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.
With shifting demands, burnout, and evolving care models, how are health care organizations rethinking workforce strategy? Join this panel of leaders in workforce development, human resources, and academia as they share insights on building a more resilient, adaptive, and sustainable health care workforce.
Registerfor free to submit your questions.
An on-demand video will be posted after the event.
Designed for professionals navigating today’s evolving health care landscape, Pressure Points explores the industry’s most urgent challenges—from workforce shifts and financial pressures to leadership, technology, and innovation. Join leading experts for timely conversations on what’s shaping the business of health care now—and what lies ahead.
Speakers
Karen Donelan
Kara Greer
Joanne Pokaski
Moderator
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.
Prostate Cancer Screening: What’s Gone Wrong? What Can We Get Right?
Join us on Wednesday, October 29 for the Epidemiology Seminar Series, featuring Dr. Kevin Kensler discussing Prostate Cancer Screening: What’s Gone Wrong? What Can We Get Right?
Abstract: Prostate cancer screening is at a crossroads. Despite evidence that screening prostate-specific antigen (PSA) can reduce advanced disease and mortality, current practices too often overscreen older men while underserving those at highest risk. This seminar will examine where prostate cancer screening has gone wrong and highlight opportunities for more targeted, equitable approaches to early detection.
Bio: Kevin Kensler, ScD, MHS, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Population Health Sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine and member of the Cancer Prevention and Control program at the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine. His research focuses on prostate cancer epidemiology, with emphasis on screening, disparities, survivorship, and molecular heterogeneity. He has examined how changes in screening guidelines have shaped trends in advanced disease, particularly across socioeconomic and racial groups, and uses large-scale population and clinical data to study risk and prognosis. Collectively, his research aims to guide policies and interventions that advance equitable and personalized approaches to prostate cancer prevention and early detection.
Speaker Information
Kevin Kensler, ScD, MHS
Organizers
Related Events
Raising Caring, Moral, and Thriving Children
On Wednesday, November 12th, 2025, from 1-1:50 PM in FXB G12 and online, all are welcome to join us for the third installment in our Virtues for Well-being seminar series. This event will feature Richard Weissbourd, Director of the Making Caring Common Project and Senior Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Event Description
This talk will take up how we can raise caring, moral children in today’s world. Richard Weissbourd will make the case that the intense focus on achievement and happiness in child-raising has crowded out attention to children’s moral development and that all the focus on happiness is, ironically, making children less happy. He will offer concrete ideas for how we can raise children who are both moral and likely to thrive. Weissbourd will also take up how moral failures in our public life pose specific threats to moral development and how we can mitigate these harms and develop in children key capacities they will need to strengthen our communities and democracy.
Speaker Biography
Richard Weissbourd is a Senior Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and he also teaches at the Kennedy School of Government. His work focuses on moral development, meaning, and purpose, mental health challenges among teens and young adults, and effective schools and services for children facing risks. He directs the Making Caring Common Project, a national effort to make moral and social development priorities in child-raising, and to provide strategies to schools and parents for promoting in children caring, a commitment to justice and other key moral and social capacities. He leads an initiative to reform college admissions, Turning the Tide, which seeks to elevate ethical character, reduce excessive achievement pressure, and increase equity and access in the college admissions process. He is also conducting research on how older adults can better mentor young adults and teenagers in developing caring, mature romantic relationships.
He is a founder of several interventions for children facing risks, including ReadBoston and WriteBoston, city-wide literacy initiatives that were led by Mayor Menino. He is also a co-founder of a pilot school in Boston, the Lee Academy, that begins with children at 3 years old. He has advised on the city, state and federal levels on family policy, parenting and school reform and has written for numerous scholarly and popular publications and blogs, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Psychology Today and NPR. He is the author of The Vulnerable Child: What Really Hurts America’s Children and What We Can Do About It (Addison-Wesley, 1996), named by the American School Board Journal as one of the top 10 education books of all time. His most recent book, The Parents We Mean to Be: How Well-Intentioned Adults Undermine Children’s Moral and Emotional Development (Houghton Mifflin 2009), was named by The New Yorker as one of the top 24 books of 2009.
Speaker Information
Richard Weissbourd
Organizers
The Science of Sustainable Giving: How Empathy and Generosity Support Health and Flourishing
On October 15th, 2025, we held the second seminar in our Virtues for Well-being series. Social psychologist Dr. Sara Konrath presented, “The Science of Sustainable Giving: How Empathy and Generosity Support Health and Flourishing.”
Event Description
Many of us devote our time, energy, care, and resources to supporting others—whether through helping family and friends, volunteering in our communities, offering empathy in daily interactions, or giving financially. But what are the implications of these generous behaviors for our own well-being, social connections, and physical health? This talk explores the growing body of interdisciplinary research on empathy and generosity, focusing on how different forms of giving—emotional, practical, and financial—shape not only the lives of recipients but also the givers themselves. Drawing on findings from psychology, public health, and neuroscience, as well as new data from the 2025 World Happiness Report co-authored by Dr. Konrath, we will examine how and when generosity enhances flourishing. The session will offer guidance for how to give with intention, boundaries, and joy, with practical, evidence-based strategies for giving and caring in sustainable, rather than depleting, ways. By approaching empathy and generosity as both a science and an art, this talk invites attendees to reflect on their own giving practices and to discover how empathy and generosity—when wisely offered—can serve as powerful contributors to their own and others’ wellbeing.
Speaker Biography
Dr. Sara Konrath is a social psychologist and Director of the Interdisciplinary Program on Empathy and Altruism Research at Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research. Her research examines the development, benefits, and promotion of empathy, generosity, and social connection. She has documented generational trends in empathy and narcissism, and linked empathy and giving to well-being and health. Konrath has developed innovative digital tools to increase empathy and partnered with educators, physicians, fundraisers, dating apps, zoos, and museums to evaluate empathy-based interventions. She has published over 100 scientific papers and delivered 300+ presentations, including at SouthXSouthwest and the Aspen Ideas Institute. She is a co-author of the 2025 World Happiness Report, co-organizer of the annual Science of Philanthropy Initiative conference, and has been an editor for leading psychology and nonprofit studies journals. Her work is regularly featured in media outlets such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time, The Atlantic, NPR, BBC, and CBC.
Speaker Information
Dr. Sara Konrath
Organizers
Finding Purpose in Stressful Times: Strengthening Well-Being in an AI-Transformed World
Presenting the “Virtues for Well-being” Seminar Series
We are excited to present “Virtues for Well-being”: a year-long seminar series exploring how core virtues—such as gratitude, kindness, compassion, and humility—promote psychological, physical, and social well-being. Throughout the year, we’ll delve into the science and practice of cultivating virtues across diverse contexts, discussing their definitions, measurement, and impacts on health outcomes at both the individual and societal level. This interdisciplinary series will bring together thought leaders and practitioners to examine evidence-based strategies and interventions that foster virtues, highlighting the dynamic relationship between individual and community flourishing. Join us to discover the transformative potential of virtues in building resilient, thriving communities.
We launched this seminar series with Dr. Victor Strecher, Professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and a pioneering leader in health behavior, digital health communication, and well-being. Dr. Strecher’s seminar, titled “Finding Purpose in Stressful Times: Strengthening Well-Being in an AI-Transformed World”, was held on September 24th, 2025.
Event Description
A large body of scientific evidence now demonstrates that a strong sense of purpose is associated with greater emotional regulation and resilience. Purpose as a health-related asset seems particularly important in our current times. In an era of social uncertainty and technological disruption, how do we not just survive but thrive? In this presentation, Dr. Strecher explores how cultivating purpose serves as a protective factor for mental health and resilience, particularly as AI reshapes how we work and live. The relationship between technology and purpose is more dynamic than we might expect. Dr. Strecher discusses the possibility that we can harness AI-driven technologies to enhance our sense of purpose and help us live more purposefully.
Speaker Biography
Victor J. Strecher, PhD, MPH, is Professor at the University of Michigan (UM) School of Public Health and Founder & CEO of Kumanu, Inc., a leading digital platform for intentional wellbeing. A national leader in behavior change and digital health, Dr. Strecher has reached millions of lives through pioneering ventures, including HealthMedia (acquired by Johnson & Johnson) and the UM Center for Health Communications Research. He is a widely recognized researcher, author, and public speaker, with multiple national and international awards, including two Smithsonian Awards and Innovator of the Year at UM. His recent online course, “Finding Purpose and Meaning in Life,” was ranked among the world’s top online courses by Inc. Magazine and has enrolled over 250,000 people. Dr. Strecher’s current work, including books, TED talks, and digital tools, continues to advance wellbeing and purpose on a global scale.
Speaker Information
Victor Strecher, PhD, MPH
Organizers
Leadership Development to Advance Equity in Health Care
Join us for a webinar on the Leadership Development to Advance Equity in Health Care program, offered by Harvard Chan School Executive and Continuing Education.
Program Director Dr. Mary E. Fleming will share how this program equips participants to recognize, address, and dismantle health disparities. Through the program, participants will develop the leadership tools to identify and reform biased policies, foster inclusive environments, and champion health equity.
If you’re looking to advance equity in your community or practice, this webinar is a great opportunity to see how the program can support your goals.
Speaker Information
Organizers
Seeking answers in women’s health: A research agenda for the coming decade
While we understand more about women’s health than ever before, critical gaps remain. How can we delve deeper into the lifestyle and genetic factors that shape women’s risks for cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes? What new insights might we uncover about brain health by examining the interplay between nutrition, exercise, and memory? How do environmental toxins and air pollution contribute to the risk of chronic illness? Join leading investigators from the landmark Nurses’ Health Study—and hear firsthand from a study participant—as they explore pressing questions and emerging frontiers in women’s health research.
Register for free to submit your questions.
An on-demand video will be posted after the event.
Speakers
Moderator
Mark Herz
About The Studio
Why Are Pathobiological Analyses and Insights Valuable in Epidemiology? A Primer for Epidemiologists
Join us on Wednesday, September 17 for the Epidemiology Seminar Series, featuring Dr. Shuji Ogino discussing Why Are Pathobiological Analyses and Insights Valuable in Epidemiology? A Primer for Epidemiologists.
Abstract: Our understanding of disease pathogenesis, which has substantially advanced, is an integral component of epidemiology. However, there exists a gap between pathobiology and epidemiology in education as well as research practice. How recent advances in pathobiological sciences can be seamlessly integrated into epidemiology has been a main theme in the field of molecular pathological epidemiology. This lecture utilizes research examples to illuminate how this integration can upgrade both epidemiology and pathobiological sciences. Furthermore, it is increasingly evident that long-term risk factor exposures play pivotal etiologic roles in many chronic diseases such as cancer. Therefore, the concept of the prospective cohort incident-tumor biobank method (PCIBM) is also illustrated with its unprecedented ability to examine long-term exposures in relation to tumor incidence plus detailed disease phenotyping.
Bio: Dr. Ogino has spearheaded to develop the integrative science of molecular pathological epidemiology (MPE). Dr. Ogino founded the International Molecular Pathological Epidemiology (MPE) Meeting Series in 2013 and has been serving as its Chair/Co-Chair for six past meetings. Leveraging the MPE approach, Dr. Ogino is a leading investigator to study the interactive roles of long-term risk factor exposures, genetics, systemic conditions, microbiome, and immunity in colorectal cancer (CRC) biology and etiologies. Based on the prospective cohort incident-tumor biobank method (PCIBM), many discoveries (“since 2007”) of the etiological links between long-term exposures and CRC incidence plus pathobiological phenotyping remain quite unique, as no other group has been able to conduct similar (replication) studies for up to 18 years. Recently, Dr. Ogino’s additional focus is research on early-onset cancers that have shown rising incidence in recent decades (e.g., those in the breast, kidney, uterus, and many digestive organs). As one of thought leaders in this particular topic, Dr. Ogino applies integrative research approaches to address this global issue. For his unique transdisciplinary scientific contribution, Dr. Ogino has received numerous awards and honors.
Speaker Information
Shuji Ogino, MD, PhD, MS
Organizers
Related Events
Health Care Quality Improvement: From Design to Implementation
Join us for a webinar on the Health Care Quality Improvement: From Design to Implementation program, offered by Harvard Chan School Executive and Continuing Education.
Program Director Dr. M. Rashad Massoud will share how this hands-on, simulation-based course guides participants through the full improvement cycle—from identifying gaps in care to designing, testing, and implementing effective solutions. You’ll learn to apply proven frameworks in health care settings and receive real-time faculty feedback.
If you’re looking to lead impactful quality improvement initiatives in your organization, this webinar is a great opportunity to see how the program can support your goals.
Speaker Information
Organizers
The Global Flourishing Study
Join us on Wednesday, December 3 for the Epidemiology Seminar Series, featuring Dr. Tyler VanderWeele discussing The Global Flourishing Study.
Abstract: The Global Flourishing Study is a longitudinal panel study of over 200,000 participants in 22 geographically and culturally diverse countries, spanning all six populated continents, with nationally representative sampling and intended annual survey data collection for 5 years to assess numerous aspects of flourishing and its possible determinants. The study is intended to expand our knowledge of the distribution and determinants of flourishing around the world. Relations between a composite flourishing index and numerous demographic characteristics are reported. Participants were also surveyed about their childhood experiences, which were analyzed to determine their associations with subsequent adult flourishing. Analyses are presented both across and within countries, and discussion is given as to how the demographic and childhood relationships vary by country and which patterns appear to be universal versus culturally specific. Brief comment is also given on the results of a whole series of papers in the Global Flourishing Study Special Collection, employing similar analyses, but with more-specific aspects of well-being. The Global Flourishing Study expands our knowledge of the distribution and determinants of well-being and provides foundational knowledge for the promotion of societal flourishing.
Bio: Tyler J. VanderWeele, Ph.D., is the John L. Loeb and Frances Lehman Loeb Professor of Epidemiology in the Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Director of the Human Flourishing Program and Co-Director of the Initiative on Health, Spirituality, and Religion at Harvard University. He holds degrees from the University of Oxford, University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard University in mathematics, philosophy, theology, finance, and biostatistics. His methodological research is focused on theory and methods for distinguishing between association and causation in the biomedical and social sciences and, more recently, on psychosocial measurement theory. His empirical research spans psychiatric and social epidemiology; the science of happiness and flourishing; and the study of religion and health. He is the recipient of the 2017 Presidents’ Award from the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies (COPSS).