Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow has appointed Michael Fertik ’05, Neil Flanzraich ’68, Anthony Scaramucci ’89 and John Williams ’79 as HLS’s Experts-in-Residence (EIRs) for the 2012-2013 academic year, in partnership with the University-wide Harvard Innovation Lab (i-Lab). Williams served as HLS’s inaugural EIR in 2011-2012 and has been reappointed to a second term. “This year, when…

On the 11th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the Shorenstein Center welcomed Dana Priest, national security reporter for The Washington Post, to discuss the cost of secrecy and how it affects the relationship between media and government. In his introduction, Shorenstein Center Director Alex Jones mentioned the New York Times op-ed by Kurt Eichenwald,…

The daughter and wife of prominent Harvard professors, Marian Cannon Schlesinger could have led an insular life. Although she has lived most of her life in a small area of Cambridge near the Harvard campus, she has ranged far and wide through her travels and art. After she graduated from Radcliffe in 1934, Schlesinger lived…

Harvard University Center for the Environment welcomes its 2012 cohort of Environmental Fellows. These six new fellows join a group of remarkable scholars who are in their second year of the fellowship. Together, the Environmental Fellows at Harvard will form a community of researchers with diverse backgrounds united by intellectual curiosity, top-quality scholarship, and a…

For the 50th anniversary of what historians agree was the most dangerous moment in human history, Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Foreign Policy magazine today launched  a contest for scholars and citizens to reflect on the lessons of the Cuban Missile Crisis and its lessons for current challenges. The…

Reknown scholar and author Joseph Horowitz will give the 2012 Louis C. Elson lecture on Tuesday, Oct. 9, at 5:15 p.m. in John Knowles Paine Concert Hall. Horowitz, a cultural historian and concert producer, will present “Rethinking What Orchestras Do: A Humanities Mandate.” The talk is free and open to the public. John Knowles Paine…

The poor are disproportionately afflicted with a wide range of health problems, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, asthma, infant mortality, and dental disease. Sleep deficiency and disorders including sleep apnea also are particularly common among minority groups and those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, according to Harvard School of Public Health’s Michelle Williams, Stephen B.…

Russell Phillips, director of Harvard Medical School’s Center for Primary Care, has been appointed the William Applebaum Professor of Medicine. Phillips was promoted to HMS professor of medicine in 2004, and served as chief of the Division of General Medicine and Primary Care at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center between 2002 and 2012. The William…

On Saturday, Sept. 29, five Harvard University museums —the Harvard Art Museums, Harvard Museum of Natural History , Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, Semitic Museum, and the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments — will open their doors free of charge along with 1,400 other participating museums nationwide during the eighth annual Museum Day Live!…

For wiring up the human body with “electronic tattoos,” Nanshu Lu, a 2009 Ph.D. graduate of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), has been recognized by Technology Review magazine as among the world’s 35 top innovators under the age of 35. A panel of expert judges and the editorial staff of Technology…

Acclaimed academic, author and former politician Michael Ignatieff will rejoin Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) in January 2013 in a half-time faculty appointment as professor of practice. He will also assume a half-time appointment as professor at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto. Born in Canada, educated at the University of…

Susan Hockfield, who served as the 16th president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has been named the Marie Curie Visiting Professor at Harvard Kennedy School,  Dean David T. Ellwood announced Sept. 7. Hockfield is a distinguished life scientist who has focused much of her research on the development of the brain and on…

Within the past decade, health care costs have risen by 88% and are expected to account for 18% of GDP in 2012. Many patients can no longer afford their health care and 40% of patients with a serious medical condition face financial hardship because of the cost of their care, according to the Institute of…

Leslie and Abigail Wexner, founding and sustaining donors of the Center for Public Leadership (CPL) at Harvard’s Kennedy School, announced today an additional gift of $3 million to the center. Their gift, an extension of the couple’s longtime commitment to inspiring, preparing, and connecting tomorrow’s global leaders, brings the Wexners’ total commitment to the center…

The Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, located at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, is pleased to announce its 2012 Fall Fellows and Visiting Faculty. “This fall we have an outstanding group of fellows and visiting faculty representing both broad experience and cutting-edge work and scholarship,” said Alex Jones, the…

Earlier this summer, 29 undergraduate students from three countries and 10 states came to Harvard’s campus for advanced training in Arabic language and culture teaching. They were here for an intensive three-week workshop, the Arabic Institute for the Next Generation, run through the Outreach Center at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies. Funded by a…

Pratheev Sreetharan ’06, Ph.D. ’12, a pioneer in pop-up robotics, has been recognized by Technology Review magazine as among the world’s top innovators under the age of 35. A panel of expert judges and the editorial staff of Technology Review, published by MIT, selected him from more than 300 nominees. Sreetharan recently graduated with a…

The Harvard Art Museums are pleased to announce the appointment of Ethan Lasser as Margaret S. Winthrop Associate Curator of American Art, effective Sept. 18, 2012. Lasser will join the Art Museums’ Division of European and American Art. Lasser’s innovative work as a curator and academic experience align well with the Art Museums’ teaching and…

Inspired by one of the most talked-about Harvard College courses in recent history, “Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to the Science of Soft Matter,” the Science & Cooking public lecture series will return on Sept. 4. Members of the general public are once again invited to attend talks by world-class chefs and eminent food…

Is Medicaid, the health care program for low-income Americans, a costly program that doesn’t work well? Or is it an essential program vital to the health of millions? The debate over Medicaid has heightened in the wake of the Supreme Court’s June 2012 health care ruling, which made Medicaid expansion optional for states. While some…

Harvard School of Public Health experts Leonard Marcus and Ashish Jha commented on the new bill passed by Massachusetts lawmakers on July 31, 2012 aimed at controlling health care spending in the Commonwealth, in a Boston Globe story published the following day. Gov. Deval Patrick has said that he will sign the bill, which includes among its cost-control strategies payment system…

Men diagnosed with prostate cancer are less likely to die from the disease than from largely preventable conditions such as heart disease, according to a new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). It is the largest study to date that looks at causes of death among men with prostate cancer, and suggests that…

The 24-year international campaign to eradicate polio is “within striking distance of its goal,” but could become undone if obstacles to vaccination stall further progress, Jay A. Winsten, associate dean for health communication and Frank Stanton director for the Center for Health Communication, wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed on July 24, 2012. Emily Serazin, a…

It takes more than a “free ride” to bring students to the collegiate finish line. That is the finding in a new research study co-authored by Harvard Kennedy School Assistant Professor Joshua Goodman. Goodman and co-author Sarah Cohodes examined outcomes for students enrolling in Massachusetts public colleges under the terms of the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship…

One size fits all? Not on the Web. Users from different countries and cultures actually interact with information in different ways. To explore how people click and tap through the vast network of online offerings, a team of computer scientists from Harvard have launched the “Lab in the Wild.” The project, led by Katharina Reinecke…

The nation’s health care system needs to learn to serve millions of Americans with consistent quality, reasonable cost, and decent service — much like popular chains like the Cheesecake Factory have learned to do in the restaurant world, Atul Gawande writes August 13, 2012 in The New Yorker. Gawande, professor in the Department of Health…

For years health experts have been unable to agree on whether fluoride in the drinking water may be toxic to the developing human brain. Extremely high levels of fluoride are known to cause neurotoxicity in adults, and negative impacts on memory and learning have been reported in rodent studies, but little is known about the…

Antiretroviral drug treatment for HIV appears to have more payoffs than the promise of better health and a longer life – it also seems to help people living with HIV stay employed or get new jobs, according to a new study by researchers at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s…

Sitting for more than three hours a day may shorten your life by two years, even if you are physically active and don’t smoke, according to a new study by researchers at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and Pennington Biomedical Research Center (PBRC) in Baton Rouge, La. Watching TV for more than two hours…

With one in three U.S. children considered overweight or obese, food served in schools is being scrutinized closely. For many low-income students who eat free breakfasts and lunches at school, the cafeteria offerings may represent more than half of their daily calories. The Chef Initiative, featured July 18, 2012 in a Boston.com article, “Healthier School…