School continues decades-long legacy of protecting workers' health
Harvard Chan School’s Education and Research Center for Occupational Health and Safety carries on legacy of pioneer Alice Hamilton January 9, 2019—When Alice Hamilton joined Harvard’s faculty in 1919, workplace hazards were plentiful. American manufacturing was on the…
When platelets go awry
May 26, 2017 — David Christiani, Elkan Blout Professor of Environmental Genetics, is senior author of a study published May 8, 2017 in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine that found that changes in platelet…
E-cigarette emissions appear to contain pollutants
Although the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) now regulates electronic cigarettes, it has not yet developed standards for testing them or for acceptable levels of chemicals emitted when users exhale. A study led by Harvard T.H. Chan School…
Report links welding fumes with risk of cancer
More priority needs to be given to protecting the world’s estimated 111 million welders and other workers from exposure to potentially toxic welding fumes, according to David Christiani, Elkan Blout Professor of Environmental Genetics at Harvard T.H. Chan…
Chemicals linked with severe respiratory disease found in common e-cigarette flavors
For immediate release: December 8, 2015 Boston, MA – Diacetyl, a flavoring chemical linked to cases of severe respiratory disease, was found in more than 75% of flavored electronic cigarettes and refill liquids tested by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan…
COPD heightens deadly lung cancer risk in smokers
Smokers who have chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) may face nearly twice the risk of getting small cell lung cancer (SCLC)—the deadliest form of lung cancer—than smokers who don’t have COPD, according to a large worldwide study led…
A bench scientist with a passion for the environment
May 21, 2015 – On a Friday afternoon in May, Peter Wagner was about to give his dissertation defense. Quan Lu, associate professor of environmental genetics and pathophysiology—introducing Peter before a group of about 50 of his fellow…
Cystic fibrosis and arsenic poisoning linked to same damaged protein
A new Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health co-authored study provides further evidence linking both arsenic poisoning and the chronic respiratory disease cystic fibrosis (CF) to damage in the CFTR protein. An examination of arsenic-exposed patients in…
The DNA of public health
[Fall 2013 Centennial issue] When at first nothing may seem more removed from the broad, humanistic canvas of public health than research on genetics, studies of the molecular mechanisms of disease occupy a central place at Harvard School…
Deadly environments
[Fall 2013 Centennial issue] On a October afternoon in 1948, daylight barely trickled into the storefronts of Donora, Pennsylvania. Stagnant weather had trapped a noxious black cloud of emissions from nearby steel and zinc plants above the town,…
