Harvard Public Health NOW

Julio Frenk Presented Officially as Next Dean to HSPH Community at Reception and Program

President Drew Faust officially presented Dr. Julio Frenk as the next dean to the HSPH community at a reception and program attended by approximately 500 students, faculty, and staff on Friday, September 5, in the Kresge cafeteria. Dr. Frenk will assume the deanship in January 2009.

Liaison Guides HSPH on Work/Life Balance

Harvard has services and resources to help HSPH faculty, staff, and students maintain the sometimes precarious balance between demands at home and demands at work.

“There is a comprehensive menu of work/life benefits at Harvard that many people aren’t aware of,” said Ronnie Mae Weiss, MSW, HSPH’s new work/life liaison. “My office is a place where faculty, staff, and students can come and talk to me one-on-one about their personal work/life balance needs,” said Weiss, who started at HSPH on June 1.

High maternal dioxin exposure affects children decades later

On July 10, 1976, an explosion at a chemical factory in Seveso, northern Italy, unleashed a mysterious toxic cloud over a large residential area. Laboratory tests of soil samples confirmed the chemical cloud had deposited 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, a toxic chemical.

This summer, HSPH adjunct assistant professor Andrea Baccarelli and his colleagues published a paper in PLoS Medicine on what happened to the progeny of women exposed to dioxin after the accident. The researchers found that newborns born to these women were 6.6 times more likely to have reduced thyroid function compared to babies of non-exposed mothers. Animal studies had previously and consistently showed congenital hypothyroidism from prenatal exposure, but evidence in people was not as clear.

Middle-School Friends Reunite Unexpectedly as MPH Students at HSPH

Eighteen years ago, Mohan Sundararaj befriended Sanjeev Sriram, the new kid in his seventh-grade class at St. Michael’s Academy in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Two years later, Sriram moved with his parents to Los Angeles, and the fast friends lost touch.

Then this summer, MPH student Sundararaj quite unexpectedly picked out a familiar face at HSPH orientation.

More HSPH Employees Honored for Going "Beyond the Call" of Duty

Twenty-one HSPH employees have been recognized by their peers for outstanding work as part of the ongoing HSPH recognition award effort newly named "Beyond the Call." First-time honorees will receive a letter of appreciation and a $100 gift certificate to GiftCertificates.com. The program is open to nominations at any time and is managed by Human Resources.