Why is Flint community particularly vulnerable to lead pipe water contamination?

Harvard RWJF Health & Society Scholar alum Kristi Pullen, PhD, comments on why the Flint community is particularly vulnerable to the water contamination issue in this news piece on gizmodo.com.

Novel study shows link between economic opportunity and health, health behaviors and mortality

Three Harvard Pop Center faculty members are authors of a novel study published in the American Journal of Public Health that shows a link between economic opportunity – as measured by income differences between generations – and health behaviors (such as smoking and obesity), overall health and mortality. Learn more about the findings of this national study by Atheendar Venkataramani, MD, Ichiro Kawachi, MD, and Alexander Tsai, MD, in this piece…

Early childhood social disadvantage linked to risky health behaviors in adulthood

A new study by former Harvard RWJF Health & Society Scholar Amy Non, and Pop Center faculty member Laura Kubzansky published in the Annals of Human Biology finds that children who experienced early social disadvantage were, as adults, almost four times as likely to smoke, three times more likely to be obese, and almost five times more likely to drink alcohol excessively (women only).

Children’s health problems prevent families from moving out of high- to low-poverty neighborhoods

Harvard Pop Center researchers, including visiting scientist and former fellow Mariana Arcaya and faculty members SV Subramanian, and Mary C. Waters are authors on a study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology that found that when families were given an option to move out of a high-poverty neighborhood and move to a low-poverty neighborhood, those families with a sick child were less likely to take advantage of the opportunity…

Homicide rate reverses life expectancy gains for men in Mexico

Former Harvard Bell Fellow Hiram Beltran-Sanchez, PhD, is author on a study published in the journal HealthAffairs that has found that the unprecedented increase in homicides in Mexico between 2005 – 2010 resulted in reversing life expectancy gains for men, which had been improving for the prior 60 years. The study received much attention in the press, including a piece on fusion.net and medicaldaily.

Providing family planning info. during maternity-related doctor visits can boost postpartum contraceptive use

Harvard Pop Center Research Scientist Livia Montana, PhD, is author on a study published in the Journal of Family Planning & Reproductive Health that examined whether maternity health doctor visits are a potentially effective channel through which to deliver family planning information and improve postpartum contraception use.

Rose Frisch commemorated by Scientific American

Scientific American commemorated the scientific contributions to the field of fertility and human development of former, long-time Harvard Pop Center research scientist Rose Frisch in their piece “Gone in 2015: Commemorating 10 Outstanding Women in Science.” Frisch helped to discover the hormone, leptin, and made the connection between low body fat in women and fertility issues. “… her career truly blossomed when she took a research position at the Harvard…