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For immediate release: Wednesday, January 8, 2020 Boston, MA – Maintaining five healthy habits—eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, keeping a healthy body weight, not drinking too much alcohol, and not smoking—at middle-age may increase years lived free of type 2 diabetes,…

December 4, 2019—For many years, epidemiological data has shown a link between obesity and asthma. While researchers have long hypothesized that obesity increases the risk of asthma, why or how that risk is increased isn’t entirely clear. A recent study led by…

November 27, 2019—Scientists across Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health got a major upgrade to their toolbox this week with the official launch of the Harvard Chan Advanced Multi-omics Platform, or ChAMP. Housed in the Department of Molecular Metabolism, ChAMP consists…

October 21, 2019 – The Department of Genetics and Complex Diseases at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has officially changed its name to the Department of Molecular Metabolism. “After consultation with the faculty and academic council, we are changing the…

October 8, 2019 – In 2011, a massive earthquake struck off the coast of eastern Japan in 2011 and triggered devastating tsunami waves. Roughly 16,000 people were killed, more than a million buildings were damaged or destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of…

John Quackenbush, Henry Pickering Walcott Professor of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics; Chair, Department of Biostatistics Kent Dayton / Harvard Chan “In science, you have to turn over a lot of rocks to find truth,” says John Quackenbush. Recently, he and his colleagues…

Governments around the world are raising the age of retirement, and this could spark significant challenges for individuals and societies at large, according to an August 20, 2019 BBC article. David Bloom, Clarence James Gamble Professor of Economics and Demography at Harvard…

Becoming physically active in mid-life can extend longevity.

Is inflammation a root cause of myriad noncommunicable diseases, including Alzheimer’s, cancer, arthritis, and asthma? A June 2019 Harvard Magazine article surveyed the evidence and profiled several researchers who have studied the role inflammation plays in disease formation. A number of researchers…

May 15, 2019—William Mair, associate professor of genetics and complex diseases at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, is the 2019 recipient of the Armen H. Tashjian Jr. Award for Excellence in Endocrine Research. Brendan Manning, professor of genetics and complex…

A 50% increase in youth suicides in Florida over the past decade has been fueled, in part, by young people’s access to guns, according to a December 30, 2019 article in the South Florida Sun Sentinel. The article noted that guns—which play…

Some communities have designated certain public spaces, like courthouses and municipal buildings, as gun-free zones. But experts say there’s no conclusive evidence as to whether establishing such zones increases safety. A December 4, 2019 story on WAMU (Washington, D.C.’s NPR station) described…

In a series of articles, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health researchers indicate that adults in several minority groups face discrimination in many aspects of their lives. In the midst of national debates on the extent of discrimination in the lives…

Data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) has been crucial in helping policymakers, health care workers, and researchers understand more about what leads to violent deaths, including homicides and suicides, and how to help…

Professors Stephen Marks and Dyann Wirth of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Marks, François-Xavier Bagnoud Professor of Health and Human Rights in the Department of Global…

Women are more than twice as likely as men to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and roughly 10 out of every 100 women experience PTSD, according to news reports. An October 9, 2019 Washington Post article explored the impacts that PTSD…

Many products used to store or secure guns are poorly made and easy to break into, and standards for gun safe security are inadequate, according to experts. A September 27, 2019 Undark article described how some gun safes can be opened simply…

Kailash Satyarthi spoke at a Harvard screening of clips from the film The Price of Free—a documentary about his fight against child labor and exploitation.

The federal government has not taken steps to reduce gun violence in the U.S., even after a spate of mass shootings. But other entities—such as state governments, foundations, and corporations—may be spurred to take action, according to Harvard T.H. Chan School of…

For immediate release: September 5, 2019 Boston, MA – Women who experienced six or more symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at some point in life had a twofold greater risk of developing ovarian cancer compared with women who never had any…

The warming planet could worsen health for patients with chronic conditions, lead to new health harms, and wreak havoc with health systems, according to an expert from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Renee Salas—an emergency room doctor, a Yerby Fellow at the…

Since 2004, Christopher Golden has been filling in the links between climate change and health among Madagascar's Malagasy people, in hopes of refining both scientific understanding and on-the-ground interventions.

Despite increasingly dire reports about climate change—rising global temperatures, melting ice sheets, wildfires, intense storms—Gina McCarthy says she intends to keep fighting against it. A January 13, 2020, Boston Globe column profiled McCarthy, professor of the practice of public health at Harvard…

The last decade was the hottest ever, and 2019 was the second-hottest year ever, according to a report from two federal agencies. The annual global climate report from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) used data from thousands of…

The Australian bush fires, the politics of climate change, and sea level rise in Boston’s disadvantaged neighborhood were among the topics discussed in a new environmental news roundtable on the WGBH radio show “Under the Radar with Callie Crossley.” One of the…

The Oxford English Dictionary chose “climate emergency” as its word of the year for 2019, reflecting the hundred-fold increase in the phrase’s usage over the previous year. Gina McCarthy, director of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Center for Climate, Health,…

A little-known gas well accident in Ohio appears to have led to one of the largest methane leaks in U.S. history, according to a recent study. Using data from a satellite that monitors the entire planet for methane leaks and emissions, the…

Climate change makes it harder for people to stay healthy and for medical providers to do their jobs, says Aaron Bernstein, co-director of the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a…

Letters signed by 60 public health school deans and program directors, including Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Dean Michelle Williams were sent on November 26, 2019 to President Donald Trump and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler expressing strong…

Climate change is predicted to harm children more than adults, according to a new report from The Lancet. A November 13, 2019 New York Times article about the report noted that if fossil fuel emissions aren’t limited in the years to come,…

Sand used on train tracks to improve traction could pose a health threat for Massachusetts commuter rail employees working in train cabs, according to a recent news report. A February 6, 2020 WCVB Channel 5 article described how corrosion in the sand…

The warming planet could worsen health for patients with chronic conditions, lead to new health harms, and wreak havoc with health systems, according to an expert from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Renee Salas—an emergency room doctor, a Yerby Fellow at the…

In December, Congress voted to approve $25 million for gun violence research. Experts hope the new funding will shed light on questions about gun ownership and the effectiveness of firearm policies and violence prevention efforts. The new funding ends what had effectively…

See Transcript [MUSIC PLAYING] DAVID LEVIN: You're listening to Harvard Chan-- This Week in Health. I'm David Levin. MARY BASSETT: Well, we've seen a real transition from handcuffs to help, and the idea that people who have problem drug use are people…

As California’s first surgeon general, Nadine Burke Harris, MPH ’02, is finding the roots of disease in childhood adversity and treating the long-term consequences.

Pills and powders claiming to boost weight loss, energy, or sexual performance—available to customers of all ages on drugstore shelves—face little government oversight of their safety and efficacy.

See Transcript [MUSIC PLAYING] DAVID LEVIN: You're listening to Harvard Chan: This Week in Health. I'm David Levin. Today, we're talking about stigma and addiction. SHELLY GREENFIELD: Addiction itself doesn't discriminate. It's not about white or black or other ethnic or racial…

Although there are plenty of packaged food options for those on a plant-based diet, such as imitation meat burgers and kale chips, whole foods are still the best option.

The popular keto diet—which emphasizes eating minimal carbohydrates and high amounts of fat—has been shown to promote short-term weight loss, but some experts question whether it’s a good long-term option.

January 27, 2020—Adolescents make up 23% of sub-Saharan Africa’s population, but understanding and meeting their unique health needs has long been a neglected area. A new series of papers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Africa Research Implementation…

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, must navigate myriad political and economic factors as the agency responds to coronavirus outbreak, according to news reports. A February 10, 2020, Science article explored the challenges Ghebreyesus faces, and discussed how he’s…

February 12, 2020 – Timothy Rebbeck kicked off the second annual Zhu Family Center for Global Cancer Prevention symposium on an optimistic note. “U.S. cancer rates have dropped dramatically. In 2016-2017, we saw the largest single-year decline in cancer deaths ever,” he…

Leaders of the social media platform Instagram said months ago that they would take steps to curb the spread of misinformation about vaccines, but anti-vaccine content remains prevalent on the platform, according to news reports. A February 2, 2020 Huffington Post investigation…

If you look at the big noncommunicable diseases of aging that the Harvard Chan School is concerned about, lipid metabolism is critical in every case.

Life expectancy in the U.S. inched up for the first time in four years, according to two reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics. The primary contributor to the uptick was a decrease in cancer…

Experts are trying to figure out how much the public should know about experiments that could make pathogens, such as viruses, more transmissible or more deadly. Scientists conduct this type of research in order to better understand how viruses, like avian flu…

Researchers are increasingly intrigued by the prospect of using ivermectin, a drug normally used to treat parasitic worms, as a way of controlling mosquito populations to drive down malaria rates, according to news reports. Regina Rabinovich, ExxonMobil Malaria Scholar in Residence at…

January 29, 2020 – John Quackenbush, Henry Pickering Walcott Professor of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics and chair of the Department of Biostatistics, is trying to understand how our genes influence cancer risk. In a recent research paper, he and his colleagues explored…

News about the coronavirus that recently spread from Wuhan, China, has increasingly made headlines and filled news segments, yet epidemiologists and infectious disease experts are cautioning the public against panicking. “We don’t have evidence yet to suggest this is any more virulent…

Between 2016 and 2017, the U.S. cancer death rate dropped 2.2%, according to new data from the American Cancer Society. The drop marks the largest single-year decline ever recorded. Among the factors attributed to the decline are reduced smoking rates and new…