Harvard School of Public Health

Infobox_University

---

name = Harvard School of Public Health
established = 1922
type = Private
dean= Barry Bloom
city = Boston
state = Massachusetts
country = USA
students = 950
282 SM
375 MPH
484 PhD
staff= 300
campus = Urban
website= [http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/ www.hsph.harvard.edu]
endowment= US$1.2 billion

The Harvard School of Public Health is (colloquially, HSPH) is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Longwood Area of the Boston, Massachusetts neighborhood of Mission Hill, next to Harvard Medical School and Cambridge, Massachusetts, HSPH is considered one of the most prestigious schools focusing on health in the United States. It is the country's second-oldest school of public health. Founded in 1922, the Harvard School of Public Health grew out of the Harvard-MIT School for Health Officers, the nation's first graduate training program in public health. The dean of HSPH, Barry R. Bloom, recently announced he will step down from his current position but remain active with the school. Julio Frenk, the Minister of Health of Mexico from 2000 to 2006 and a former executive director of the World Health Organization (WHO), will become the new dean of HSPH starting January 2009. [ [http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/2008-releases/julio-frenk-named-next-dean-harvard-school-of-public-health.html Julio Frenk Named Next Dean of Harvard School of Public Health] ]

Admission to HSPH is selective: For the class beginning in 2006-2007, 4.5% of nearly 10000 applicants were admitted, and 60% of those admitted enrolled. Half of the class that entered in 2006 had a GPA between 3.50 and 3.75 (out of 4.0).

The HSPH doctoral program in epidemiology has been ranked #1 in the U.S. in terms of faculty research productivity. [ [http://chronicle.com/free/v53/i19/19a00801.htm#top Top departments in 104 fields, reported in The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 12, 2007] ] Overall, HSPH is ranked second along with University of North Carolina School of Public Health" in the 2008,U.S. News & World Report". [ [http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/hea/brief/pub_brief.php|title= Ranking of Best schools of Public Health in US by U.S. News & World Report] .] The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health was ranked first in the same report.

The School's objectives are to provide the highest level of education to health scientists, practitioners, and leaders, to foster new discoveries leading to improved health for the people of this country and all nations, and to strengthen health capacities and services for communities. [ [http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/about.html#history] ]

History

The School's predecessor was the Harvard-MIT School for Health Officers, 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, and in 1946 it was split off from the medical school and became a separate faculty of Harvard University. [ [http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/register/intro.html HSPH Catalog - Harvard School of Public Health] ]

Curriculum

The Master's in Public Health Program - MPH offers seven degree concentrations:
* Clinical Effectiveness (CLE)
* Family and Community Health (FCH)
* Health Care Management and Policy (CMP)
* International Health (IH)
* Law and Public Health (LPH)
* Occupational and Environmental Health (OEH)
* Quantitative Methods (QM) [ [http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/mph/zMPHConcentrations.htm MPH Program - Harvard School of Public Health] ]

Degree programs offered by specific departments:

* Biostatistics: ScM, PhD
* Environmental Health: ScM, PhD, ScD, MOH, DPH
* Epidemiology: ScM, ScD, DPH
* Genetics and Complex Diseases: PhD
* Health Policy and Management: ScM, ScD, PhD
* Immunology and Infectious Diseases: ScD, PhD
* Nutrition: ScD, DPH, PhD
* Population and International Health: ScM, ScD, DPH::Health Economics (ScD)::Health Systems (ScD)::Population and Reproductive Health (ScD)
* Society, Human Development, and Health: ScM, ScD, DPH

PhD programs are offered under the aegis of the Harvard University 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. [ [http://www.channing.harvard.edu/nhs/ NHS :: The Nurses’ Health Study » Front ] ]
* The Health Professionals Followup 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. [ [http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/hpfs/ HPFS - About Us ] ]
* The International Health Systems Program, which has provided training or technical assistance to projects in 21 countries, and conducts health policy research [ [http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/ihsp/ International Health Systems Program at Harvard ] ]
* 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. [ [http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/phcf/ Program in Health Care Financing - Harvard School of Public Health ] ]
* The Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research, 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. [ [http://www.hpcr.org/ HPCR International ] ]
* The Lung Cancer S.O.S. study, examining the risk factors for and prognosis of lung cancer in terms of genetics and environment. [http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/lungcancer/]
* The College Alcohol Study, which examines the causes of college binge drinking and approaches to prevention and harm reduction. [ [http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/cas/ College Alcohol Study ] ]
* The Program on the Global Demography of Aging, which studies policy issues related to aging with a focus on the developing world. [ [http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/pgda/ Global Demography of Aging ] ]
* The Superfund Basic Research Program (see Superfund), studying toxic waste management. [ [http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/superfund/ The Superfund Basis Research Program at Harvard University ] ]

Notable faculty (and past faculty)

*William Hsiao, economist
*Alexander H. Leighton, psychiatric epidemiologist
*Brian MacMahon, cancer epidemiologist
*Andrew Spielman, public health entomologist
*Robert Blendon, political strategy of health and public opinion expert
*James Whittenberger, Department of Physiology

Notable Alumni

*Timothy Johnson, TV medical presenter
*Karl Lauterbach, German Politician (SPD)
*James B. Aguayo-Martel MD MPH

References

External links

* [http://www.hsph.harvard.edu Harvard School of Public Health Website]
* [http://www.vega.org.uk/video/programme/87 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 Health Communication
* [http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/fxbcenter/ François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights]
* [http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/cancer/ Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention]
* [http://www.globalhealth.harvard.edu/hcpds/ Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies]
* [http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/hicrc/ Harvard Injury Control Research Center]
* [http://www.aids.harvard.edu/ Harvard School of Public Health AIDS Initiative] (HSPH HAI)
* Cyprus International Institute for the Environment and Public Health