Nutrition Department celebrates past, looks to future at 75th anniversary symposium

A packed audience listened to presentations.
A packed audience listened to presentations.

November 7, 2017—Since its inception in 1942, the Department of Nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health has had an indelible impact on the way we eat. From the dangers of trans fats and sugar-sweetened beverages to the benefits of the Mediterranean diet, researchers have made landmark contributions to the science of nutrition, provided critical evidence to inform health policy, and helped countless people make healthier choices for themselves and their families. In honor of its 75th anniversary, faculty, alumni, students, and guests gathered for a celebratory symposium highlighting both past achievements and new research initiatives.

The November 1, 2017 event, held at the Joseph B. Martin Center, was followed by the 13th annual Stare-Hegsted Lecture.

Frank Hu
Frank Hu

In opening remarks, Frank Hu, Fredrick J. Stare Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology and chair of the Department of Nutrition, gave a warm and witty overview of the Department’s history. In addition to noting its  many achievements—such as the findings of the long-running Nurses Health Studies, which have generated substantial evidence on the risk factors of chronic diseases—he also took pleasure in showing decades-old photos of his colleagues’ past hairstyles, eliciting laughter from the audience.

Diseases of civilization

Hu played a pre-recorded interview he conducted with renowned Professor Emeritus Bernard Lown, a cardiologist. Lown joined the Department in the 1950s, soon after it shifted its focus from the health needs of a population under wartime rationing to the role of nutrition in the “diseases of civilization,” including heart disease. Now 96, Lown was a pioneer in the development of the defibrillator, and also was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with his co-founders of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War in 1985. He offered Hu encouragement in his new role as chair and urged him to take on what he called one of the most pressing challenges for today’s nutrition researchers—the cheap, empty calories that dominate the diets of the poor.

Walter Willett
Walter Willett

Hu’s predecessor Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition, who served as chair for 25 years, said that he counted the faculty members he hired over the years as among his proudest achievements.

“I brought on people who I wanted to be with during my long working days,” he said. “These are wonderful people as well as top scientists.”

Several faculty members described for the audience current and upcoming initiatives in the Department. Frank Sacks, professor of cardiovascular disease prevention, explained the apparent paradox of HDL cholesterol, known as “good cholesterol”—while having high levels of it seems to lower heart disease risk, studies have found that boosting it with medication failed to reduce the rate of heart attacks. New research underway at the School on the effects of certain proteins on HDL metabolism may ultimately provide better drug targets, he said.

Kirsten Davison, Donald and Sue Pritzker Associate Professor of Nutrition, highlighted growing interest in the new Public Health Nutrition Program, which she directs. Professor Edward Giovannucci and colleagues in the Nutritional Epidemiology concentration are building on decades of important findings on healthy and unhealthy dietary patterns to find out how what we eat when we’re young may affect our health later in life.

The Department has been working to address the links between malnutrition and infectious diseases for decades. Wafaie Fawzi, Richard Saltonstall Professor of Population Sciences, professor of nutrition, epidemiology, and global health and chair of the Department of Global Health and Population, said researchers are looking at ways to apply an integrated approach to nutrition interventions in developing countries—trying multiple efforts, such as micronutrient supplementation and water and sanitation improvements, at the same time.

During an alumni panel, Alice Lichtenstein, SM ’75, SD ’79, Margo Wootan, SD ’93, Karen Peterson, SD ’87, and Lawrence Kushi, SD ’83, shared stories about how the Department helped shaped their careers, and they offered some advice to current students.

Peterson advised students to take risks in their careers. And just as mentors at the School opened doors for you, she said, “be sure to open the door for others.”

—Amy Roeder

Photos: Sarah Sholes