The geneticist who led the first team to prove the existence of a gene for hereditary breast cancer will speak at HSPH on Wednesday, June 4. Mary-Claire King, American Cancer Society Professor of Medicine and Genetics at the University of Washington, will lecture on "Race, Genetics, and Medicine: New Data, Ancient Realities" in Snyder Auditorium from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Harvard National Health Care Series to Kick Off at HSPH

A new series on critical health care issues sponsored by Harvard University to be held across the country over the next year will kick off at HSPH on Wednesday, June 11 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The Harvard Forums on Health will begin by focusing on the obesity epidemic.

Columnist and Kennedy School of Government professor David Gergen will moderate the forum, which will feature the release of new results from a national public opinion poll on perceptions toward obesity and policies to address it. Panelists will include Walter Willett, chair of the Department of Nutrition at HSPH; Rep. Sean Faircloth of the Maine House of Representatives; William Caplan, head of Kaiser Permanente’s Care Management Institute; and Subway restaurant spokesman Jared Fogle.

The forum is free and is co-sponsored by the Harvard Interfaculty Program on Health Systems Improvement, Health Affairs, and the New America Foundation.

HSPH Members Honored for 25 Years at Harvard

Five HSPH members were among the 141 faculty and staff from across the University recognized for 25 years of service to Harvard at a ceremony at Harvard Law School on May 29. President Lawrence Summers hosted the event. The HSPH members invited to be honored were: Dyann Wirth of the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases; Charles Blatt of the Department of Nutrition; John Evans of the Department of Environmental Health; and Stephen Lagakos and Marcello Pagano, both of the Department of Biostatistics.

Frisch to Receive Medal from Smith College

Rose Frisch, associate professor of population sciences emerita at HSPH and a member of the research faculty at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, has been invited to receive a Smith College Medal. The medal is given to "those alumnae who, in the judgment of the [Smith College Board of Trustees], exemplify in their lives and work the true purpose of a liberal arts education." Frisch is being honored for her work that has led to a better understanding of women's health issues, particularly reproductive health.