Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Harvard T.H. Chan
School of Public Health
Former name
Harvard School of Public Health
TypePrivate
Established1913; 111 years ago (1913)
Parent institution
Harvard University
DeanAndrea Baccarelli
Academic staff
465
Students984
422
Location, ,
United States

42°20′07″N 71°06′10″W / 42.335390°N 71.102793°W / 42.335390; -71.102793
Websitehsph.harvard.edu
HSPH Courtyard Entrance from Harvard Medical School

The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school of Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. The school grew out of the Harvard-MIT School for Health Officers, the nation's first graduate training program in population health, which was founded in 1913 and then became the Harvard School of Public Health in 1922.

History

Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health traces its origins to the Harvard-MIT School for Health Officers, which was founded in 1913. Harvard calls it "the nation's first graduate training program in public health." In 1922, the School for Health Officers became the Harvard School of Public Health.

In 1946, it was split off from Harvard Medical School and developed its own dedicated public health and medical faculty. It was renamed the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in 2014 in honor of a $350 million donation, the largest in Harvard's history at the time, from the Morningside Foundation, run by Harvard School of Public Health alumnus Gerald Chan, SM '75, SD '79, and Ronnie Chan, both of whom were sons of T.H. Chan.

Leadership

From 2009 until 2015, the dean of the Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health was Julio Frenk, the former Mexican government's Secretary of Health from 2002 until 2006 and current president of the University of Miami.

In 2016, following Frenk's departure, Michelle Ann Williams was appointed the School's new dean.

In January 2020, The Harvard Crimson reported on an internal discussion by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health faculty on whether to hold a "no confidence" vote on Williams' leadership. The newspaper reported that allegations included that "Williams has punished faculty and staff in the past for expressing dissent, creating what multiple affiliates termed a 'culture of retaliation'."

In November 2022, Williams announced she would step down as dean at the end of the 2022-23 academic year.

As of June 2023, the interim dean of Harvard Chan School is Jane Kim, who also serves as Dean for Academic Affairs and K.T. Li Professor of Health Economics in the school's Department of Health Policy and Management.

Curriculum

The Master of Public Health program offers ten fields of study:

  • Clinical Effectiveness (CLE)
  • Epidemiology (EPI)
  • Generalist (GEN)
  • Global Health and Population (GHP)
  • Health and Social Behavior (HSB)
  • Health Management (HM)
  • Health Policy (HP)
  • Occupational and Environmental Health (OEH)
  • Quantitative Methods (QM)
  • Nutrition (NUT)

Degree programs offered by specific departments:

  • Biostatistics: SM, PhD
  • Environmental Health (EH): SM, MPH, PhD, DrPH
  • Epidemiology (EPI): SM, DrPH
  • Molecular Metabolism: PhD
  • Health Policy: SM, MPH, PhD
  • Health Care Management: SM, MPH
  • Immunology and Infectious Diseases: PhD
  • Nutrition (NUT): MPH, DrPH, PhD
  • Global Health and Population (GHP): SM, MPH, PhD
  • Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS): SM, MPH, PhD, DrPH
  • Population Health Sciences (Interdisciplinary PhD within departments of EH, EPI, GHP, NUT, and SBS)

The Harvard Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) was launched in 2014 as a multidisciplinary degree providing advanced education in public health along with mastery of skills in management, leadership, communications, and innovation thinking. The program is a cohort-based program emphasizing small-group learning and collaboration. The program is designed for three years – two years at Harvard, plus one year in a field-based doctoral project – although some students may take up to four years to complete the program. Academic training in the DrPH covers the biological, social, and economic foundations of public health, as well as essential statistical, quantitative, and methodological skills in the first year, an individualized course of study in your second year, and a field-based, capstone project called the DELTA (Doctoral Engagement in Leadership and Translation for Action) in the final year(s) of the program.

PhD programs are offered under the aegis of the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Research projects

  • The Nurses' Health Study and Nurses' Health Study II, which have followed the health of over 100,000 nurses from 1976 to the present; its results have been used in hundreds of published papers.
  • The Health Professionals Follow-up Study, a similar study of over fifty thousand male health professionals seeking to connect diet, exercise, smoking, and medications taken to frequency of cancer and cardiovascular disease.
  • The International Health Systems Program, which has provided training or technical assistance to projects in 21 countries and conducts health policy research.
  • The Program in Health Care Financing, which studies the economics of national health care programs; evaluates the health care programs of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other countries; studies the effects of bringing HMO-like hospital reimbursement practices to developing countries; and applies hedonimetrics to health care.
  • The Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research (HPCR), which studies public health and humanitarian law and policy in the context of conflict-torn regions like the Gaza Strip and transnational issues like terrorism.
  • The Lung Cancer S.O.S. study, examining the risk factors for and prognosis of lung cancer in terms of genetics and environment.
  • The College Alcohol Study, which examines the causes of college binge drinking and approaches to prevention and harm reduction.
  • The Program on the Global Demography of Aging, which studies policy issues related to economics of aging with a focus on the developing world.
  • The Superfund Basic Research Program (see Superfund), studying toxic waste management.
  • The Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness, to "help identify how positive aspects of living can lead to better health and a longer life" and "coordinate research across many disciplines at Harvard University" and "understanding the complex interplay between positive psychological well-being and human health."
  • The Health Systems Innovation Lab, which specializes in comparative health systems research and transition to the high value health systems model through targeted innovation, policy and practice. Led by Prof. Rifat Atun, the Lab uses its research, education, innovation and translation activities to work with governments, private sector, multilateral entities, and civil society to promote policy and practice, and accelerate the diffusion of health system innovations for large-scale population level impact.

Maternal Health Task Force

Launched in 2008 with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Maternal Health Task Force (MHTF) is a global project focused on improving maternal health through better coordination, communication, and facilitation between existing maternal health organizations, as well as with experts in related fields. The MHTF is managed by EngenderHealth, an international nonprofit organization.

Notable faculty (and past faculty)

Notable alumni

There are over 13,484 alumni.


This page was last updated at 2024-03-14 15:48 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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