Proposed changes in how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assesses the health risks of fine particulate matter, a form of air pollution that has been linked to an array of diseases, would significantly undermine the agency’s ability to protect the public from air pollution, according to a new paper in Science co-authored by Francesca Dominici,…

When we look at the way we live on our planet, there are ethical issues all around us: racism, inequality, migration, conflict and peace. To examine these issues, Harvard Divinity School has created a very different kind of executive education program, designed around personal development, to give leaders the resources they need to be agents…

Some of the most important medications doctors have at their disposal have been rendered ineffective by parasites, viruses, and bacteria that have evolved resistance against them, and the problem is poised to get worse. Drug-resistant strains of gonorrhea, salmonella, Escherichia coli (E. coli), and many other disease-causing agents are flourishing around the world, and the…

Harvard’s first exhibition of works produced in art workshops for people with disabilities (and only the second devoted to self-taught artists) “Eye Eye Nose Mouth: Art, Disability, and Mental Illness in Shiga-ken, Japan, and Nanjing, China” opened last month at the Harvard Asia Center (CGIS South Concourse). In preparation for the exhibition, co-curators Raphael Koenig…

Harvard’s Office of Technology Development (OTD) has launched an Experts-in-Residence (XIR) program, creating a powerful new resource for Harvard faculty and researchers to accelerate startup formation and support the commercialization of University innovations. Initially, 28 XIR have volunteered for the program. Experts include partners at venture capital firms, scientific entrepreneurs, research and development (R&D) executives,…

The 2019 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting was awarded Tuesday to J. David McSwane and Andrew Chavez of the Dallas Morning News, for their series “Pain and Profit.” In reporting “Pain and Profit” the Dallas Morning News found that thousands of sick and disabled Texans were being denied life-sustaining drugs and treatments by the private…

The home remodeling market in the U.S. expanded by more than 50 percent since the end of the Great Recession, according to Improving America’s Housing 2019, a new report released March 12 by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. The 20th anniversary report in the series produced biennially by the center’s Remodeling Futures Program…

On March 12, Harvard Management Company (HMC) announced that William (Bill) M. Lewis Jr. ’78, M.B.A. ’82 has been elected to serve on the company’s board of directors. Lewis is currently a managing director and co-chairman of investment banking at Lazard Ltd., a global investment bank and financial advisory company. Before joining Lazard in 2004,…

Democrats and Republicans are more divided today than at almost any other time in United States history. According to a 2018 survey, when asked to describe members of the opposite political party, 61 percent of Democrats described Republicans as racist, bigoted, and/or sexist, and 49 percent of Republicans described Democrats as ignorant. These statistics capture the underlying tension between the…

If you’re talking to a person who’s skeptical about climate change, should you argue with them about scientific evidence? Maybe not, says Aaron Bernstein, co-director of the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment (C-CHANGE) at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. It may be more productive to talk with them about a…

It’s estimated that about 12 million people in the U.S. are misdiagnosed in outpatient care every year. And that’s a very conservative estimate, according to Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Michael Barnett. Now, a new study led by Barnett, assistant professor of health policy and management, suggests that pooling the diagnoses of multiple…

The research paper titled “Risks to Patient Privacy: A Re-identification of Patients in Maine and Vermont Statewide Hospital Data,” reveals that patients’ personal records in hospitals can still be re-identified even when data identifiers such as names and addresses were removed to follow the HIPAA Safe Harbor de-identification guidelines. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability…

Using artistic tools like music, storytelling, photos, and multimedia could be a powerful way to promote healing as well as social justice. That was the message at a recent Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health event that featured Esperanza Spalding, a Grammy-winning jazz bassist, vocalist, and composer and a professor of practice in Harvard…

John Palfrey ’94, J.D. ’01, a respected educator, author, legal scholar, and innovator with expertise in how new media is changing learning, education, and other institutions, will serve as the sixth president of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, effective Sept. 1, MacArthur Board Chairman Dan Huttenlocher announced March 5. Since 2012, Palfrey…

Walking down a dark alley, you might quicken your pace or even break out into a run — even if there is nothing there to harm you. Your instinct to flee is based on an ambiguous threat in your environment. But what part of your brain controls that response? How are those nebulous feelings relayed…

Many years before Uber and Lyft, there were jitney cabs: ride-share services created by and for black Americans discriminated against by taxi companies. It was a business idea that originated in the black community, as well as an innovation in the marketplace. It’s also just one example of a successful black industry excluded from the…

Nearly half of all childhood cancers are not being diagnosed globally, according to a new modeling study led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study found that, in 2015, there were 397,000 cases of childhood cancer worldwide, but only 224,000 were diagnosed. And if health systems around the world don’t improve, the…

On Feb. 7 and 8, Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) hosted a delegation of 20 guests from China in a cultural and culinary exchange called Food Forward, focused on sharing strategies and best practices for collegiate dining programs around nutritious and sustainable menus. During the two days, eight chefs and a dozen educators and advocates…

As entrepreneurial rocket companies come closer to shooting the first space tourist into the void, perhaps even this year, another reality is dawning: It’s tough to launch. Up until now, companies competing in the commercial space race have been blessed somewhat by the glamour of it all. Investors enthusiastically, maybe too much so, backed a…

Juan Manuel Santos, the former president of the Republic of Colombia and Nobel laureate, will deliver the graduation address to the Harvard Kennedy School Class of 2019, Dean Douglas Elmendorf announced today. Santos served as president of the Republic of Colombia from 2010 to 2018. While president, he reached agreement with FARC, a guerilla army,…

Thanks to greenhouse gases, the Earth’s climate is changing. One of the main sources of these gases is business. However, business is also the main source of new products, services, and business models that may save us from wholesale climate calamity. But what are businesses doing to address climate change? What can — and should…

Black women are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—and a big reason for the disparity may be racism, say experts. “It’s basically a public health and human rights emergency because it’s been estimated that a significant portion of…

Michael S. Dosmann, Keeper of the Living Collections at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, was recently named the 2019 recipient of the David Fairchild Medal for Plant Exploration in recognition of his outstanding contributions to botanical exploration and horticulture. Awarded by the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG), the Fairchild Medal was presented to Dosmann at…

The Los Angeles Times announced Feb. 21 that one of its prestigious book prizes will be presented to Terry Tempest Williams, Harvard Divinity School’s (HDS) writer-in-residence. According to the Times, Williams will receive the Robert Kirsch Award, a lifetime achievement prize “given to a writer with a substantial connection to the American West.” Williams has been called “a…

Across the U.S., bicycling rates are on the rise among low-income residents and people of color. But cycling infrastructure in cities, such as dedicated bike lanes, are often lacking in low-income or minority neighborhoods, and riders there a face higher risk of accidents and crashes. A new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public…

The Harvard Art Museums are pleased to announce the appointment of Melanie Sheffield as chief development officer, a new leadership position in the museums’ Office of Institutional Advancement; she will assume the role on March 4, 2019. The chief development officer will provide strategic direction for the planning and execution of all functions related to…

The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, a research center at Harvard Kennedy School, was rated a top university-affiliated think tank and listed as one of the best transparency and good governance think tanks in the latest edition of the “Global Go To Think Tank Index Report.” The index, produced annually by James McGann,…

The more a country relies on coal-fired power plants to generate energy, the greater the lung cancer risk is among its citizens, according to a new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study was published on Jan. 28, 2019 in the journal Environmental Health. Most estimates of health risks from coal-fired…