What If … Public Health Had to Be Built From Scratch? Revisiting 19th-Century Debates
Join us on Wednesday, February 25th for the Department of Epidemiology seminar series featuring Dr. Alfredo Morabia discussing What If … Public Health Had to Be Built From Scratch? Revisiting 19th-Century Debates.
Abstract: What would public health look like if it had to be invented today, without assuming the institutions, divisions, and categories we inherited? This lecture revisits the formative debates of the 19th century, when scientific public health first took shape. By examining the tensions between competing visions, particularly between approaches centered on specific causes of disease and those focused on the broader conditions of life, I show that public health emerged not as a single, inevitable model but as the outcome of choices. Situating epidemiology and the early schools of public health within these debates, I argue that some options were abandoned rather than disproven. Revisiting these debates allows us to think more clearly about what public health could be today, not by returning to the past, but by recovering the range of possibilities that once existed.
Bio: Alfredo Morabia is a Professor of Epidemiology at the Barry Commoner Center for Health and the Environment, Queens College, CUNY and a Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the Department of Epidemiology, Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. As Principal Investigator of the World Trade Center-Heart cohort study, funded by NIOSH, he examines the long-term cardiovascular effects of 9/11 on first responders. A historian of epidemiology, he explores the evolution of methods and concepts used to study and improve population health. His last book, The Public Health Approach: Population Thinking from the Black Death to COVID-19 (2023), traces the evolution of public health methods from past pandemics to modern crises. He has been Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Public Health from June 2015 to June 2025.
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Alfredo Morabia, MD, PhD, MPH
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Quantitative Bias Analysis: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Join us on Wednesday, February 11th for a Department of Epidemiology seminar featuring Dr. Timothy Lash discussing Quantitative Bias Analysis: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
Abstract: Quantitative bias analysis encompasses all methods used to estimate the direction, magnitude, and uncertainty from non-randomized research. Many of these methods have been well known for decades, but are still not routinely implemented. This talk will review the methods, their utility, where there are shortcomings, and how they are sometimes used (intentionally or unintentionally) against their best purposes.
Bio: Timothy L. Lash is the O. Wayne Rollins Distinguished Professor of Epidemiology and Chair of the Department of Epidemiology at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, and Associate Director of Population Science at Emory’s Winship Cancer Institute. His research focuses on predictive and prognostic markers of breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer recurrence. His longstanding collaborations in Denmark have involved multiple projects to study molecular markers of recurrence and to study whether concomitant use of prescription drugs affect recurrence risk. He is currently funded by the US NCI to begin adding recurrence data to the Georgia Cancer Registry. Dr. Lash’s methodological interest focuses on developing and implementing methods to quantify the influence of systematic errors on epidemiologic research. Funding from the National Library of Medicine supports his work to develop methods that quantify the influence of systematic errors on the reproducibility of epidemiologic study results. He teaches a course on quantitative bias analysis and leads the doctoral students’ journal club. He is Editor-in-Chief of EPIDEMIOLOGY, a leading general interest epidemiology journal, and coauthor of multiple editions of two epidemiology textbooks: Applying Quantitative Bias Analysis to Epidemiologic Research, 2nd edition and Modern Epidemiology, 4th edition.
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Timothy L. Lash, DSc, MPH
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Art@Countway Exhibition Closing Ceremony: Call & Response
As the art exhibition “Call and Response: A Narrative of Reverence to our Foremothers in Gynecology” comes to a close at Countway Library, we invite you to celebrate the show’s impact with artists, organizers, and fellow community members.
This multimedia art exhibition, developed by the Resilient Sisterhood Project, sheds light on the exploitation of enslaved Black women in the origins of modern gynecology and its enduring implications for public health. Centering the lives of Anarcha, Betsey, and Lucy, three women subjected to repeated experimental surgeries by Dr. J. Marion Sims in the 1840s, the exhibition’s powerful narrative inspires us to unearth history, confront the present, and imagine a more just future for reproductive health.
We are committed to making this event accessible to all participants. The space is wheelchair accessible, microphones will be used for speakers, and assistive listening devices are available for use. Please reach out to countwayoutreach@hms.harvard.edu if you have any accessibility needs or questions.
Please register in advance here.
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Jules Authur
Dr. Michele David
Dr. Yvonne Gomez-Carrion
Michelle Hartney
Lilly Marcelin
Dr. Rose Molina
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Developments in Postmarketing Safety Surveillance of Medical Products: Reflections from the FDA Sentinel Innovation Center
Join us on Wednesday, January 28th for a Department of Epidemiology seminar featuring Dr. Rishi Desai discussing Developments in Postmarketing Safety Surveillance of Medical Products: Reflections from the FDA Sentinel Innovation Center.
Abstract: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Sentinel Initiative—launched in 2008 under the FDA Amendments Act as the first national active-surveillance system for medical-product safety—has grown from a proof-of-concept pilot into the nation’s flagship regulatory grade evidence generation engine for pressing drug safety questions. In 2019, the FDA the US Food and Drug Administration prioritized more extensive electronic health records (EHR) integration to the existing claims-based Sentinel Distributed Databases and methodological innovations leveraging cutting edge data science approaches. This talk will provide an overview of the progress made by Sentinel’s Innovation Center in various domains including data infrastructure, information extraction, computable phenotyping, and confounding adjustment. Exemplary case studies will be discussed to highlight challenges and opportunities in applying the methodological innovations to inferential studies of medication safety.
Bio: Rishi J Desai, MS, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard (HMS/HSPH) and an Epidemiologist in the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. His research focuses on understanding the use of medications and resulting outcomes in routine care patients with chronic diseases. He has a special interest in methodological investigations to improve inference from non-randomized studies of medication effects. He is currently the Operations Lead for the FDA Sentinel Innovation Center. His work has been funded by the National Institute on Aging, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and the Food and Drug Administration. He has authored >185 original research publications.
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Rishi Desai, MS, PhD
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Leading public health schools today and tomorrow: A conversation with Deans Megan Ranney and Andrea Baccarelli
In this fireside chat, two deans of leading schools of public health will explore how to navigate a rapidly evolving landscape in public health education. Megan Ranney, Dean of Yale School of Public Health, will join Andrea Baccarelli, Dean of Harvard Chan School, to discuss preparing—and learning from—the next generation of public health students. From modeling constructive dialogue across diverse audiences, to examining the role of generative AI in classrooms and research, to equipping graduates for a shifting job market, the deans will share real-world insights.
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Megan Ranney
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Pressure Points: Leading academic medical centers in turbulent times
Pressure Points is a webinar series co-hosted by The Studio and Executive and Continuing Education at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health bringing you inside the business of health care.
As health care organizations face sustained crisis conditions—policy, technology, and workforce related—how can leaders guide their institutions with clarity and resilience? Join health care leaders and experts for a candid conversation about what crisis leadership looks like today, and how to lead with strength when the stakes are highest.
Register for free to submit your questions.
An on-demand video will be posted after the event.
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About The Organizers
The Harvard Chan Studio is the hub for the School’s premier in-person and live-streamed events. We convene global leaders in health policy, advocacy, industry, and research for insightful conversations about public health’s most pressing challenges and most promising solutions.
Executive and Continuing Education
Strengthen your expertise and build new capabilities to address pressing healthcare and public health challenges. Learn from industry experts and esteemed Harvard faculty and join a global community of peers driven to creating a healthier world.
Monday Nutrition Seminar | So the US food system is certainly broken; what can we reasonably do about it, given nutritional and geophysical constraints on this system?
Please join the Department of Nutrition for the Monday Nutrition Seminar featuring Gidon Eshel, PhD, MA, MPhil, Research Professor at Bard College. Dr. Eshel’s talk—”So the US food system is certainly broken; what can we reasonably do about it, given nutritional and geophysical constraints on this system?”—will take place on December 15, 2025 at 1:00pm ET in FXB G-13 and via Zoom (registration is required).
The Monday Nutrition Seminar Series is free and open to the public. If you plan to attend this event and do not have an active HUID, please fill out the registration form by 3:00 p.m. ET on the Friday before the seminar to request a visitor pass to access the building.
Seminar speakers share their perspectives, they do not speak for Harvard.
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Documentary Screening – Gaza: Doctors Under Attack
Join the Harvard Chan Student Committee for Health Equity & Justice in Palestine for a screening of Gaza: Doctors Under Attack. Light refreshments from Aceituna Grill and popcorn will be provided!
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Origami Workshop
Join us for an origami-making workshop! Monday, December 8th, the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences’ Community and Belonging committee invites all students, staff, and faculty to join us for an origami-making workshop! Learn a new artform, let your creative energy flow, and get to know your fellow community members. Stop by the Kresge atrium anytime between 12 and 2 p.m. to take part. We hope to see you there!
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War and the public’s health
Join the FXB Center for Health & Human Rights for a fireside chat with physician and epidemiologist Barry Levy, MD, MPH, and discussion with FXB Visiting Scientist Yara M. Asi, PhD. They will describe the impacts of war on the health and human rights of noncombatant civilians and related issues, including forced displacement and destruction of civilian infrastructure. They will also discuss the prevention of war and the promotion of peace. Dr. Levy will draw on his book, From Horror to Hope: Recognizing and Preventing the Health Impacts of War, and Dr. Asi on her book, How War Kills: The Overlooked Threats to Our Health.
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Barry Levy, MD, MPH
