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

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, located in the Longwood Medical Area of

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, Massachusetts. It was named after Hong Kong entrepreneur Chan Tseng-hsi in 2014 following a US$350 million donation, the largest in Harvard's history at the time. The school grew out of the Harvard–

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

School for Health Officers, the country's first graduate training program in

population health Population health has been defined as "the health outcomes of a group of individuals, including the distribution of such outcomes within the group". It is an approach to health that aims to improve the health of an entire human population. It ha ...

, which was founded in 1913 and 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–

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. The school was part of

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

until 1946, when it became a fully autonomous institution with its own dedicated public health and medical faculty. The Harvard School of Public Health was renamed the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in 2014 in honor of a US$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 (Harvard SM '75, SD '79) and Ronnie Chan, both of whom were sons of Chan Tseng-hsi (T.H. Chan). In 2023 and 2024, the school partnered with the

National Healthcare Security Administration The Nation Healthcare Security Administration (), abbreviated as NHSA () is a deputy-ministerial-level government agency directly under the State Council of the People's Republic of China. The current director is Zhang Ke. History The adminis ...

to train members of the

Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (新疆生产建设兵团; abbreviated as 新疆兵团, or XPCC in English), also known as ''Bingtuan'', trading with the external name China Xinjian Group, is a state-owned enterprise and parami ...

(XPCC). The partnership led to U.S. Congressional scrutiny in May 2025, as XPCC is sanctioned for human rights abuses under the Global Magnitsky Act.

Curriculum

The

Master of Public Health The Master of Public Health (MPH), Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH), Master of Medical Science in Public Health (MMSPH) and the Doctor of Public Health (DrPH), International Masters for Health Leadership (IMHL) are interdisciplinary profes ...

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 A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

* 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 school offers a variety of degrees with criteria designed to target unique curriculum needs and a wide range of student populations, including online and hybrid degrees. The Harvard Chan School's master's of public health (MPH) and master's in health care management (MHCM) are designed for those aiming to spend their career in professional practice, while master's of science (SM) degrees are geared for aspiring researchers. Students pursuing MPHs or SMs can elect to target their degrees for a number of different credit hours to better match their educational goals. In addition, the school offers two doctoral degrees: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and Doctor of Public Health (DrPH). PhD programs are offered under the aegis of the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. The 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.

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 on the Global Demography of Aging, which studies policy issues related to economics of

aging Ageing (or aging in American English) is the process of becoming Old age, older until death. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi; whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentiall ...

with a focus on the developing world. * 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. * The Harvard Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment (C-CHANGE) leads research projects that explore the impacts of climate change on human health and the design of climate actions to maximize health benefits, particularly for the most vulnerable populations. * The Thich Nhat Hanh Center for Mindfulness in Public Health pursues evidence-based approaches to utilize the principles of mindfulness to improve health and well-being. * The Center for Health Communication leads the Harvard Chan School's work to effectively communicate public health information through the clutter of modern media landscapes. The center's collaboration with Hollywood studios to promote designated drivers was essential in changing the national conversation around drunk driving. The center has recently launched a program partnering with content creators on mental health research. * Harvard's Maternal and Child Health Center of Excellence, which is one of just 13 such centers funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration. The center produces and disseminates information to improve the well-being of mothers and children, and trains future leaders in the field as part of the school's concentration in maternal and child health.

People

List of deans

The deans of the school are listed below.

Notable faculty (and past faculty)

* Joseph G. Allen, public health expert, director of the Healthy Buildings program * Andrea Baccarelli, epigeneticist, clinical endocrinologist, and dean of school of public health *

Katherine Baicker Katherine Baicker (born May 23, 1971) is an American economist, currently serving as the 15th provost of the University of Chicago since March 2023. She is known for the Oregon Medicaid health experiment. Biography Baicker received a Bachelor ...

, 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 resea ...

* Robert Blendon, political strategy of health and public opinion expert * Barry Bloom, immunologist and former dean * David Bloom, economist * Joseph Brain,

physiologist Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out chemical and ...

and

environmental health Environmental health is the branch of public health concerned with all aspects of the natural environment, natural and built environment affecting human health. To effectively control factors that may affect health, the requirements for a hea ...

researcher * David Canning, economist * Richard A. Cash, American

global health Global health is the health of populations in a worldwide context; it has been defined as "the area of study, research, and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide". Problems th ...

researcher, developed oral rehydration therapy (ORT) * Marcia Caldas de Castro, demographer * Lauren M. Childs, mathematician, Ruth I. Michler Memorial Prize recipient * 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 * Sarah Fortune, immunologist * Julio Frenk, former dean of school of public health and former Secretary of Health of Mexico *

Atul Gawande Atul Atmaram Gawande (born November 5, 1965) is an American surgeon, writer, and public health researcher. He practices general and endocrine surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. He is a professor in the Department ...

, general and endocrine surgeon * Sue Goldie, physician and decision scientist,

MacArthur fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and ...

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 under the Executive Office of the President. OIRA oversees the implementation of government-wide policies in, and reviews draft r ...

* Laurie Glimcher, immunologist * Alice Hamilton, occupational health and toxicology; first woman appointed to the faculty of

* David Hemenway, economist and injury prevention expert * Albert Hofman, epidemiologist * William Hsiao, 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 The assistant secretary for health (ASH) is a senior U.S. government official within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) who serves as the primary advisor to the secretary of health and human services on matters involving t ...

at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. * Margaret Elizabeth Kruk, public health expert, physician, and health systems researcher * Nan Laird, biostatistician, former head of department * Alexander H. Leighton, psychiatric epidemiologist *

Richard Levins Richard Levins (June 1, 1930 – January 19, 2016) was a Marxist biologist, a population geneticist, biomathematician, mathematical ecologist, and philosopher of science who researched genetic diversity, diversity in human populations. Until his ...

, ecologist and mathematical biologist * Xihong Lin, biostatistician and mathematician, 2006 COPSS Presidents' Award recipient * Jun S. Liu, biostatistician and mathematician, 2002 COPSS Presidents' Award recipient * Bernard Lown, co-founded the Nobel Peace 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 list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

(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 ...

, cancer epidemiologist * Sezan Mahmud, Writer and university professor * Christopher Murray, physician and health economist * Kari Nadeau, immunologist * Joseph Newhouse, economist and director of the RAND Health Insurance Experiment * Shuji Ogino, pioneer in

molecular pathological epidemiology Molecular pathological epidemiology (MPE, also molecular pathologic epidemiology) is a discipline combining epidemiology and pathology. It is defined as "epidemiology of molecular pathology and heterogeneity of disease". Pathology and epidemiolog ...

* John Quackenbush, computational biologist and genome scientist *

Eric Rubin Eric J. Rubin is an American microbiologist, infectious disease specialist, and is currently the editor-in-chief of the ''New England Journal of Medicine''. He is also an adjunct professor of immunology and infectious diseases and was formerly the ...

, editor-in-chief of

New England Journal of Medicine ''The New England Journal of Medicine'' (''NEJM'') is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. Founded in 1812, the journal is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals. Its 2023 impact factor was ...

* James Robins, epidemiologist and biostatistician * Pardis Sabeti, computational biologist, medical geneticist and evolutionary geneticist * Benjamin P. Sachs, Harold H. Rosenfield Professor at Harvard Medical School *

Amartya Sen Amartya Kumar Sen (; born 3 November 1933) is an Indian economist and philosopher. Sen has taught and worked in England and the United States since 1972. In 1998, Sen received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions ...

, 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, biostatistician * Thomas Huckle Weller, Nobel laureate in Physiology and Medicine * George C. Whipple, cofounder of School in 1922 * Dan Wikler, public health and medical ethicist, philosopher * Walter Willett, physician and nutrition researcher * David Williams, sociologist and epidemiologist *

Michelle Ann Williams Michelle Ann Williams is a Jamaican-American epidemiologist, public health scientist, and educator who has served as the dean of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health since 2016. Early life Williams was born on January 1, 1962, an ...

, epidemiologist and former dean of school of public health

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 (; née Harlem, 20 April 1939) is a Norwegian politician in the Labour Party, who served three terms as the prime minister of Norway (1981, 1986–1989, and 1990–1996), as the leader of her party from 1981 to 1992, and as the d ...

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

* Eli Capilouto, 12th president of the

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

* Mandy Cohen, MPH 2004, physician, current Director of the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the National public health institutes, national public health agency of the United States. It is a Federal agencies of the United States, United States federal agency under the United S ...

* Raquel Eidelman Cohen, MPH 1945, child psychiatrist and international authority on psychological and social consequences of disasters * Humayun Chaudhry, President and CEO of the

Federation of State Medical Boards The Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) of the United States is a national non-profit organization that represents the 71 state medical and osteopathic boards of the United States and its territories and co-sponsors the United States Medica ...

* Mary Cushman, Professor of Medicine and Pathology in the Robert Larner College of Medicine at the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, commonly referred to as the University of Vermont (UVM), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont, United States. Foun ...

. * Winston Dang, head of

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

's Environmental Protection Administration (2004–08) * Jonathan Fielding, Director Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, editor in chief of the Annual Review of Public Health * William Foege, MPH 1965, physician, former Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention * Janina R. Galler, PI and Director of 45+-year

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

Nutrition Study in the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea, forming part of the West Indies in Caribbean, Caribbean region of the Americas. They are distinguished from the larger islands of the Greater Antilles to the west. They form an arc w ...

, in the Americas, 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 ...

, surgical safety pioneer, MacArthur Fellow, Rhodes Scholar * Sue Goldie, MacArthur Fellow and decision scientist * Nadine Burke Harris, pediatrician and first

Surgeon General of California The Surgeon General of California is the leading spokesperson on matters of public health within the State of California. The Surgeon General is one of only five State Surgeons General in the United States. The office was created on Januar ...

* Tara O. Henderson, Arthur and Marian Edelstein Professor of Pediatrics,

Pritzker School of Medicine The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine is the M.D.-granting unit under the Biological Sciences Division of the University of Chicago. It is located on the university's main campus in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago and mat ...

* Stephen W. Hwang, physician, medical academic, and population health epidemiologist * Timothy Johnson, chief medical correspondent for ABC News * Karl Lauterbach, 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 World Health Organization global HIV/AIDS program * James O. Mason, former Acting Surgeon General of the United States, former Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention * Shuji Ogino, pioneer in

* Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih, former Minister of Health of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

* David J. Sencer, longest-serving Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention * Carl G. Streed, physician, researcher, and advocate for the LGBTQ+ community *

Lai Ching-te Lai Ching-te (; pinyin: ''Lài Qīngdé''; born 6 October 1959), also known as William Lai, is a Taiwanese politician and former physician who is currently serving as the eighth president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since May 2024. He is ...

, physician, incumbent

President of the Republic of China The president of the Republic of China, also known as the president of Taiwan, is the head of state of the Taiwan, Republic of China (Taiwan), as well as the commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Armed Forces. Republic of China (1912– ...

, former

Vice President of the Republic of China The vice president of the Republic of China, commonly referred to as the vice president of Taiwan, is the second-highest constitutional office of the government in Taiwan, after the president, and ranks first in the presidential line of success ...

* Rochelle Walensky, MPH 2001, former Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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 Universities and colleges established in 1913 1913 establishments in Massachusetts T.H. Chan School of Public Health Schools of public health in the United States University subdivisions in Massachusetts