In fall of 1973, residents on the island of Nantucket were treated to a curious sight: a lone scientist traipsing through underbrush, waving a giant white flag… Read more

The warning you hear on every commercial airline flight—“In the unlikely event of a drop in cabin pressure. . . .”—is the result of studies conducted by Ross McFarland, who joined HSPH… Read more

In 1914, the Harvard MIT School for Health Officers—now HSPH—awarded its first certificates to five physicians (all men) enrolled in the new public health program… Read more

In November 1913, the Administrative Board at the Harvard-MIT School for Health Officers voted to admit and credential women… Read more (Photo credit: Minnesota Historical Society)

James H. Steele, MPH ’42, was on the verge of leaving Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) when then-Dean Cecil Drinker came to the rescue with much-needed financial support… Read more

With the creation of the Medicare and Medicaid programs in 1965, the United States began its first large-scale experiment with a formal national health system. Almost overnight… Read more

To thousands of Americans stricken with polio, it was a miraculous life saver, making it possible to breathe despite paralysis. To Harvard School of Public Health professor Philip Drinker… Read more

“We find monuments erected to heroes who have won wars, but we find none commemorating anyone’s preventing a war. The same is true with epidemics.”  So observed Milton J. Rosenau… Read more

The year was 1912. Just one year after being “called to Harvard,” George C. Whipple—newly-appointed Gordon McKay Professor of Sanitary Engineering… Read more

“The titan of a galaxy of giants—the inspiring center of this new movement—was William Thompson Sedgwick,” wrote one-time Sedgwick student Charles-Edward Winslow… Read more

“I met [Harvard University] President Lowell today at lunch at the Colonial Club. He asked me to think up some plan for having my department cooperate with the… Read more

“The sun came out early and fiercely…As the hours wore on and noon was reached at times one felt the desire to become a little hysterical and to repress a scream and throw oneself… Read more

While academic couples are certainly more common than they once were, the two-career scholarly partnership is far from new, as reflected in the lives of Cecil Kent Drinker… Read more

A “very sound and unusual person.” That was how Harvard Medical School Dean David L. Edsall described renowned industrial toxicologist Alice Hamilton in December 1918… Read more

Harvard-Tech cooperation at last. This headline—referring to a joint Harvard-MIT project—could be describing the launch of edX, but in fact it dates back 100 years…Read more