The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school of

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

, located in the Longwood Medical Area of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. 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. Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health is currently ranked as the best school for public health in the world by both the ''

Academic Ranking of World Universities The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong Universi ...

'' and EduRank. It is also ranked as the second (tie) best public health school in the nation by '' U.S. News & World Report''.

History

Harvard's T.H. 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 Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is cons ...

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 Gerald L. Chan (; born 1950/1951) is an American billionaire and the brother of fellow billionaire Ronnie Chan. They run the Hang Lung Group. Early life and education Gerald Chan is the son of T.H. Chan. He received a bachelor of science and ...

, SM '75, SD '79, and Ronnie Chan, both of whom were sons of

T.H. Chan Chan Tseng-hsi (; 1923 – March 8, 1986) was a Chinese entrepreneur who founded the Hong Kong-based real estate company Hang Lung Group. Born and raised in Guangdong, China, Chan moved to the British Hong Kong in the 1940s because of the Chin ...

Leadership

From 2009 until 2015, the dean of the Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health was

Julio Frenk Julio José Frenk Mora (born December 20, 1953) is president of the University of Miami and has served in this role since 2015. He is the University of Miami's first Hispanic and native Spanish-speaking president. At the University of Miami, he ...

, the former the

Mexican government The Federal government of Mexico (alternately known as the Government of the Republic or ' or ') is the national government of the United Mexican States, the central government established by its constitution to share sovereignty over the republ ...

Secretary of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate Minister of Mental Health, ministers ...

from 2002 until 2006 and current president of the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

. In 2016, following Frenk's departure, Michelle Ann Williams was appointed the School's new dean. In January 2020, ''

The Harvard Crimson ''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper of Harvard University and was founded in 1873. Run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates, it served for many years as the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Beginning in the f ...

'' 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'."

Curriculum

The

Master of Public Health The Master of Public Health or Master of Philosophy in Public Health (M.P.H.), Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH), Master of Medical Science in Public Health (MMSPH) and the Doctor of Public Health (Dr.P.H.), International Masters for Healt ...

program offers ten fields of study: * Clinical Effectiveness (CLE) * Epidemiology (EPI) * Generalist (GEN) * Global Health and Population (GH) * 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 PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * '' Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. al ...

* Environmental Health (EH): SM, MPH, PhD, DrPH * Epidemiology (EPI): SM, DrPH * Genetics and Complex Diseases: 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 The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) is the largest of the twelve graduate schools of Harvard University. Formed in 1872, GSAS is responsible for most of Harvard's graduate degree programs in the humanities, social sciences, and natural ...

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 The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

and transnational issues like

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

. * The Lung Cancer S.O.S. study, examining the risk factors for and prognosis of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, mali ...

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 Harm reduction, or harm minimization, refers to a range of public health policies designed to lessen the negative social and/or physical consequences associated with various human behaviors, both legal and illegal. Harm reduction is used to d ...

. * The Program on the Global Demography of Aging, which studies policy issues related to economics of

aging Ageing ( BE) or aging ( AE) is the process of becoming older. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi, whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biologically immortal. In ...

with a focus on the developing world. * The Superfund Basic Research Program (see

Superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency ...

), 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."

Maternal Health Task Force

Launched in 2008 with funding from the

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was ...

, 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)

* Joseph G. Allen, public health expert, director of the Healthy Buildings program * Katherine Baicker, economist, a former member of the

Council of Economic Advisers The Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) is a United States agency within the Executive Office of the President established in 1946, which advises the President of the United States on economic policy. The CEA provides much of the empirical rese ...

* Robert Blendon, political strategy of health and public opinion expert * Barry Bloom, immunologist and former dean * David Bloom, economist * David Canning, economist * Douglas Dockery, epidemiologist * Francesca Dominici senior associate dean for research, professor of biostatistics, data scientist, and air pollution expert * Arnold Epstein, department chair for health policy and management * Max Essex, HIV researcher *

, former dean of school of public health and former Secretary of Health of Mexico * Atul Gawande, general and endocrine surgeon *

Sue Goldie Dr. Sue J. Goldie (born 1961) is the Roger Irving Lee Professor of Public Health, the Director of the Center for Health Decision Science (Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health), Director of the Global Health Education and Learning Incubator ...

, physician and decision scientist, MacArthur fellowship recipient * John Graham, policy and decision scientist, former director of the

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA ) is a Division within the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which in turn, is within the Executive Office of the President. OIRA oversees the implementation of government-wide polici ...

* Laurie Glimcher, immunologist *

Alice Hamilton Alice Hamilton (February 27, 1869Corn, JHamilton, Alice''American National Biography'' – September 22, 1970) was an American physician, research scientist, and author. She was a leading expert in the field of occupational health and a pioneer i ...

, occupational health and toxicology; first woman appointed to the faculty of

* David Hemenway, economist and injury prevention expert *

William Hsiao William C. Hsiao (; born January 17, 1936), an American economist, is the K.T. Li Research Professor of Economics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts. He is internationally recognized for his work on health car ...

, economist * Frank Hu, epidemiologist and nutrition researcher *

David Hunter David Hunter (July 21, 1802 – February 2, 1886) was an American military officer. He served as a Union general during the American Civil War. He achieved notability for his unauthorized 1862 order (immediately rescinded) emancipating slaves ...

, epidemiologist, Acting Dean of the Faculty and former Dean for Academic Affairs at School of Public Health * Curtis Huttenhower, computational biologist * Ashish Jha (MPH'04 and former faculty) served as Dean for Global Strategy 2018–2020 * Ichiro Kawachi, social epidemiologist * Howard Koh, public health researcher, the 14th Assistant Secretary for Health at the

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is " ...

. *

Nan Laird Nan McKenzie Laird (born September 18, 1943) is the Harvey V. Fineberg Professor of Public Health, Emerita in Biostatistics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She served as Chair of the Department from 1990 to 1999. She was the He ...

, biostatistician, former head of department * Alexander H. Leighton, psychiatric epidemiologist * Richard Levins, ecologist and mathematical biologist *

Xihong Lin Xihong Lin () is a Chinese-American statistician known for her contributions to mixed models, nonparametric and semiparametric regression, and statistical genetics and genomics. , she is the Henry Pickering Walcott Professor and Chair of the Depa ...

, biostatistician and mathematician, 2006 COPPS presidents' award recipient *

Jun S. Liu Jun S. Liu (; born 1965) is a Chinese-American statistician focusing on Bayesian statistical inference and computational biology. He received the COPSS Presidents' Award in 2002. Liu is a professor in the Department of Statistics at Harvard Uni ...

, biostatistician and mathematician, 2002 COPPS presidents' award recipient * Bernard Lown, co-founded the Nobel Prize-winning group Physicians for Social Responsibility; founder of the Lown Cardiovascular Research Foundation * Adetokunbo Lucas, former director of Tropical Diseases Research at the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level o ...

(WHO) *

Brian MacMahon Brian MacMahon (23 August 1923 – 5 December 2007) was a British-born American epidemiologist who chaired the Department of Epidemiology of the Harvard School of Public Health from 1958 until 1988. Best known for his work on the epidemiology o ...

, cancer epidemiologist *

Sezan Mahmud Saleh M. M. Rahman, better known by his pen name Sezan Mahmud, ( bn, সেজান মাহমুদ) is a Bangladeshi-born American writer, lyricist, columnist and physician-scientist. He was awarded the Shishu Academy Award in 1395 Bengali ye ...

, Writer and university professor * Christopher Murray, physician and health economist * Joseph Newhouse, economist and director of the RAND Health Insurance Experiment * Shuji Ogino, pioneer in molecular pathological epidemiology *

Eric Rubin Eric J. Rubin is an American microbiologist, infectious disease specialist Infectious diseases or ID, also known as infectiology, is a medical specialty dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of infections. An infectious diseases specialist's ...

, editor-in-chief of New England Journal of Medicine *

James Robins James M. Robins is an epidemiologist and biostatistician best known for advancing methods for drawing causal inferences from complex observational studies and randomized trials, particularly those in which the treatment varies with time. He is th ...

, epidemiologist and biostatistician * Pardis Sabeti,

computational biologist Computational biology refers to the use of data analysis, mathematical modeling and computational simulations to understand biological systems and relationships. An intersection of computer science, biology, and big data, the field also has fou ...

, medical geneticist and evolutionary geneticist *

Amartya Sen Amartya Kumar Sen (; born 3 November 1933) is an Indian economist and philosopher, who since 1972 has taught and worked in the United Kingdom and the United States. Sen has made contributions to welfare economics, social choice theory, economi ...

, economist, Nobel laureate in Economics * Gita Sen, feminist scholar and specialist in international population policy * Frank E. Speizer, physician and epidemiologist * Andrew Spielman, public health entomologist * Frederick J. Stare, controversial chair of Nutrition Institute *

James H. Ware James Hutchinson Ware (October 27, 1941 – April 26, 2016) was an American biostatistician and the Frederick Mosteller Professor of Biostatistics and Associate Dean for Clinical and Translational Science at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public H ...

, biostatistician * Thomas Huckle Weller, Nobel laureate in Physiology and Medicine * George C. Whipple, cofounder of School in 1922 *

Walter Willett Walter C. Willett (born June 20, 1945) is an American physician and nutrition researcher. Currently, Willett is the Fredrick John Stare Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health and was the chair of its depar ...

, physician and nutrition researcher

Notable alumni

There are over 13,484 alumni. * Anthony Irvine Adams, 2001 Alumni Award of Merit for a distinguished service in public health practice * James B. Aguayo-Martel, pioneer in ophthalmology *

Gro Harlem Brundtland Gro Brundtland (; born Gro Harlem, 20 April 1939) is a Norwegian politician (Arbeiderpartiet), who served three terms as the 29th prime minister of Norway (1981, 1986–89, and 1990–96) and as the director-general of the World Health Organiza ...

, former Prime Minister of Norway, former Director-General of the

* Nadine Burke Harris, pediatrician and first Surgeon General of California * Eli Capilouto, twelfth president of the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state ...

* William Foege, MPH 1965, physician, former Director of the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georg ...

Mandy Cohen Mandy Krauthamer Cohen is an American physician and public health official. From 2017 to 2021, she served as the secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. Prior to serving as Health Secretary, Cohen was the chief ope ...

, physician, Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services *

Humayun Chaudhry Humayun Javaid Chaudhry, D.O., MACP, FRCP (Lon.) (born November 17, 1965) is an American physician and medical educator who is president and chief executive officer of the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) of the United States, a natio ...

, President and CEO of the Federation of State Medical Boards * Winston Dang, head of

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

Environmental Protection Administration The Environmental Protection Administration, Executive Yuan (EPA, ) is a cabinet-level executive agency responsible for protecting and conserving the environment in the Republic of China (Taiwan). This also includes, air quality, noise control, ...

from 2004 to 2008 * Jonathan Fielding, Director

Los Angeles County Department of Public Health The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH) provides public health services to Los Angeles County residents. Barbara Ferrer is the Director for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Muntu Davis, MD, MPH is the Los Angel ...

, editor in chief of the

Annual Review of Public Health The ''Annual Review of Public Health'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes review articles about public health, including epidemiology, biostatistics, occupational safety and health, environmental health, and health policy. In its 4 ...

* Janina R. Galler, PI and Director of 45+-year

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estima ...

Nutrition Study in the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc be ...

, in the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...

, a longitudinal study showing the intergenerational legacy of poverty and disadvantage from childhood malnutrition. * Steven K. Galson, former Acting

Surgeon General of the United States The surgeon general of the United States is the operational head of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC) and thus the leading spokesperson on matters of public health in the federal government of the United States. T ...

* Atul Gawande, surgical safety pioneer, MacArthur Fellow, Rhodes Scholar *

, MacArthur Fellow and decision scientist * Timothy Johnson, chief medical correspondent for ABC News *

Karl Lauterbach Karl Wilhelm Lauterbach (; born 21 February 1963) is a German scientist, physician, and politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) who has served as Federal Minister of Health since 8 December 2021. He is professor of health eco ...

, German politician ( SPD), served as Federal Minister of Health since 8 December 2021 * Alberto P. León, MD, MPH, former Secretary of Health, Mexico * John S. Marr, MD, MPH, epidemiologist and author. * Jonathan Mann, former head of the

global HIV/AIDS program * James O. Mason, former Acting Surgeon General of the United States, former Director of the

* Shuji Ogino, pioneer in molecular pathological epidemiology *

Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih (1 February 1955 – 2 May 2012) was an Indonesian physician, researcher, and author. She served as Minister of Health of the Republic of Indonesia from October 22, 2009 until her passing on May 2, 2012. Career Sedyan ...

, former Minister of Health of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

* David J. Sencer, longest-serving Director of the

* Rochelle Walensky – Director,

References

External links

*
Professor Andrew Speilman, Professor Tropical Public Health, Harvard School of Public Health
Freeview Issues programme on Malaria by the Vega Science Trust.

Centers and Institutes

Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment (Harvard Chan C-CHANGE)
* Jay Winstenbr>Center for Health Communication

François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights

Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention

Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies

Harvard Injury Control Research Center

Harvard School of Public Health AIDS Initiative
(HSPH HAI)
Cyprus International Institute for Environmental and Public Health

John B. Little Center for Radiation Sciences
{{Authority control Educational institutions established in 1913 1913 establishments in Massachusetts T.H. Chan School of Public Health Schools of public health in the United States