Sara Naomi Bleich
Primary Faculty

Sara Naomi Bleich

Professor of Public Health Policy

Health Policy and Management

sbleich@hsph.harvard.edu

Other Positions

Vice Provost for Special Projects

Provost Staff

OPR

Affiliate of the Harvard Kennedy School

Faculty Members

Harvard Kennedy School


Overview

Sara Bleich is a Professor of Public Health Policy at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health in the Department of Health Policy and Management. She is also the Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and a member of the faculty at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Sara's research provides evidence to support policies to prevent obesity and diet-related diseases, particularly among high risk populations. A signature theme throughout her work is an interest in asking simple, meaningful questions which can fill important knowledge gaps. Sara's research has been published in journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine, British Medical Journal, Health Affairs, and American Journal of Public Health and has been featured in outlets such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and National Public Radio. She is currently working on various projects relating to COVID-19 food implications and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Sara has received numerous awards including one for excellence in public interest communication. Sara served as a White House Fellow from 2015 to 2016 where she worked as a Senior Policy Advisor to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the First Lady's Let's Move initiative. She holds degrees from Columbia (BA, Psychology) and Harvard (PhD, Health Policy).


Bibliography


News

Addressing Harvard’s legacy of slavery

Addressing Harvard University’s legacy of slavery will require genuinely listening to the concerns of descendants of people who were enslaved, making them full partners in decision-making about ways to address the harms done, and avoiding making assumptions about…

Dispelling nutrition myths

Ten experts recently told the New York Times which false ideas about nutrition they would like to dispel. One of those experts—Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Sara Bleich—said that she’d like to dispel the myth that…

Faculty News

Faculty awards and honors, appointments and promotions.

Shock to the System

A recession with a pandemic at its core may help us reckon with the links between the economy, inequality, and health.