Launched last week, "Your Disease Risk" (http://www.yourdiseaserisk.harvard.edu/) is a web-based tool for people to find out their risk of five of the most important diseases in the U.S. The site also provides personalized tips for preventing the illnesses.

So far, the site has proven extremely popular, logging 2.7 million hits and 280,000 page views in just one day–about three times the normal number of web pages viewed daily on the entire HSPH web site.

Propelled by media coverage and web engines, visitors have been drawn from a range of countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore, and Italy.

Created by the Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention, the new index is an expanded version of "Your Cancer Risk."

On the new site, visitors can assess their risks for heart disease, stroke, diabetes, osteoporosis, and 12 types of cancer.

Nobel Laureate Thomas Weller Discusses Autobiography

	Thomas Weller, r, signs his book.

Weller and his colleagues at Children’s Hospital won a Nobel prize in 1954 for discovering how to make poliomyelitis viruses grow in human tissue. The technique set the stage for others to develop the polio vaccine.

Weller was later involved in isolating and growing three of the most important human viruses–rubella, which causes German measles; varicella-zoster, the cause of chicken pox and shingles; and cytomegaloviruses.

Students Build Homes with Habitat for Humanity

HSPH student groups recently spent two days working with Habitat for Humanity to help build homes in Dorchester, Massachusetts. In addition to contributing their labor, members of Students for Socially Responsible Endeavors and the Student Coordinating Committee raised $1,000 for building supplies, including more than $475 in donations from the HSPH community.

The student organizers were Sabina Haberlen, Dave Washburn, Erin Richter, and Elizabeth Heilig.

--The Thomas Weller item was contributed by Carol Cruzan Morton.