While Jordan has accommodated more than 350,000 refugees since the start of the Syrian conflict in March 2011, it is routinely and unlawfully rejecting Palestinian refugees, single men, and undocumented people seeking asylum at its border with Syria, according to Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic and Human Rights Watch. On March 21, the…

Forty years after the Supreme Court handed down its landmark decision in Roe v. Wade, the backlash it generated continues to shape the public discourse, says Harvard Law School Professor Michael Klarman, an expert on constitutional law and constitutional history. “The justices who decided Roe almost certainly did not expect the kind of political backlash…

In 1983, Evan Wolfson ’83 authored a prescient third year paper titled “Samesex Marriage and Morality: The Human Rights Vision of the Constitution.” Thirty years and countless examinations of the constitution later, two cases regarding gay marriage, Hollingsworth v. Perry (challenging California’s Proposition 8) and United States v. Windsor (challenging the Defense of Marriage Act)…

Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) helped welcome more than 750 reporters, editors, and news producers to Boston for the Association of Health Care Journalists’ annual conference, held March 14-17, 2013. HSPH co-sponsored the event, which offered skill-building workshops as well as presentations by HSPH researchers and others on a variety of current health care…

It’s estimated that about five million children in India are addicted to tobacco. They’re lured in by small, brightly colored packs of chewing tobacco—very popular in India—that cost just pennies a pack and are available everywhere, often close to schools. Frequently, children start using chewing tobacco, then graduate to cigarettes as they get older. To…

There is wide variation in the rate of cesarean sections performed at different hospitals across the U.S. and one explanation has been that hospitals with higher c-section rates serve greater numbers of women at high risk for the procedure. Now, a new study by researchers from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the Massachusetts…

Harvard Law School student Haben Girma ’13 was recently named a White House Champion of Change for her advocacy on behalf of deafblind individuals and her efforts in promoting educational excellence for African Americans. Each week, the White House Champions of Change Program honors ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things in their communities. Girma, who is…

On March 14, the Harvard Law School Environmental Law Society presented its annual Horizon award to Bruce Babbitt ’65, who previously served as secretary of the interior and governor of Arizona. The award is a means of recognizing great people who have accomplished great things in the field of environment and natural resources law, and…

New research from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) shows that one year after the federal government passed a law banning word descriptors such as “light,” “mild,” and “low” on cigarette packages, smokers can still easily identify their brands because of color-coding that tobacco companies added to “light” packs after the ban. These findings suggest…

During flu season, sufferers are advised to prevent spreading the virus by covering their mouths when coughing or sneezing and by washing their hands. But these methods may not be enough, according to a new study by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers and colleagues. According to the study, which was published March 7, 2013 in PLOS…

New York Times Reporter Sam Dolnick has won the 2012 Worth Bingham Prize for Investigative Journalism for his eye-opening three-part series Unlocked: Inside New Jersey’s Halfway Houses. His exposé of New Jersey’s privately run halfway houses uncovered a broken and horribly flawed correctional system in which gang activity, drug use, sexual assaults and other violent…

Public health resources in Africa have long been devoted to infectious diseases such as AIDS and malaria and, for women, reproductive health services. But while these services are vital, the health needs of a growing population of African women who are living longer are not being met, says Allan Hill, Andelot Professor of Demography at Harvard…

The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University is pleased to announce that senior research scientist Peter Del Tredici will be awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal in London this spring. The Royal Horticultural Society presents this prestigious, international award to “persons of any nationality who have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement and improvement of the…

David T. Ellwood, dean of Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), today announced the appointment of Max Bazerman, the Jesse Isidor Straus Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School (HBS), as co-director of the HKS Center for Public Leadership (CPL).  He will join David Gergen in co-leading the center, shaping its intellectual agenda and its expanded…

A new study by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers is the first to identify the primary mechanism controlling a metabolic process essential for cell growth and proliferation. This pathway is centered around the mTOR protein, which relays growth signals to cells in response to external stimuli, including insulin and nutrients. The scientists speculate…

India is poised to join the list of countries suffering from a dual burden of both infectious and chronic non-communicable diseases, many of which have their roots in diet and nutritional status. While poor maternal and child health is marked by high rates of anemia, undernutrition, and infectious diseases, obesity and diabetes are also rising…

Following a vote of the Harvard Law School faculty, I. Glenn Cohen, a leading expert on the intersection of health care, bioethics and the law, will be promoted from assistant professor to tenured professor of law, effective July 1. Cohen has served as an assistant professor since 2008, and as co-director of the Petrie-Flom Center…

During the 2012 election cycle, a record number of women won seats in Congress. Still, women make up just 19 percent of Congress and hold only five governorships. In an effort to build momentum following the 2012 races, the Women’s Law Association hosted its annual conference on February 8, titled “19%: When Will Women Have…

To ensure that public health interventions that can save lives and improve overall health actually reach people, epidemiologists must do two things. They must provide clear evidence of the need for such interventions. They must also convince policymakers to then take action on the evidence. This was the theme addressed at a symposium on “translational…

Robert Levin, the inaugural Dwight P. Robinson Jr. Professor of the Humanities at the Department of Music at Harvard, will retire from the University in 2014. As a tribute to Levin, the Music Department will honor him with a concert in Sanders Theatre on Wednesday March 27, 2013 at 8 p.m. Internationally renowned pianist Levin…

The news that a child in Mississippi has apparently been cured of HIV infection has generated widespread interest and cautious optimism among AIDS researchers. The child—born to an untreated HIV-positive mother—was started on an aggressive combination of anti-AIDS drugs just 30 hours after birth. After about 18 months, the mother stopped giving the child the…

Multi-university research will focus on innovative materials for the automotive, building and construction, and energy sectors BASF SE, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst have established a research initiative called the “North American Center for Research on Advanced Materials.” A major goal of this initiative is to…

Harvard faculty members and instructors are invited to attend to a HarvardX Town Hall meeting on course development and research at the Longwood Campus. The Town Hall will take place on Thursday, March 28 from 3:30-5:30 p.m. at the Harvard School of Public Health, Kresge Building Room G2, 677 Huntington Avenue. The Town Hall will be facilitated by…

Italy and South Africa are 5,000 miles apart. But at the annual international party hosted by the Harvard Law School LL.M. Class of 2013 on Feb. 16, the countries were suddenly neighbors, with students from each country handing out their favorite traditional treats while dressed as gondoliers or rugby players. Hundreds of students, faculty, staff…

Harvard Law School Visiting Professor Michael Ashley Stein ’88 was awarded the 2013 Viscardi Award, which honors people living with disabilities for their work and influence in the global disability community. With Harvard Law School Professor William Alford ‘77, Stein co-founded the Harvard Law School Project on Disability, which works to promote the human rights…

Gov. Deval Patrick ’82 has nominated Gloria Tan, a clinical instructor at HLS’s Criminal Justice Institute, to a seat on the Massachusetts Juvenile Court.  A leading national authority in the field of juvenile justice, Tan brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the juvenile bench in Massachusetts. As a judge on the Juvenile Court,…

The Chicago Tribune has won the Nieman Foundation’s 2012 Taylor Family Award for Fairness in Newspapers for “Playing with Fire.” The six-part series revealed how the chemical and tobacco industries for years misled the public with deceptive campaigns that promoted the use of toxic flame-retardant chemicals that don’t work and pose serious health risks to…

The public is very supportive of government action aimed at changing lifestyle choices that can lead to obesity, diabetes, and other noncommunicable diseases — but they’re less likely to support such interventions if they’re viewed as intrusive or coercive, according to a new Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) study. The study also found that…

Throughout history, more women have died in childbirth than men have died in battle, Mahmoud Fathalla, founder of the Safe Motherhood Initiative, told attendees at the recent Global Maternal Health Conference in Arusha, Tanzania, co-sponsored by Harvard School of Public Health’s Maternal Health Task Force (MHTF) and Management and Development for Health (MDH), a Tanzanian nonprofit. Fathalla and other…

Switching to a Mediterranean diet — rich in olive oil, nuts, beans, fish, fruits, vegetables, and wine in moderation — can help prevent about 30% of heart attacks, strokes, and deaths from heart disease in people at high risk compared with those eating a typical low-fat diet, according to a new study. Harvard School of…