Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

10/20/2026

Participants at the recent Women’s Health Conference co-organized by Harvard Chan School discussed solutions for improving women’s health outcomes in a wide range of areas. The event concluded with a half-day symposium commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS), the world’s largest and longest-running study of women’s health.

“Thanks to the extraordinary commitment of more than 230,000 participants, the Nurses’ Health Studies have provided evidence linking diet, lifestyle, and other exposures to chronic disease prevention, helping to shape dietary recommendations, public health policies, and clinical practice worldwide,” said Heather Eliassen, professor of nutrition and epidemiology and co-principal investigator of the NHS and NHS II.

Speakers highlighted solutions for improving women's health outcomes, and marked the 50th anniversary of the landmark Nurses' Health Study.

10/19/2026

Student organizations at Harvard Chan School recently hosted CultureFest 2026, which celebrated our campus’s diverse community with cultural snacks, fun activities, and more.

10/16/2026

“How do we think about the next century of public health, and try to make it so we can all age healthier, not just live a long time?” asked William Mair, director of the Healthy Aging Initiative at Harvard’s Chan School.

At the first annual Healthy Aging Symposium, hosted by the Harvard Chan School and supported by the Danone Institute of North America, hundreds of participants convened to share expertise in the rapidly growing science of healthy aging. The symposium was the brainchild of Mair, who explained that “we launched the Healthy Aging Initiative to try to build toward a greater vision that changes how we think about and fund work on aging.”

The next frontier in nutrition will be about healthy longevity, claimed Frank Hu, chair of Harvard Chan School’s Department of Nutrition. “We’ve made tremendous progress in improving nutrition and epidemiology methods, so now we have much better dietary assessment tools, which have been rigorously vetted,” Hu said, sharing that a remaining challenge is getting people to commit to nutrition plans.

Learn more about healthy aging: https://bit.ly/3VRrDAZ

📷 : Grace DuVal

10/15/2026

As the midterm elections approach, how are Americans thinking about public health—and which issues are most likely to shape the national conversation?

Join Harvard Chan School’s Gillian SteelFisher and Adrianna McIntyre, Kaiser Family Foundation’s Ashley Kirzinger, Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies’ Rodney Whitlock, and The Bulwark’s Jonathan Cohn next week in the Harvard Chan Studio for a discussion of the latest polling and research on public opinion and health policy.

Register and submit your questions for the October 19 panel: hsph.me/2026midterms

10/14/2026

Harvard Chan School’s India Research Center launched in December 2015 as a hub connecting Harvard Chan researchers with partners across India to address some of the world’s most pressing public health challenges.

Following recent events in Cambridge and New York marking its 10th anniversary, Director Vish Viswanath, Lee K*m Kee Professor of Health Communication, reflected on how the Center has evolved into a platform for research, training, and public health research translation. “I’m profoundly grateful for the opportunity I have been given to build a program in a very important country—Harvard Chan’s first global platform outside the U.S. I’m very proud of the faculty who stepped forward to do the work in India because they believe in it, and the School leaders and Indian philanthropists who have supported it,“ said Viswanath.

Learn more in the Q&A with Viswanath: https://bit.ly/4B7zyKw

10/13/2026

At a recent Harvard Chan Studio event, Vikram Patel, Paul Farmer Professor and Chair of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, argued that the mental health crisis is not simply a new surge in need—it is also a longstanding failure to act on what is already known. He pointed to systems built primarily around adult care even though many mental health problems begin in childhood or adolescence. Patel also raised an important concern about how dramatically young people’s social environments have changed in the digital era.

Watch the full event, ‘Pressure Points: Leading mental health innovation,’ presented jointly with the Harvard Chan Advanced Learning Academy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4PwJJCr-fA

10/09/2026

We had a wonderful time with everyone who joined us on the HMS Quad for the Longwood Block Party! It was lovely seeing students, faculty, and staff from Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, and Harvard Chan School all enjoying autumnal snacks and activities together. 🍁✨🍂

📸: Kent Dayton/Harvard Chan School

10/08/2026

More hospitals across the U.S. are closing than opening, and urban hospitals are closing at the same rate as rural ones, according to a new study led by Harvard Chan School. Researchers also observed that the hospitals that close are more likely to be those serving socially vulnerable communities.

“Many policymakers have been treating hospital closures as a rural problem, but our data show it’s a national problem,” said corresponding author Thomas Tsai, associate professor of health policy and management and co-director of the Healthcare Quality and Outcomes Lab.

More hospitals across the U.S. are closing than opening, and urban hospitals are closing at the same rate as rural ones, according to a new Harvard Chan School study.

10/08/2026

Personal loss, trauma, and grief can profoundly affect us—sometimes in invisible ways. In this candid conversation, Rachel Zimmerman, author of Us, After: A Memoir of Love and Su***de, will join Harvard Chan School’s Karestan Koenen, Matthew K. Nock, and Christy Denckla to explore the science and lived experience of loss and resilience.

Watch live on Harvard Chan School’s YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/477EMZe

10/07/2026

On social media, in gossip columns, and in news headlines, synthetic peptides are touted for their ability to boost athletic performance and muscle growth, increase fat loss, and enhance sexual function. But are these claims true? And are peptides safe? S. Bryn Austin, Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Harvard Chan School and Director of STRIPED, weighs in on synthetic peptides, highlighting that “many have undergone little to no rigorous clinical testing and haven’t been approved for human use.“

Claims abound about the benefits of peptides. S. Bryn Austin, an expert on supplements and health, weighs in on whether the claims are true and on peptides' safety.