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In Massachusetts, residential proximity to a nuclear power plant (NPP) was associated with significantly increased cancer incidence, with risk declining by distance, according to a new study led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

The study was published Dec. 17 in Environmental Health. It was conducted by researchers in the Department of Environmental Health, including corresponding author Yazan Alwadi, PhD student, and senior author Petros Koutrakis, professor of environmental sciences.

Despite widespread—and potentially expanding—reliance on nuclear power in the U.S., epidemiologic research investigating the health impacts of NPPs remains limited. Meanwhile, the results of studies conducted internationally vary significantly. To broaden the evidence base, the researchers assessed proximity of Massachusetts zip codes to nuclear power plants and 2000-2018 cancer incidence data collected by the Massachusetts Cancer Registry. They controlled for confounders such as air pollution and sociodemographic factors.

The researchers estimated that about 20,600 cancer cases in the state—roughly 3.3% of all the cases included in the study—were attributable to living near an NPP, with risk declining sharply beyond roughly 30 kilometers from a facility. The risk of developing cancer attributable to living near an NPP generally increased with age.

According to the researchers, the findings highlight the importance of acknowledging and addressing nuclear energy’s health impacts, particularly at a time when its expansion is being promoted as a solution to climate change.

Read the study:

Residential proximity to nuclear power plants and cancer incidence in Massachusetts, USA (2000–2018)

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Harvard Humanitarian Initiative team worked with Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences class on project

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Humanitarian workers in the field often need to quickly count and categorize people—for example, individuals fleeing a disaster crossing border checkpoints—to help assess a population’s needs. Doing this with pen and paper is inefficient but using a phone or other digital device can be impractical in certain settings.

Over the fall semester, 15 students at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) took on the challenge of coming up with a new solution, working closely with their “client” Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI). They were enrolled in the course Engineering Problem Solving and Design Project, which is offered twice a year and gives students the chance to apply their engineering know-how to a real-world problem.

“As HHI is an inter-faculty initiative, we are always looking for ways to engage with various schools and teaching hospitals throughout our Harvard ecosystem to advance interdisciplinary collaboration,” said Irini Albanti, HHI executive director and lecturer in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Harvard Chan School. She worked closely with David Mooney, Robert P. Pinkas Family Professor of Bioengineering at SEAS, to plan and coordinate the course.

Students spent time with HHI faculty, staff, and visiting scientists to learn about their research and programs, and challenges facing the field. They then worked through a design process under Mooney’s guidance to develop a deliverable.

Prototype unveiled

On Dec. 8 at SEAS, the students presented their work. They said that they explored ideas for aiding HHI’s mission from multiple angles, considering solutions such as educational tools for humanitarian crisis response training and pop-up shelters that could be used in the field. They ultimately decided to develop a rugged programmable box that helps with data collection. It’s operated with simple buttons but integrates with the sophisticated data platform already widely used by humanitarian workers called KoboToolbox. The students dubbed the small blue device the KoboClicker.

“They turned a tough engineering challenge—designing an easy-to-use clicker for demanding environments—into a workable solution that answers a real need,” said Patrick Vinck, who founded KoboToolbox with Phuong Pham. Both are faculty members of HHI and associate professors in the Department of Global Health and Population at Harvard Chan School and at Harvard Medical School.

KoboToolbox was created in 2008 prior to Pham and Vinck joining HHI and is now being developed and managed by Kobo, the nonprofit organization they created in 2019. It is a free and open-source and is used by more than 35,000 humanitarian aid and other organizations around the world, including United Nations agencies and the International Federation of the Red Cross.

KoboClicker is designed to record multiple pieces of information at once, more than other clicker-type devices currently used in the field. It can store data until workers are able to upload it to KoboToolbox, where the data can then be analyzed and managed.

“The students did a great job understanding the problems, developing quantitative metrics to select the right options to tackle, and creating an impressive prototype—all within just four months,” said Pham. “I can’t imagine what they could accomplish with a full year.”

Potential uses

Pham, who worked with the students during the course, gave an example of how the clicker could be useful: “After Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans, the city wanted to know how many people had returned, as well as their gender and whether they were over 60 or under 18 years of age. This clicker could be used to conduct a rapid population count while also capturing these additional details,” she said. She added that there are other potential uses in clinics, shelters, and aid distribution sites, for example, to track people with symptoms of a disease or to categorize the needs of people seeking assistance (such as food, water, shelter, or medical care).

The KoboClicker is truly practical, Pham said. “We plan to have the students present their work to the Kobo team to support further development and explore ways to test it in the field.”

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The Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment (Harvard Chan C-CHANGE) is proud to announce the members of our new Strategic Advisory Board who will strengthen our shared mission to seek climate solutions that provide for a healthier and more just world. The Board brings together visionaries, innovators, and changemakers committed to building a healthy, climate-resilient world. 

“For nearly three decades, our Center has served as a bridge between research and real-world solutions,” said Mary B. Rice, director of Harvard Chan C-CHANGE. “The insight, vision, and dedication of this remarkable group will continue to strengthen our mission at a moment when the world needs our work more than ever.” 

Board members will provide strategic counsel to elevate the Center’s work, discuss areas of research, and advise on how to maximize public health impact across all sectors. They will work alongside the Center’s Scientific Advisory Council, a distinguished and diverse group of scientific experts who give feedback on research strategy, educational programming, and partnerships to help ensure the Center is working on relevant and time-sensitive solutions. 

Meet the new Harvard Chan C-CHANGE Strategic Advisory Board: 

Katherine States Burke MBA, MSc, is a lecturer, scholar, and strategic adviser at the Center for Human and Planetary Health within the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. The Center is a hub for Stanford researchers, educators and students working on solutions at the intersection of health and the environment. Previously, Ms. Burke was Deputy Director of Stanford’s Center for Innovation in Global Health, where she led efforts in three focus areas: women’s leadership, planetary health, and initiatives aimed at vulnerable populations. She played a key role in creating and leading the inaugural “Women Leaders in Global Health” conference in 2017, sparking a global movement and an ongoing partnership between Stanford and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University, Kathy began her career as a reporter, editor and publishing executive. She later pursued a longstanding interest in public health, earning a Master of Science in Global Health Sciences from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She also holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Kathy enjoys working at the interface of disciplines and sectors to address big social problems. An avid cyclist and cook, she lives in Woodside, California, with her husband and dog. 

Pam Cheng is the Executive Vice President, Global Operations, IT & Chief Sustainability Officer, at AstraZeneca. Pam was appointed Executive Vice-President, Operations & Information Technology in June 2015 and assumed additional responsibility for the AstraZeneca Sustainability strategy and function in January 2023. Pam joined AstraZeneca after having spent 18 years with Merck/MSD in Global Manufacturing and Supply Chain and Commercial roles. Pam was the Head of Global Supply Chain Management & Logistics for Merck and led the transformation of Merck supply chains across the global supply network. Pam also held the role of President of MSD China, responsible for MSD’s entire business in China. Prior to joining Merck, Pam held various engineering and project management positions at Universal Oil Products, Union Carbide Corporation and GAF Chemicals. Pam holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in chemical engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey and an MBA in marketing from Pace University in New York. Pam serves as a Non-Executive Director of the Smiths Group plc Board and as a Trustee Member of the Board for Stevens Institute of Technology. Pam also serves as an Advisor to the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) Board of Directors. 

Craig Cogut Founder, Chairman & CEO, Pegasus Capital, has spent a career building successful investment businesses. Mr. Cogut founded Pegasus, a private equity fund, in 1995 and serves as its Chairman and CEO, and is a member of the management committee and the investment committee. Through Mr. Cogut’s leadership, Pegasus has focused on sectors influenced by global resource scarcity and the need to combat climate change, as well as on the growth in demands globally for human health and wellness, leading to Pegasus becoming the first U.S. private equity fund manager to be accredited by the Green Climate Fund. In 1990 Mr. Cogut co-founded and was one of the original partners at Apollo Advisors L.P., a position he held for six years preceding the creation of Pegasus. Mr. Cogut is currently Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of PanTheryx.  In addition, Mr. Cogut has been an active philanthropist in the fields of improving education, building civil society, and championing environmental and health issues. Mr. Cogut currently serves as Chairman of the finance advisory board of the Global Alliance for a Sustainable Planet, a non-profit focused on leveraging private finance for public good to achieve sustainable development goals.  Mr. Cogut is an alumnus of Brown University and Harvard Law School. 

Wendy Gordon co-founded and was the original president of PIPs Rewards LLC, the wholly owned subsidiary of the nonprofit PIPs Education Fund. Together with a global team, Gordon co-created the PIPs Rewards mobile engagement platform to leverage the power of a rewards currency (called “Positive Impact Points” or “PIPs”), smart tools, and games to track and reward daily life choices that deliver personal and planetary benefits. The PIPs platform, which won a NYC BigApps prize sponsored by the NYC Economic Development Corporation,  has been used by universities and nonprofit service organizations to recognize and reward 10s of 1000s of students, low income students in particular, for completing everyday positive impact actions. Some of the students were extrinsically rewarded with grants for school, others with gift cards, but all came away with a sense of their own intrinsic purpose and agency. Gordon stepped down in 2024; the new team is deploying the platform primarily for workforce development. 

Previously, Gordon worked as a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, co-founded the Mothers & Others campaign with Meryl Streep, and developed the award-winning Green Guide, a bi-monthly publication which was acquired by National Geographic in 2007. She has co-authored numerous books, including the award-winning True Food: 8 Simple Steps to a Healthier You (National Geographic, 2009). 

Gordon holds a B.S. in geological and geophysical sciences from Princeton University and an M.S. in environmental health sciences from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Rainforest Alliance, the Board of Trustees of the Rockefeller Family Fund, the C-CHANGE Strategic Advisory Board of the Harvard School of Public Health, the Board of Governors for the Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts at The New School, and is an advisor to A Single Bite, a Catskill based nonprofit dedicated to educating and feeding our neighbors with real local food. 

In her spare time, Gordon enjoys cross-country skiing, tennis, gardening, hiking, learning new things, and spending time with her family, which now includes five grandchildren. 

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To the Harvard Chan community,

We are pleased to announce that the strategic planning process formally launched yesterday with the first joint meeting of the Strategic Steering Committee, the Working Group on Education, and the Working Group on Research. We are also glad to share the membership of the three groups. You will find the names at the end of this message. Our sincere thanks to all of those who volunteered to serve on the Steering Committee and the Working Groups.

The strategic planning process is our collective opportunity to design a school of public health that fully meets the needs of our field and the world in the 21st century. While our future is affected by the financial challenges we face, it will also be shaped by the current wave of social, systemic, and planetary-scale transformations and innovation in science, technology, and health delivery.

As part of the strategic planning process, we will be asking ourselves to be clear on our current reality: What is working? What is challenging? What is our comparative advantage among schools of public health? In parallel, we will be developing aspects of our shared vision, answering the overriding question of what success looks like for us as the leading public health school in the future. And together we will reflect on what has to happen to get us there: What strategies should guide our investments of time and other resources?

The Steering Committee and Working Groups will reach out to the School community in the coming weeks and months in order to tap into your experiences and expertise. There will be multiple avenues for engagement and more information on this will be forthcoming. Our hope is to complete the consultation and synthesis part of the process in the spring and then develop an implementation plan.

In terms of roles and responsibilities, the Strategic Steering Committee will drive the overall planning process and integrate recommendations from the two Working Groups. The Education Working Group, co-led by Nancy Turnbull and Brent Coull, will recommend action plans to continue to attract and train top students from around the world, as well as deliver outstanding education that gives public health leaders at all stages of their careers the knowledge and skills to address current and future challenges. The group will build on synergies between degree and non-degree programs, and ensure that these offerings align with our mission, demonstrate impact, and support the School’s financial goals.

The Research Working Group, co-led by Sonia Hernandez-Diaz and Kari Nadeau, will recommend action plans to nurture partnerships across the School, the University, and with institutions and communities worldwide. It will develop creative strategies to support innovative fields, and chart the future of high-impact, cutting-edge public health research.

Another important effort is already under way to create a stronger School community and culture. Its name, SPARK, is the result of a Schoolwide vote on names proposed by members of our community. SPARK, which stands for Strategy, Participation, Action, Recognition & Knowledge, met for the first time last Friday (Dec. 12.) We want to thank Bryn Austin and Bryan Thomas Jr. for their work on this and encourage everyone to participate in Spark’s upcoming activities.

We wish you and your loved ones a restful holiday season. See you in 2026!

Best,

Andrea Baccarelli, MD, PhD
Dean of the Faculty

Meredith Rosenthal, PhD
Chair, Department of Health Policy and Management

Jorge Chavarro, MD, ScD
Dean for Academic Affairs

Strategic Steering Committee

Jorge Chavarro, co-chair (DO, EPI, NUT)

Meredith Rosenthal, co-chair (HPM)

Brent Coull (BIO)

Sonia Hernandez-Diaz (EPI, Committee on Educational Policy)

Kari Nadeau (EH)

Nancy Turnbull (OEP, HPM)

Marc Weisskopf (EH, EPI, Faculty Council

Education Working Group

Brent Coull, co-chair (BIO)

Nancy Turnbull, co-chair (OEP, HPM)

Emmilie Aveling (HPM)

Flaminia Catteruccia (IID)

Jarvis Chen (SBS)

Christopher Golden (EH, NUT, Faculty Council)

Francine Laden (EH, EPI, Committee on Educational Policy)

Lorelei Mucci (EPI, Faculty Council)

Anne Occhipinti (OEP)

Christopher Sudfeld (GHP, NUT)

Whitney Waddell (SBS)

Tim Whelsky (OSS)

Research Working Group

Sonia Hernandez-Diaz, co-chair (EPI, Committee on Educational Policy)

Kari Nadeau, co-chair (EH)

Rachel Cahoon (HMS/SPH SPA)

Wafaie Fawzi (GHP, NUT)

Yonatan Grad (EPI, IID)

Sebastien Haneuse (BIO, Faculty Council)

Tony Hui (MET)

Ellen Meara (HPM)

Shoba Ramanadhan (SBS, Faculty Council)

Minttu Ronn (GHP)

Katrina Soriano (MET, NUT)

Twenty-four faculty members or researchers affiliated with Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health were named to Clarivate Analytic’s 2025 list of Highly Cited Researchers. The annual list includes researchers from around the world whose papers have been cited most often by their peers—in the top 1% of citations for a chosen field or fields.

Worldwide, 7,131 researchers were named to the 2025 “highly cited” list. Those affiliated with Harvard Chan School are listed below. Twelve Harvard Chan School faculty were identified as having exceptional performance across several fields. Their names are marked with an asterisk.

Martin Aryee, Rifat Atun*, Andrea Baccarelli*, David Bates*, Sarah Fortune*, Eric Franzosa, Wendy Garrett, Edward Giovannucci, Christopher Golden*, William Hanage*, Curtis Huttenhower, Frank Hu, Rafael Irizarry*, Ichiro Kawachi*, Miguel Hernán, Marc Lipsitch*, Kenneth Mayer*, Alkes Price, Susan Redline*, Bernard Rosner, Meir Stampfer*, Tyler VanderWeele, Walter Willett, and David Williams.

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For immediate release: Dec. 18, 2025

Boston, MA—Real estate investment trust (REIT)-acquired U.S. hospitals were associated with a greater risk of bankruptcy or closure than non-REIT-acquired hospitals, according to a new study led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The findings also showed that REIT acquisition of hospitals had no significant impact on quality of care or clinical outcomes.

The study was published Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, in the BMJ.

When a hospital sells its real estate to a REIT, the REIT then functions as a landlord with the hospital as a tenant. This practice has become increasingly common among private equity- and corporate-owned hospitals in the U.S. Proponents argue that the profits from a hospital’s sale of its real estate to a REIT can be used to improve clinical care. But concern has grown that for-profit hospital owners are using REITs as a strategy to strip assets from hospitals to generate returns to investors.

While prior studies have examined the consequences of private equity and corporate ownership of hospitals, none have evaluated the consequences specifically of REIT acquisition of hospitals. For this study, the researchers compared the clinical and financial outcomes of 87 hospitals that had been acquired by REITs from 2005-2019 with 337 non-REIT acquired hospitals. They assessed at a variety of data, including Medicare claims, financial performance, patients’ experiences at hospitals, hospital staffing levels, and clinical outcomes and quality, indicated by 30-day mortality and readmission rates for patients with heart attacks, congestive heart failure, and pneumonia.

The findings showed that REIT acquisition had no significant impacts on quality of clinical care or patient outcomes—but had a significant negative impact on a hospital’s finances. REIT-acquired hospitals had a 5.7-fold higher risk of closure or bankruptcy compared with non-REIT acquired hospitals.

“In REIT-acquired hospitals, there don’t seem to be any systematic reinvestments into clinical services, which is one of the arguments employed by private equity or corporate owners of hospitals as to why a REIT transaction may be beneficial,” said corresponding author Thomas Tsai, associate professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management, co-director of the Healthcare Quality and Outcomes Lab, and a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “What we see instead is that these hospitals are less likely to survive. As more and more financial resources are stripped away, it’s death by a thousand cuts.”

The researchers say the findings highlight the need for greater oversight over REIT acquisitions of hospital real estate. 

“REIT acquisition of hospitals has the potential to help hospitals and the communities they serve, or to seriously damage them,” Tsai said. “The real-world evidence generated by our study can inform federal and state regulatory efforts to more closely monitor hospital ownership and transactions, to ensure that patients and communities are not being harmed.”

Visit the Harvard Chan School website for the latest news and events from our Studio.

For more information:

Maya Brownstein
mbrownstein@hsph.harvard.edu

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Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is a community of innovative scientists, practitioners, educators, and students dedicated to improving health and advancing equity so all people can thrive. We research the many factors influencing health and collaborate widely to translate those insights into policies, programs, and practices that prevent disease and promote well-being for people around the world. We also educate thousands of public health leaders a year through our degree programs, postdoctoral training, fellowships, and continuing education courses. Founded in 1913 as America’s first professional training program in public health, the School continues to have an extraordinary impact in fields ranging from infectious disease to environmental justice to health systems and beyond.

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Two antibiotics—gepotidacin and zoliflodacin—have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea. The move could make a big difference in fighting the infection, which has become resistant to other antibiotics that have been used to treat it, according to a Dec. 11 article in Science.

Recent research published in The Lancet showed the efficacy of the antibiotics. A study from last May showed gepotidacin succeeding against gonorrhea. And a Dec. 11 study showed that zoliflodacin was safe and efficacious for treating the disease.

Experts quoted in the article noted that the availability of two new drugs to treat gonorrhea will lead to debate about how best to use them. Although some may think it makes sense to hold back on using the drugs until there are many treatment failures, in order to delay future resistance, two modeling studies suggest this strategy may not be the best option. Both studies were co-authored by Yonatan Grad, professor of immunology and infectious diseases at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

One of the modeling studies, published October 2023 in Lancet Microbe, found that resistance to a new gonorrheal drug would emerge more slowly if that drug was not held in reserve, but instead was used together with the current drug, or if patients were randomized to get either the current drug or the new one. Another study, published July 2025 in medRxiv (preprint) also found that combining new and old drugs worked better than holding off using the new one.

Read the Science article: New antibiotics for gonorrhea could help beat back drug-resistant infections

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Pandemic-era expansions to the Child Tax Credit (CTC)—one of the largest income transfer programs in the U.S.—was associated with improved child behavioral health, according to a new study led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

The study was published Dec. 10 in Milbank Quarterly. Guangyi Wang, research associate in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, was the corresponding author. Other authors included Daniel Collin, senior statistical analyst, and Rita Hamad, professor of social epidemiology and public policy.

In July 2021, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress temporarily expanded the CTC to alleviate material hardship. More American families were eligible to receive extra income from the CTC, and payments increased and were distributed as monthly allotments, rather than as an annual tax refund.

Previous research has linked this expansion to reduced food insecurity and improved parental mental health. But few studies have examined the impacts specifically on children. To fill in this gap, the researchers analyzed data on caregiver/self-rated child health and behavioral problems collected between 2020 and 2021 by the Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. More than 1,000 children were included in the study, whose families received varying levels of financial support from the CTC.

The study found that the income boost from the CTC improved child behavioral health. A $1,000 increase in payments, distributed through monthly allotments, was associated with a 10% reduction in child behavioral problems compared to baseline. When the CTC expansion expired, and these payments ended, child wellbeing took a nosedive. Behavioral problems increased, particularly among Black and lower-income children, whose families had received the greatest CTC increases.

“Although the advanced payments may have temporarily alleviated financial stress and supported improved parenting practices, the temporary nature of the expansion likely heightened psychological distress for parents after payments ended,” the researchers noted as a possible explanation for the decline in child behavioral health.

They also noted that the study can inform the many states considering their own CTCs. The findings suggest that to support child wellbeing, states should consider monthly credits rather than a once-a-year tax refund, which is the standard.

Read the study:

The 2021 Child Tax Credit and Children’s Health and Well-Being: Evidence From a National Longitudinal Study

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Research funding cuts and concerns about job security and personal safety have led to uncertainty amid early career trans researchers, according to a Dec. 9 STAT article.

Dougie Zubizaretta, a fourth-year PhD student in social and behavioral sciences at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, was among those quoted in the article.

The article described how the Trump administration has cut funding for research focused on topics such as diversity, equity, inclusion; and targeted trans people through executive orders and policy changes, such as barring their correct gender marker on passports and characterizing them as a domestic terrorism threat.

The Trump administration’s moves have led some trans researchers to delay career moves, or to pivot their focus, as Zubizaretta has done. He originally hoped to focus his dissertation on the health impact of discriminatory policies related to structural racism and structural cisheterosexism (the way that society favors cisgender, straight identities). Now he’s focusing his dissertation on sleep. But he worries about applying for future grants because, as part of the process, reviewers “would see every award I’ve won that says it’s an LGBTQ health equity award,” Zubizaretta said. “In theory, that would be a good thing, but now it’s just like a target.”

Others quoted in the STAT article voiced concerns about traveling to states with policies such as restrictions on trans people’s access to bathrooms that best match their identity, as well as online harassment.

Read the STAT article: Early-career trans researchers reconsider their future amid lost funding and fear

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