In pursuit of clinical research career, surgeon follows in parents' footsteps
November 13, 2012 -- When Meera Kotagal, MD ’09, MPH ’14, a surgical resident and research fellow at the University of Washington, entered the classroom to begin the Summer Program in Clinical Effectiveness(PCE) at Harvard School of Public Health this…
Fish oil doesn’t prevent irregular heartbeat in cardiac surgery patients
A new study led by HSPH’s Dariush Mozaffarian, associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology, finds that fish oil capsules with omega-3 fatty acids failed to prevent the onset of atrial fibrillation, a heart arrhythmia that often follows…
Why are Massachusetts hospitals doing fewer angioplasties on heart attack patients?
Article on Boston.com featuring HSPH’s Karen Joynt, October 10, 2012
Why Public Health? Will Perry
May 2012 -- In our video series "Why Public Health?" we ask Harvard School of Public Health students to talk about why they chose to enter the field. Here, Will Perry, a surgeon who earned his MPH in…
HSPH’s Atul Gawande tells the evolving story of surgery over the past two hundred years
In an article marking the bicentennial of The New England Journal of Medicine, Harvard School of Health Prof. Atul Gawande described the evolution of surgery since 1812, from quick and bloody battlefield amputations to new experiments in non-invasive…
Limiting protein or certain amino acids before surgery may reduce risk of surgical complications
For immediate release: Wednesday, January 25, 2012 Boston, MA — Limiting certain essential nutrients for several days before surgery—either protein or amino acids—may reduce the risk of serious surgical complications such as heart attack or stroke, according to…
Surgery common among elderly Medicare patients at end of life
Nearly one-third of elderly Americans covered by Medicare have surgery in their last year of life—especially in the last month or final week of life—that often is unnecessary, unwanted by the patient, and may be influenced by financial…
Conference calls for global focus on the burden of non-communicable diseases of the world's poorest billion
March 23, 2011 -- Ten years ago, attention given to HIV/AIDS at a United Nations special session was followed by the establishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. Now, a growing chorus of public health…
Surgery an unmet need in global health
Public health professionals who work in the developing world have long focused on defeating infectious diseases, and recently have widened their focus to include chronic illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. But access to quality surgical…
Surgical checklist improves quality of care and reduces costs
Last year, Atul Gawande, an associate professor at HSPH and a surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), and colleagues demonstrated that when surgical teams use a simple checklist, avoidable complications plummet and lives are saved. In a new…