HSPH Professor Sue Goldie was awarded a $500,000 MacArthur grant "for genius and creativity" in applying the tools of decision science to evaluate the clinical benefits, public health impact, and cost-effectiveness of alternative preventive and treatment interventions for viruses that are major public health problems.
Meir Stampfer, chair of the HSPH Department of Epidemiology, was ranked the number one most-cited scientist in clinical medicine for the last decade. Walter Willett, chair of the Department of Nutrition, was ranked number two.
HSPH Assistant Professor Ashish Jha and colleagues from Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Boston Veterans Affairs Healthcare System assessed for the first time the quality of care in U.S. hospitals.
Christopher Murray, Richard Saltonstall Professor of Population Policy in the HSPH Department of Population and International Health and Director of the Harvard Initiative for Global Health, received a five-year, $18.8 million award from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop methods for assessing the health of people in resource-poor countries, even when health data may be incomplete or limited.
Nieman Fellowships in global health reporting were established at Harvard University as a joint initiative of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism and HSPH, supported by a three-year, $1.19 million grant to Harvard from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The fellows were recently announced.
To address the national and global epidemic of childhood obesity, Harvard College alumna Penny Pritzker '81 and her husband, Bryan Traubert, pledged $5 million to HSPH to fund the nationwide application of a childhood exercise and nutrition program that has been piloted by HSPH and the YMCA. Additionally, the gift will underpin a scholarship fund for HSPH students pursuing obesity-related studies in several disciplines and will also establish an endowment to support a new permanent junior professorship at HSPH in obesity-related research.
Professor Douglas Dockery was named chair of the HSPH Department of Environmental Health.
China's Minister of Health visited HSPH to deliver a talk on public health. The School signed a memorandum of agreement in June 2005 with the Chinese Ministry of Health and with Tsinghua University in Beijing for planning a program to train approximately 500 senior Chinese health executives.
HSPH researchers were awarded a $30 million 5-year grant to study the long-term effects on children of antiretroviral (ART) drugs that were administered to their pregnant mothers in an effort to prevent mother-to-infant transmission of HIV.
Deborah Klein Walker, a former associate commissioner at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and current adjunct lecturer at HSPH, was elected president of the American Public Health Association-the oldest organization of public health professionals in the U.S.
A team of scientists from UCLA and HSPH identified a cellular mechanism that may help explain the puzzle of why people of African descent are more susceptible to tuberculosis infection and why, once infected, they develop more severe states of the disease than whites.
HSPH convened a global conference to develop strategies to minimize the human and financial loss of disasters through strategies of coordinated action across national and international entities, government, business, and the academy.
A pioneering statistical technique developed at HSPH helped identify a common gene variation associated with an increased risk for obesity, opening the door for improved analyses of the genetic underpinnings of complex diseases.
HSPH welcomed students from Tulane University and University of Louisiana to ensure the continuation of their education after Hurricane Katrina.
HSPH Professor Jennifer Leaning, co-director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, advised the Red Cross on conducting a needs assessment immediately following Hurricane Katrina. Joshua Frances, program coordinator at the HSPH Center for Public Health Preparedness, responded as part of a Massachusetts-based Disaster Medical Assistance Team.
HSPH Professor Max Essex stepped down as chair of the HSPH Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases to become the Lasker Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases. Dyann Wirth agreed to assume the chair as of July 1. At that time, Wirth will also be appointed to the Richard Pearson Strong Professorship.
HSPH researchers analyzed data from health surveys, which are used to estimate obesity levels in states, and found that prevalence of obesity in the U.S. has been underestimated.
A team of researchers from HSPH and the Channing Laboratory identified a rare gene variant in humans that helps to protect against two of the country's top killers-type 2 diabetes and heart disease-as well as against hypertriglyceridemia, a condition that increases the risk of heart disease, obesity, and pancreatitis.
A study led by HSPH Associate Professors David Studdert and Michelle Mello challenged the view that frivolous medical malpractice litigation is rampant and expensive.
A memorandum of understanding was signed by President Summers, HSPH Dean Barry Bloom, and K. Srinath Reddy, director of the newly launched Public Health Foundation of India, to help establish schools of public health throughout India.
Copyright, 2009, President and Fellows of Harvard College
