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Welcome to the August issue of HSPH
Update, an e-letter for friends of the
Harvard School of Public Health.
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HSPH experts join health care debate
Professors Michelle Mello and Nancy Kane each authored op-eds in the July 13 issue of The New York Times. Mello wrote about medical malpractice reform and Kane discussed Medicare payments to hospitals.
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Chemical used to make plastics found to leach from bottles into people
An HSPH study finds that participants who drank for a week
from polycarbonate bottles -- the popular, hard-plastic drinking bottles are identified by the recycling number 7 -- had 67% more bisphenol
A (BPA) in their urine than those not using such bottles. Exposure to BPA, used in the manufacture of polycarbonate and other plastics,
has been shown to interfere with reproductive development in animals and has
been linked with cardiovascular disease and diabetes in humans.
Read more.
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The health cost conundrum
In his latest article for The New Yorker, HSPH Associate Professor Atul Gawande writes about what a Texas town can teach Americans about health care. Listen to his interview on NPR's "On Point" and read The New York Times story on how Gawande's article has become required reading at the White House as health care spending disparities are increasingly being examined. |
Darfuri women live "nightmare"
Physicians for Human Rights, in conjunction with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, issued a report documenting widespread sexual
violence against Darfuri women in Sudan and Chad and calling for
"vigorous prosecution of rape as a war crime."
Read more.
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Center in Guatemala to Combat Cardiovascular Disease
An HSPH researcher will help lead a new research and training center in Guatemala to reduce the burden of
cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the Mesoamerican region, which includes
Central America, the Caribbean, and Southern Mexico.
The center is part of a worldwide network of research and training
centers supported by the U.S. government's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
to build institutional and community capacity to prevent and
control chronic diseases.
"Chronic non-communicable diseases, particularly cardiovascular
disease, are among the main killers in the Mesoamerican region," said
Eduardo Villamor, assistant professor of international nutrition at HSPH and co-principal investigator at the center. "Among our goals is to understand current risk factors for
CVD in school-age children and their parents, identify ways to
intervene, and train graduate students and junior investigators to
carry on research."
Read more.
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Meet the Class of 2009
We've prepared a short video to introduce you to some of the members of the HSPH Class of 2009.
Get to know a few of our newest alumni and what they're planning for the
future. Make a gift to help more of the world's best and brightest students follow in their path.
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Assistant Secretary of Health Koh hopes to accomplish much in Washington
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On his first day on the job, former HSPH Professor Howard Koh watched as President Barack Obama signed a tobacco control bill into law.
The moment was special for Koh, who is known
for his efforts on tobacco control. Read more. |
Starr to lead fundraising effort
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Ellie Starr joined HSPH in late June as the School's new
Vice Dean for External Relations. Starr comes from the Perkins School
for the Blind where she served as Executive Director of the Perkins
Trust. Read more.
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