Environmental Threats
HSPH researchers study environmental threats to health, such as hazardous substances found in the air, water, and wherever people live and work. The interplay of genes and environment on health and the importance of occupational safety are also key.
FEATURED STORY
From pond to pump
HSPH student sees the future of energy production—and cleaner healthier skies—in tiny green algae.
AIR & WATER POLLUTION
Mr. Water
John Briscoe offers bold, unorthodox ideas for managing scarce water
Clearing the air
Students target air pollution from Boston to sub-Saharan Africa
Geographer of health
Mapping air pollution health risks in Cyprus and Boston
Mold, mold, everywhere
Scientists see no precedent for the potential hazards in New Orleans
Joel Schwartz: Full-throttle environmentalist
He’s taken the lead out of gasoline and soot out of air. What’s next?
OTHER TOXIC EXPOSURES
Plastics: Danger where we least expect it
They hold your water, line your canned goods, and even help save sick babies. But are the potential health risks of certain plastics so great they outweigh the benefits?
Wright ideas: Couple’s combined expertise forges new directions for treating asthma and lead poisoning
HSPH faculty members Rosalind and Robert Wright make connections between environment, emotion, and health
Brain pollution
In a silent epidemic, common chemicals are damaging young minds
Industrial wasteland
201 chemicals with toxic effects
GENE-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTIONS
Dean’s message: From genes to the globe
HSPH is helping propel the growing study of how genes and environmental forces interact to cause disease—from diabetes to asthma to the afflictions of aging.
Where DNA meets daily life
That dance between genes and environment is the focus of a burgeoning field of public health research—one that could someday have a big payoff.
Tick, tick, tick, boom
How genes and environmental interactions increase cancer risk
INJURIES
Guns and suicide: A fatal link
In the United States, suicides outnumber homicides almost two to one. Perhaps the real tragedy behind suicide deaths—about 30,000 a year, one for every 45 attempts—is that so many could be prevented.
Stopping the violence
By teaching forgiveness and reconciliation, Ana Diaz helps youth find a better way
Death by violent means: Who’s at risk?
A CDC database piloted by HSPH is galvanizing prevention efforts
OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY
Breathing easier in Shanghai
Quarter-century old study enters the genomics age
Risk analysis
Visit the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis at HSPH
OTHER
Teacher in the art of listening
At NIH, Kenneth Olden engaged ordinary citizens in the battle for a safer environment
Images: PhotoDisc/Getty Images, Doug Menuez, Photodisc/Getty Images, Image Source/Getty Images