HSPH Prof Heads Vaccine Safety Group
Marie McCormick has been appointed head of a new working group of independent health experts who are monitoring the safety of the H1N1 vaccine. Read the story from AP and watch a clip from ABC News.

Swine Flu in Spring May Have Infected Millions
As many as 5.7 million people in the U.S. may have been infected with H1N1 earlier this year, according to a CDC report authored by Prof. Marc Lipsitch and CDC researchers. Read the Bloomberg story.

Most Mass Docs View State Health Reform Favorably
A new HSPH survey shows that 70 percent of practicing physicians in Massachusetts support health reform three years after its passage in 2006. The survey, which appears in NEJM, was done by researcher Gillian SteelFisher and Prof. Robert Blendon (left). Listen to coverage from NPR.

HSPH Alum Calls for Healing
Palestinian doctor and HSPH graduate Izzeldin Abuelaish lost three of his daughters to an Israeli tank shell earlier this year in Gaza. That hasn't stopped him from continuing his efforts to reconcile Palestinans and Israelis; he's also working with HSPH faculty about possible projects involving Palestinan and Israeli doctors (story from The Boston Globe).

Inequalities in Health Information
Vish Viswanath delivered a lecture, "Bridging the Information Gap," at the University of Utah.  He discussed some key points from his talk, such as the challenges of getting health information to people on the margins of society, with U of U's radio station KUER.

Biostatistics Luminary Stephen Lakagos Dies
Stephen Lagakos, an international leader in biostatistics and AIDS research and professor of biostatistics at the HSPH, died in an auto collision on Monday, October 12, 2009 in Peterborough, N.H. He was 63 years old. His wife, Regina, and his mother, Helen, were also killed in the daytime accident, along with the driver of the other car.

Read the HSPH press release and an obituary from The Boston Globe.

Skin Cancer Exam Training Lacking
A new study from HSPH and Boston University researchers shows that medical residents say they aren't receiving proper training in administering skin cancer exams. Senior research scientist Alan Geller was the study's senior author. Read and listen to the NPR story.

Unfit to Fight Fires?
Assoc. Prof. Stefanos Kales' primary research focuses on firefighters, including risk factors, such as obesity, that can have adverse effects on their health (see this 2007 press release). In an interview with WBZ-TV, he talks about the problems of unfit firefighters.

Solving an International Medical Mystery
John Bullock, an HSPH alumnus and professor at Wright State, was instrumental in helping to trace an outbreak of fungal infection that caused corneal ulcers worldwide. He found that the culprit was improper storage temperatures of a Bausch & Lomb contact lens solution product. Read the story in Wright University's Boonshoft School of Medicine's Vital Signs magazine.

Interested in learning more about a healthy diet? Check out The Nutrition Source website, developed by the HSPH Department of Nutrition, where you can find the latest science about healthy eating for adults.

Subscribe to Harvard's new Twitter page, HarvardResearch, where you can keep up on the latest research happenings around the University.

Recent Press Releases

Poll: Three-Fourths of Massachusetts Physicians Support Continuing State's Health Reform Law
October 21, 2009

Stephen Lagakos, International Leader in Biostatistics and AIDS Research, Dies
October 13, 2009

Two HSPH Professors Honored with Election to Institute of Medicine for their Scientific Contributions
October 12, 2009

Around the School

Annual Talk Provides Overview of School
Julio Frenk and David Hunter delivered the 8th Annual State of the School Address, their first as deans of the School, to a capacity crowd in the Kresge cafeteria on October 5, 2009, providing an overview of HSPH's financial status, research priorities, reorganizational efforts and milestones.

Also, watch Dean Frenk's talk, "Health Reform in an Era of Pandemics," which he gave at the Commonwealth Club of California.  

Authors Discuss Book On Empowering Women
Global gender inequity is the most urgent moral problem of the 21st century, asserted New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof and former foreign correspondent Sheryl WuDunn at a talk at HSPH on October 5.  There to discuss their new book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. Watch the video of the event.

Health Challenges and Opportunities in Tanzania
The Minister of Health for Tanzania spoke to a capacity audience at HSPH on Tuesday, September 29, 2009. Watch a webcast.

Experts Debate National Health Care Reform
Profs. Katherine Baicker and Arnold Epstein discussed health care reform on a panel hosted by HSPH and NEJM. Watch the video.

HSPH Remembers Ted Kennedy
Over many years, HSPH faculty and Senator Ted Kennedy worked toward common goals of eliminating health disparities, achieving near-universal health care coverage in Massachusetts and the U.S. and reducing the toll of tobacco use.

Morality and Health Care Reform
Debate on U.S. health care reform should emphasize ethical and moral obligations, say Prof. Norman Daniels and colleagues in the journal Health Affairs.

Text Message Emergency Alerts
The HSPH community is urged to sign up to receive alerts from Harvard's MessageMe service in case of emergency. Sign up or renew your account.

HSPH In the Media

New Group Helps US Monitor Swine Flu Shot Safety -- coverage from AP, November 2, 2009, featuring HSPH's Marie McCormick

Side Effects Not Always Due to Flu Shot -- coverage from AP, October 31, 2009, featuring HSPH's Leonard Marcus

Can Americans Change Their Taste for the Sweet and Salty? -- coverage from U.S. News & World Report, October 30, 2009, featuring HSPH's Lilian Cheung

Mission Improbable: A Concise and Precise Definition of P-Value -- coverage from ScienceNOW, October 30, 2009, featuring HSPH's Victor De Gruttola

Swine Flu Infected Millions in First US Wave, CDC Study Finds -- coverage from Bloomberg, October 29, 2009, featuring HSPH's Marc Lipsitch

Shortage of Vaccine Poses Political Test for Obama -- coverage from The New York Times, October 29, 2009, featuring HSPH's Robert Blendon

In Health Debate, Both Sides Vie for Seniors' Support -- coverage from NPR, October 28, 2009, featuring HSPH's Robert Blendon

Swine Flu Vaccine Shortage: Why? -- coverage from NPR, October 26, 2009, featuring HSPH's Marc Lipsitch

To Framingham 8th Graders: Harvard Researchers Got Your Back -- coverage from The Boston Globe, October 26, 2009, featuring HSPH's Alan Geller

What Lessons Mass. Holds for U.S. Healthcare Reform -- coverage from The Christian Science Monitor, October 21, 2009, featuring HSPH's Katherine Baicker

In Mass., Most Docs Support State Health Mandate -- coverage from NPR, October 21, 2009, featuring HSPH's Robert Blendon  

A Cancer Visible to the Naked Eye, but Doctors Aren't Looking -- coverage from NPR, October 20, 2009, featuring HSPH's Alan Geller

[more In the Media...]