Implementing Health Care AI into Clinical Practice
Join us for a webinar on the Implementing Health Care AI into Clinical Practice program, offered by Harvard Chan School Executive Education and hosted by Program Director Dr. Santiago Romero-Brufau, MD, PhD.
As AI technology advances, it has the potential to greatly enhance patient care efficiency by speeding up information processing. However, integrating AI into a health care practice or system is a complex task. This program provides clinicians and stakeholders with the essential skills to develop these processes internally.
If you’re interested in the program, we invite you to join the webinar to explore how it may align with your professional goals.
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Cutting through the Smoke: Climate Change and Respiratory Health
Join the Department of Global Health and Population for our weekly Thursday Brown Bag Series! On May 1, Mary B. Rice, MD, MPH, will present “Cutting through the Smoke: Climate Change and Respiratory Health”. Dr. Rice is the Mark and Catherine Winkler Associate Professor of Environmental Respiratory Health in the Department of Environmental Health and Director of the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment (C-CHANGE) at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
The Thursday Brown Bag Series is a weekly seminar series featuring current research of faculty, affiliates, and guests of the department. Any questions regarding the series can be directed to the department at GHP@hsph.harvard.edu.
Speakers will share their own perspectives; they do not speak for Harvard
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The Art of Well-Being
On Tuesday, April 22nd, from 1-1:50 PM in Kresge 202A, all Harvard students, faculty, and staff are welcome to join us for The Art of Well-Being: A Science-Backed Approach to Emotional Release. This interactive workshop will use evidence-based practices like mindfulness, expressive writing, and grounding exercises to help you release emotional overwhelm and reconnect with inner calm. Through simple guided activities and shared reflection, you’ll walk away with tools to feel more focused, clear-headed, and emotionally grounded.
This workshop will be led by Student Steering Committee member Rifka Verma, MPH ’25. Seats are limited, so RSVP today!
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Rifka Verma
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Noticing Nature
On Wednesday, April 16th, from 1-1:50 PM in Kresge 202A, we invite all Harvard students, faculty, and staff to join us for a workshop exploring the role of nature in well-being. This event will be led by Center Student Steering Committee member Niharika Jhingan, MPH ’26.
Explore the connection between nature and well-being, learn about ways to incorporate more nature into your daily life, and join us on a mini quest to connect to the nature in our surroundings. This workshop involves a short walk outside, so please dress accordingly.
We have limited spaces available, so please register ASAP! Lunch provided.
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Niharika Jhingan
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Blooming Brushstrokes: A Spring Painting Experience
The “Blooming Brushstrokes: A Spring Painting Experience” event is designed to bring together students for an afternoon of creativity, relaxation, and team building, while celebrating the vibrant season of spring in Boston. As the city comes alive with blossoming flowers and warmer weather, this event offers a unique opportunity for students to engage in a fun, instructor-led painting session that fosters collaboration and creativity.
Note: The painting session is covered by the HCSGA. However, students are responsible for arranging their transportation. If using public transit, take the Green Line from Brigham Circle; at North Station, transfer to the Orange Line; exit the train at Assembly station. From there, it’s just an 8-minute walk to Muse PaintBar.
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Epidemiology of Autism: Substantive Results and Methodological Issues
Abstract: Since the mid 1960’s, 165 prevalence surveys of autism were conducted worldwide and their main findings will first be summarized. While the contribution of genetic factors to autism etiology is high, the increase in autism prevalence has raised concerns about additional contribution of environmental factors. Autism risk has been statistically associated with myriads of exposures but, with few exceptions, the causal nature of these associations remains unproven. Estimates are often confounded and results do not replicate across samples and study designs. We review recent findings on select risk factors to illustrate current methodological issues relevant to this research domain.
Bio: Dr. Eric Fombonne trained in child and adolescent psychiatry in France. He held academic appointments at INSERM (Paris, France), at the Institute of Psychiatry (London, UK), at McGill University (Canada), and at OHSU (Portland, Oregon, USA). He has a long experience of clinical work with children with autism and their families, and of research on this population, especially using epidemiological methods. He published over 380 articles and 50 chapters in books. He was Associate Editor of the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (1994-2004) and is currently Joint Editor of Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
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Eric Fombonne, MD
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Fine-Mapping Causal Tissues and Genes at Disease-Associated Loci
Abstract: Complex diseases often have distinct mechanisms spanning multiple tissues. We propose Tissue-Gene Fine-Mapping (TGFM), which infers the posterior probability (PIP) for each gene-tissue pair to mediate a disease locus by analyzing summary statistics and eQTL data; TGFM also assigns PIPs to non-mediated variants. TGFM accounts for co-regulation across genes and tissues and models uncertainty in cis-predicted expression models, enabling correct calibration. We applied TGFM to 45 UK Biobank diseases/traits using eQTL data from 38 GTEx tissues. TGFM identified an average of 147 PIP>0.5 causal genetic elements per disease/trait, of which 11% were gene-tissue pairs. Causal gene-tissue pairs identified by TGFM reflected both known biology (e.g., TPO-thyroid for Hypothyroidism) and biologically plausible findings (e.g., SLC20A2-artery aorta for Diastolic blood pressure). Application of TGFM to single-cell eQTL data from 9 cell types in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), analyzed jointly with GTEx tissues, identified 30 additional causal gene-PBMC cell type pairs.
Bio:
Alkes Price
Dr. Price is a professor in the Program in Genetic Epidemiology and Statistical Genetics in the Department of Epidemiology at Harvard Chan, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Biostatistics. He is an associate member of the Program in Medical and Population Genetics at the Broad Institute, and a member of the Program in Quantitative Genomics at Harvard Chan. Dr. Price received a Ph.D. in mathematics and M.S.E. in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania. His post-doctoral training was mentored by Dr. Pavel Pevzner in the department of computer science at UCSD and Dr. David Reich in the department of genetics at Harvard Medical School. He has been a faculty member at Harvard Chan since 2008. Dr. Price’s research focuses on the development of statistical methods for uncovering the genetic basis of human disease, and on the population genetics underlying these methods. Areas of interest include functional components of disease heritability, common vs. rare variant architectures of disease, and disease mapping in structured populations.
Ben Strober
Dr. Strober is a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health supervised by Dr. Alkes Price. He completed his Ph.D. in 2021 in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University with Dr. Alexis Battle. Dr. Strober’s research focuses on context-specific genetic regulation of gene expression, and understanding its contribution to the genetic architecture of complex traits and disease.
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Alkes Price, PhD
Ben Strober
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Harvard Pop Center Social Demography Seminar: “Digital data for demographic estimation: Applications to the study of environmental hazards”
Jenna Nobles, PhD, professor of demography, University of California-Berkeley, presents at this Social Demography Seminar.
The Social Demography Seminar (SDS) series at the Center for Population and Development Studies provides a lively forum for scholars from across the university to discuss in-progress social scientific and population research. Social demography includes work that uses demographic methods to describe and explain the distribution of social goods across populations. The hybrid series offers presentations on a wide variety of topics such as family, gender, race/ethnicity, population health—including mortality, morbidity, and functional health—inequality, immigration, fertility, and the institutional arrangements that shape and respond to population processes.
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Jenna Nobles, PhD
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Meet & Greet and Book Signing with Douglas Dockery
Join us to meet Douglas Dockery, Emeritus Professor and former chair of the Department of Environmental Health, and author of the new book, Particles of Truth (MIT Press, 2025). The Harvard COOP will be selling copies of the book at the event, and Dr. Dockery will be available to sign copies of the book (that you bring or purchase there).
The book signing will take place immediately following the live-streamed Studio discussion, Breathing easier: The pursuit of clean air, featuring Dr. Dockery and his co-author, Arden Pope.
Particles of Truth is a riveting account of the discovery of the critical health effects of air pollution told by Arden Pope and Douglas Dockery, who have been at the forefront of air pollution and health research for four decades. With an insightful foreword by former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, this compelling book provides an inside look at groundbreaking scientific research and ensuing political and public-policy battles. It presents evidence that air pollution is a major contributor to disease and death and that reducing air pollution saves lives. The book also delves into intense efforts to discredit and cast doubt on the science. Read more.
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Clitoris Class! by the Sexual and Reproductive Health Club
The Harvard Chan Sexual and Reproductive Health Club presents:
🔍 The Clitoris Class: A Public Health Mystery & Revolution 🎉
Did you know the first complete 3D map of the clitoris wasn’t published until 2005— after the iPhone, YouTube, and even Google Maps? From what your high school sex education and medical education may not have taught you to the science of how the clitoris actually works, this one-hour peer-to-peer class unpacks its history, function, and why it matters for public health. Get ready for a fun, eye-opening deep dive into the most misunderstood organ in medicine!
Lunch will be provided
Facilitated by Karishma Swarup, Mili Adhikari, Uma Gaddamanugu!