Institute’s research capacity with a $4 million endowed fund for students and faculty across the University. In recent years, applications by Harvard students for the Institute’s grants, scholarships, and programming increased substantially, along with enrollment in Korea-focused…

Low-income patients served by the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (DHS) waited significantly less time to receive specialty care after DHS implemented an electronic system aimed at expediting access to specialists, according to a new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The findings provide some of the first evidence suggesting…

Registration for Take the Stairs, the annual team-based campaign to encourage and support movement, is now open for the entire University.  This annual movement campaign that began at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Harvard Medical School has been expanded to include the entire University.    Register individually or recruit friends and…

The Government Performance Lab (GPL) at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) announced Feb. 23 that it has selected California, Connecticut, and Illinois to receive technical assistance developing performance improvement projects that apply Pay for Success (PFS) principles to core agency services. The GPL, a grantee of the Corporation for National and Community Service’s (CNCS) Social Innovation…