The mortality rate in Puerto Rico rose by 62 percent [95 percent confidence interval (CI) 11 percent to 114 percent] after Hurricane Maria, according to a new study led by researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study was conducted in January and February 2018, in collaboration with colleagues from Carlos Albizu…

The Nobel Prize medal awarded to game theory pioneer and Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) “founding father” Thomas Schelling is being auctioned. The proceeds will be donated to a civil rights nonprofit. Schelling, a 2005 Nobel Prize winner in economics, provided a new way of looking at issues as disparate as nuclear strategy, climate change, and addictive behavior,…

Sheila Jasanoff, the Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies at Harvard Kennedy School, has been named winner of the 2018 Albert O. Hirschman Prize by the Social Science Research Council (SSRC). The prize is awarded biannually to scholars who have made “outstanding contributions to international, interdisciplinary social science research, theory, and public communication.” The…

For the past 16 years, Harvard staff and students have recently teamed up with their neighbors in Allston to help clean up the city’s parks, streets, schools, and various community locations as part of the annual Love Your Block event, formerly known as Boston Shines. Through raking leaves, sweeping sidewalks, reviving benches with fresh coats…

Julius Wayne Dudley is the recipient of the 2018 Dean Michael Shinagel Award for Service, given by the Harvard University Extension School. This award recognizes an alumna/us of the school who has made significant contribution in the service of others. Along with Dudley’s contributions in civil rights and his literacy advocacy, the award committee noted…

The year was 1988. People were afraid. A total a 106,994 people had been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in the U.S. and 62,101 were dead. Scientists were making progress, but there was no effective treatment. One night the evening news would feature protests by AIDS activists demanding faster drug approval. The next night the news featured parents demanding…

Earlier this month the Graduate Commons community honored President Faust for her commitment as a leader and friend of the program. Throughout the program’s 10 years, organizers say, Faust has continued to put belonging and inclusion at the forefront of Harvard’s values. The Graduate Commons program is a unique interdisciplinary program that provides a “home…

People in low- and middle-income countries are willing to travel and pay for health care at a higher quality facility rather than use a free clinic closer to home — a convention-busting finding that changed the course of Associate Professor Margaret Kruk’s career. She was honored for her work on improving health care quality around…

Experts in public health, faculty from across Harvard, and leaders from the business world came together to examine the role that business can play in addressing public health issues at the Advanced Leadership Initiative’s (ALI) Health and the Role of Business Deep Dive. ALI Faculty Co-Chairs Howard Koh and Meredith Rosenthal led the two-day conference that looked at the…

A team led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health students won this year’s Rabobank-MIT Food and Agribusiness Innovation Prize. Students Dan Wexler and Priya Patel, both M.P.H. ’18, and team members were awarded $15,000 for their project — a nonprofit that will sell simple, $15 meal kits in areas with limited access to…

Around the world, Harvard Law School (HLS) alumni, students, faculty, and staff are using their skills and talents to transform communities. On April 20, hundreds of them gathered at HLS to take a closer look at the School’s local and global contributions of service during “HLS in the Community,” the final installment in the series…

HarvardX is offering a free online course focusing on the role businesses play in improving public health. Taught by Harvard faculty and leaders in industry and public health, “Improving Your Business Through a Culture of Health,” demonstrates how promoting the health and well-being of consumers, employees, communities, and the environment improves the bottom line. From…

Harvard College’s Advising Programs Office awarded 12 advisers from throughout the University with the prestigious Star Family Prize for Excellence in Advising on Wednesday, May 2, 2018. The Star Prizes were established by James A. Star ’83 to recognize and reward individuals who contribute to the College through their exemplary intellectual and personal guidance of undergraduate students.…

Innovative new treatments, improved health care delivery systems, and a coordinated global response are among the strategies needed to help the world prepare for future pandemics, Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, told Michelle A. Williams, Dean of the Faculty at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, on April 27,…

Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) won two silver medals and one gold medal from the National Association of College and University Food Services (NACUFS) for their work in the areas of waste reduction and overall menu design. The silver medals came for HUDS’ food recovery and donation program in the Sustainability category, and for their…

Faculty, students, and community members gathered on April 24 to celebrate the launch of an e-book highlighting Harvard faculty research in Chile and the 15th anniversary of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies regional office in Santiago, Chile. The e-book, “Lights on the South: Fifteen Years of Harvard and Chile,” was written by…

On April 30, 2018, the Bureau of Study Counsel (BSC) presented the Joseph L. Barrett Award to Lauren Sweetland-Martin ’18. The award commemorates Joseph L. Barrett ’73 by honoring exceptional students who give their time to support their peers in developing more meaningful college experiences. As a BSC Peer Tutor, Lauren has helped many fellow…

Henry Louis Gates Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute at the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, welcomed 23 Fellows for the 2018–19 academic year. “We are happy to welcome yet another class of scholars and artists engaged in timely and exciting work,”…

The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard and the Novak Djokovic Foundation recently named three Harvard doctoral students as the 2018–19 recipients of the Djokovic Science and Innovation Fellowship. April Boin Choi (HGSE/GSAS), Scott Delaney (HSPH), and Zhihui Li (HSPH) will each receive a grant to support their independent dissertation research: April Boin Choi…

Queer subjectivities took center stage in a 2017-18 series at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS) titled “Looking Out for the Queer in Latin American Video Art and Film.” The series concentrated on two activities which spanned the academic year: an exhibition of video art on display in the center titled “Guiñadas…

Data-Smart City Solutions, a program of Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, today launched a searchable public database comprising cutting-edge examples of public sector data use. The “Solutions Search” indexes interactive maps and visualizations, spanning civic issue areas such as transportation, public health, and housing, that are helping data innovators more accurately understand…

“What counts as ‘income’ for taxes?” “Will paying taxes affect the public assistance I receive?” “Will I lose my veterans disability benefits if I make too much money?” “Why should I use a bank?” Those are some of the questions street vendors of Greater Boston’s Spare Change News grapple with. A recently published guide, “Two Cents for…

Harvard’s hitting a home run when it comes to providing students, faculty, and staff with alternative forms of transportation.  The University’s CommuterChoice team recently accepted an Excellence in Commuter Options (ECO) Award from the State of Massachusetts during a ceremony at Fenway Park. Harvard received one of five coveted spotlight awards which recognize businesses, colleges,…

Prize honors world-renowned scientists and scholars who have made outstanding achievements in biochemistry and biophysics, cognitive science, environmental sciences, history, and medicine The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) has awarded the 2018 Dr. H.P. Heineken Prize for Biochemistry and Biophysics to Xiaowei Zhuang, the David B. Arnold Jr. Professor of Science, professor of chemistry &…

As the world’s population ages, driven by declines in both birth and death rates in many countries, older people’s ability to continue to do things that matter to them — rather than merely being free of disease — is becoming an increasingly important focus of global health experts. Healthy aging was one of the topics…

Harvard Graduate School of Education Dean James E. Ryan is pleased to announce that John Silvanus Wilson Jr., Ed.M.’82, Ed.D.’85, senior adviser and strategist to the president at Harvard University, will address the graduating class and their families at convocation on May 23, 2018. “Throughout his expansive career, and with unrivaled dedication to his alma maters, John has…

Professor Alina Payne, director of Villa I Tatti, The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, is pleased to announce that the I Tatti Mongan Prize has been awarded to Professor Miguel Falomir, director of the Museo Nacional del Prado. Professor Falomir will deliver his Laureate Lecture in Florence, Italy on May 10, 2018. The…

A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plan to undo an Obama-era rule requiring vehicles to average 54.5 miles per gallon (mpg) by 2025, announced April 2 by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, will harm air quality and public health, according to Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Gina McCarthy. McCarthy, who served as EPA Administrator…

Americans’ health and quality of life varies significantly from state to state, driven largely by factors such as obesity, substance abuse, and depression, according to a new report from the Global Burden of Disease group, an international consortium. The geographic disparities “leave the United States far from being united,” wrote Howard Koh of Harvard T.H.…