40 Years of the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study
Overview
This year, the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS) celebrates 40 years of public health discoveries made possible by its participants. To mark this occasion, we invite you to join the HPFS 40th Anniversary Celebration livestream featuring:
- Scientific presentations on key findings from the study
- Brief testimonials from participants
- An opportunity to look back on four decades of this remarkable research community
Registration and Details
Thursday, September 10, 2026, 1:00 – 5:00 PM ET, via livestream.
Please note: Livestream link will be emailed to registrants leading up to the event.
A portion of the event will be dedicated to answering questions from participants and other viewers. Please submit your questions in advance. We’d love to hear from you!
Featured Speakers
Note: Additional speakers to be added as the program is finalized.
FAQ
The livestream link will be emailed to those who RSVP as the event nears.
Please note that your email is collected for registration only and will not be added to any lists for ongoing distribution.
Yes, the livestream recording will be posted on the Department of Nutrition’s YouTube channel. Please allow for at least one week following the event while we caption and upload the recording.
Visit the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study website for an archive of past newsletters and publications that feature study results.
Please email hpfs40@hsph.harvard.edu with any inquiries about the event.
A world without lead exposure: Pursuing the path forward with Mary Jean Brown, ScD
Please join the Harvard Chan NIEHS Center for Environmental Health and the Department of Environmental Health for a talk by Mary Jean Brown, ScD, Assistant Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Brown will discuss “A world without lead exposure: Pursuing the path forward.”
This event will be held in person (HSPH Bldg. 1, 1302) and via Zoom. Lunch and refreshments provided! Register here
Trainee meeting for students and postdocs immediately following the seminar, 2-2:30 pm, in 1306A! Come in-person to discuss research interests, career plans, and funding opportunities. RSVP here!
Abstract
A recent World Bank Report ‘A World Without Lead: Paving the Path to a Healthy Productive Future’ describes the global lead poisoning crisis, and its impacts on health, the environment, and human capital. The report offers a roadmap for eliminating exposure, comprising strategic investments, policy reforms and foundational public health practices like monitoring and surveillance that every country can use to address this crisis.
Removal of lead from gasoline reduced average blood lead levels globally but was not the only source of lead. Global lead consumption exceeded 12 million tons in 2022. Toxic emissions are routinely released from formal and informal lead mining, smelting and recycling and contaminate adjacent communities. Lead is found in a multitude of foodstuffs, remedies, low fire glazed pottery, jewelry, leaded residential paint and water pipes. One study estimated that 800 million children worldwide, most living in low-middle income countries, have blood lead levels known to affect learning, behavior and later adult health.
But good news: fugitive emissions from lead mining and smelting can be controlled, contaminated sites can be cleaned up, and old lead mines can be permanently closed. Lead contamination of foodstuffs and leaded paint have been successfully regulated. Population-level blood lead surveillance, together with studies of blood and environmental lead levels in areas with known lead contamination, help countries and communities identify risks and monitor progress to eliminate the danger. And, the costs of these interventions are far less than the costs of letting the exposure continue.
In this seminar, Dr. Brown will describe the current status of lead exposure with a focus on low and middle income countries, the expected costs/benefits of eliminating exposure globally, and the work that remains to be done.
About the speaker
Mary Jean Brown is on the faculty of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where she taught courses in public health practice. Dr. Brown co-authored A World Without Lead: Paving the Path to a Healthy, Productive Future and works regularly with domestic and international public health agencies and non-governmental organizations such as the World Health Organization UNICEF, and Human Rights Watch on issues related to health and housing, including developing policies to eliminate childhood lead poisoning. She has published more than 150 peer reviewed scientific articles, commentaries, and policy documents and conducted epidemiological studies of housing interventions for lead, asthma, and injuries in the United States and internationally.
Dr. Brown received a Doctor of Science degree from the Harvard School of Public Health in 2000. She received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Boston College in 1982.
Speaker Information
Organizers
Pressure Points is a webinar series co-hosted by The Studio and the Advanced Learning Academy at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health bringing you inside the business of health care.
AI has already changed how health care organizations collect and analyze data. Now, it’s changing how they build. From large language models to AI agents and low-code development tools, it’s possible to create workflows, build applications, and generate prototypes, raising questions about what health care leaders should build, buy, and scale. This Pressure Points virtual event will analyze the recent acceleration of AI capabilities beyond vibe coding and explore the emerging best practices and organizational challenges that come with implementing agentic AI tools.
Register for free to submit your questions.
An on-demand video will be posted after the event.
Speakers
Moderator
About The Organizers
Monday Nutrition Seminar | What Can Exposomics Bring to Nutrition and Food Science? From the Food Exposome to Human Health
Please join the Department of Nutrition for the Monday Nutrition Seminar featuring Peng Gao, PhD, MS, Assistant Professor of Environmental Health and Exposomics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Gao’s talk—”What Can Exposomics Bring to Nutrition and Food Science? From the Food Exposome to Human Health”—will take place on September 28 at 1:00 p.m. 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 click the “Register Today” button to 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.
Speaker Information
Organizers
Fasting Mimicking Diet Cycles In Multi-System Regeneration and Disease Treatment
21st Annual Stare-Hegsted Lecture
Valter Longo, PhD, Edna Jones Professor in Biological Sciences and Gerontology at USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology will serve as the distinguished speaker for the 21st Annual Stare-Hegsted Lecture.
Lecture Overview: Based on the discovery by his laboratory of the role of the Tor-S6k pathway in accelerating aging and diseases, the Longo lab developed the Fasting mimicking Diet (FMD), a periodic intervention that activates stem cells, cellular reprogramming and autophagy to extend longevity and reverse diseases in rodents. In over 40 clinical trials, five-day FMD cycles resulted in the reduction of biological age and regression of multiple diseases.
This annual lecture honors Drs. Fredrick Stare and Mark Hegsted, who were the founders of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in 1942, which was the first department of nutrition in any medical center or school of public health in the U.S.
Speaker Information
Valter Longo, PhD
Organizers
Takemi Program Poster Presentations
Join us to hear from the Takemi Fellows as they present. Questions to follow from 11:15 – 12:15 am. See more on the Takemi Fellows here.
Coffee and tea will be provided.
Speaker Information
Organizers
Seminar with Professor Keizo Takemi
Dr. Keizo Takemi will speak on “My personal journey with global health and the Takemi Program.” Join in person or online.
Please email takemi@hsph.harvard.edu for questions or to access the Zoom link.
Speaker Information
Keizo Takemi
Organizers
Healthcare in the Crosshairs: US Foreign Policy and the Destruction of Public Health in Lebanon & Gaza
Join us on Thursday May 7 at 1 pm in FXB-G10 for a conversation with Professor Ziad Abu Rish and Professor Atalia Omer on the destruction of public health infrastructure in Lebanon and Gaza while examining the role of US foreign policy in the ongoing attacks. Professor Walter Johnson will present opening remarks.
This event is co-sponsored by the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Department of Health Policy and Management, Black Students Health Organization, and the Harvard Chan Student Committee for Health Equity and Justice in Palestine.
Speaker Information
Organizers
More Than a Job: How a Whole-Person Model Helps Young People Thrive
Young people facing homelessness, foster care involvement, court involvement, disconnection from school, and other systemic barriers need more than a program—they need real opportunity, meaningful support, and a path forward.
Join More Than Words for a conversation about how our youth-run social enterprise model works: combining paid job training, long-term coaching, and whole-person support to help young people build stability in housing, health, education, employment, and beyond. MTW staff and youth leaders will share how this model addresses the interconnected challenges young people face, why youth voice must be central to solutions, and what system change is needed to create better outcomes.
Speaker Information
Jodi Rosenbaum
Howard Koh
Organizers
CHDS Seminar with Marissa Reitsma
Join the Center for Health Decision Science for a seminar with Marissa Reitsma from Stanford University, titled, “Integrated Interventions for Syndemics of Substance Use, HIV, and HCV.” Syndemics are interacting epidemics, driven by social and structural factors, which can concentrate excess disease burden among marginalized populations. Integrated interventions can more efficiently address syndemics, including the syndemic of substance use disorder, overdose, HIV, and hepatitis C virus among people who use drugs. We developed an agent-based model of this syndemic, parameterized with real-world data, to inform the design and delivery of integrated treatment and harm reduction interventions for people who use drugs.
Marissa Reitsma is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Policy at Stanford University. Her research develops computational models to quantify disease burden, evaluate the benefits and costs of interventions, and support evidence-based policies across a range of priorities in population health. Ongoing work focuses on building multi-disease models to address syndemics and developing methods for multimodal data fusion. She is dedicated to partnering with clinicians and public health decision-makers to translate scholarly work into policy impact.
