The Harvard Chan Frontiers

The Harvard Chan Frontiers are the School’s next targets for humanity’s needed breakthroughs. With the full force of the Harvard Chan School and our collaborators advancing these core areas of research, we are dedicated to lifting lives on a world scale.

  • Reimagining Aging

    Reimagining Aging

    By 2020, the number of people worldwide age 60 years and older will outnumber children younger than 5. It’s a demographic shift that will re-shape how we live, learn, and work. We’re uncovering ways to ensure that aging people and societies can be stronger than ever.
  • Overcoming Violence

    Overcoming Violence

    Violence and trauma happen all around us — from brutal physical assault to blinding social prejudice. We’re using scientific rigor to understand how damage to the body and spirit can be prevented and to develop ways to repair the effects of violence and build resilience in the future.
  • Confronting Climate Change

    Confronting Climate Change

    Climate change touches every aspect of our lives, from the air we breathe and the food we eat to the rising risk of epidemic disease and natural disaster. We’re not only uncovering the human toll of our changing environment, we’re crafting global solutions.
  • Cultivating Well-being and Nutrition

    Cultivating Well-being and Nutrition

    From the obesity epidemic sweeping the globe to social isolation and unhappiness, we’re still plagued by barriers to human thriving. The links between our health and how we feel, interact, and live are complex. But we’re leading the way in understanding how genetics, lifestyles, and social forces interact to influence everything from metabolism to mental health.
  • Conquering Epidemics

    Conquering Epidemics

    The next major pandemic is a matter of when, not if. As pathogens evolve to resist our front-line medicines, and as the risks of infection multiply with urban crowding, global travel, and a warming planet, there is no time to lose. We’re fighting on many fronts to make sure humanity is ready when the next outbreak inevitably arrives.