Monday Nutrition Seminar | Front-of-package labeling in the United States: The latest evidence informing policy
Please join the Department of Nutrition for the Monday Nutrition Seminar featuring Aviva A. Musicus, ScD, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Nutrition at HSPH. Dr. Musicus’s talk—”Front-of-package labeling in the United States: The latest evidence informing policy”—will take place on March 30 at 1:00pm ET in FXB G-13 and via Zoom (registration is required).
Healthy snacks will be provided, thanks to the generous support of the Wellbeing Project Fund from the Office of the Associate Provost for Student Affairs.
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.
Speaker Information
Organizers
Housing and homelessness: Solutions at the intersection of public health and public safety
Presented jointly with the Initiative on Health and Homelessness
As the cost of living rises across the United States, a record number of people experienced homelessness in 2024*, and shelter, housing, and support services are struggling to meet the need. Join leaders across public health and public safety for a conversation that moves beyond emergency response toward prevention, housing-first strategies, and long-term solutions. Grounded in lived experience and evidence, this panel explores cross-sector solutions with a focus on dignity, safety, and sustainable housing.
*Data according to National Alliance to End Homelessness State of Homelessness: 2025 edition
Register for free to submit your questions.
An on-demand video will be posted after the event.
Speakers
Monica Bharel
Leslie Credle
Gil Kerlikowske
Peter Koutoujian
Moderator
About The Studio
Discovery to intervention: The Healthy Life Trajectories Initiative with Stephen G. Matthews, PhD, FCAHS
Please join the Harvard Chan NIEHS Center for Environmental Health and the Department of Environmental Health for a talk by Stephen G. Matthews, PhD, FCAHS, Canada Research Chair in Early Development and Health and Professor of Physiology, Ob-Gyn and Medicine at the University of Toronto. Dr. Matthews will discuss “Discovery to intervention: The Healthy Life Trajectories Initiative.”
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, 2-3 pm, in 1306A! Come in-person to discuss research interests, career plans, and funding opportunities. RSVP here!
Abstract
It is well established that the environment during pregnancy can have a long-term impact on cardiometabolic and neurodevelopmental outcomes in offspring and increase risk of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in later life. There is growing evidence from preclinical studies and some clinical studies that the preconception period in both females and males and the early pregnancy phase are periods of high sensitivity to environmental perturbation. The Healthy Life Trajectories Initiative (HeLTI) was developed to translate new knowledge in the area of developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) and improve the health of mothers, infants and children. The HeLTI consortium includes harmonized trials in Canada, China, India and South Africa designed to evaluate the impact of an integrated evidence-based intervention package, delivered through the preconception, pregnancy and postnatal period on, 1) reducing adiposity and obesity, and improving neurodevelopmental and cardiometabolic development in infants and children to 5-years of age and, 2) improving maternal health and pregnancy outcomes. All trials have completed recruitment and combine harmonized data and biospecimen collection. The HeLTI-India trial will be described in detail. Findings from the HeLTI studies will have profound implications for public health policy but will also allow determination of the mechanisms that underlie intergenerational transmission. HeLTI is funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research and International funding agencies (India, China and South Africa) and is partnered with WHO.
About the speaker
Stephen Matthews, PhD, FCAHS, is Canada Research Chair in Early Development and Health, Professor of Physiology, Ob-Gyn and Medicine at the University of Toronto and a Senior Scientist at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Sinai Health. He served as Chair of the Department of Physiology (UofT; 2007-2014). He is currently Director of Research at the Alliance for Human Development, LTRI, and Director of the Ontario Birth Study. Matthews is also the Canadian lead PI of the CIHR/DBT-funded Healthy Life Trajectories (HeLTI) trial in India.
His fundamental research program is determining mechanisms by which early interventions and exposures can impact long-term neurologic and endocrine function in offspring across multiple generations. With a focus on epigenetics, his research team is determining the molecular mechanisms by which this occurs. In a parallel program, his group is investigating drug and hormone transport mechanisms in the placenta and fetal brain, with a focus on developing novel treatments to protect the developing fetal brain.
Professor Matthews is committed to translating fundamental research to improve human health. In addition to leadership of the HeLTI-India trial and the Ontario Birth Study, he co-founded the MAVAN program, which followed neurocognitive development in children following adverse early experience. He has secured over $40M in research funding, published 265 full papers and has received >300 invitations to present his work around the world. He was elected a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (2019). He has served as elected President of the Society for Reproductive Investigation. In 2015, he co-founded DOHaD Canada and served as elected President (2018-23).
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Organizers
Nature and Health with Dr. Susan Abookire
The Climate Change & Planetary Health Concentration invites you to their next Brown Bag Lunch Seminar, featuring Dr. Susan Abookire discussing the health benefits of nature.
Topic: Nature and Health
Speaker: Susan Abookire, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School; & Founder, Nature Systems Institute
Date: April 8, 2026 at 1:00 p.m.
Location: FXB G-12, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
You can read more about Dr. Abookire’s work in this recent Washington Post article, “Forest Bathing: Why Harvard doctors are seeking out this natural remedy for themselves.”
The Climate Change and Planetary Health concentration helps students understand the consequences of the current planetary health crisis, including the effects on food, water, air, extreme weather events, heat, migration, and political stability and their subsequent impacts on infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases, nutrition, and mental health. Each month, the concentration hosts a seminar, open to all students and faculty at Harvard Chan, featuring a special guest discussing their work at the intersections of climate and health. Learn more.
Speaker Information
Susan Abookire
Organizers
Join the Center on the Developing Child’s upcoming webinar to explore why stability plays a critical role in shaping young children’s health and development.
Drawing on insights from the new working paper, From Resources to Routines: The Importance of Stability in the Developmental Environment, the conversation will examine how stability—or the lack of it—across children’s developmental environments can affect their well-being in the moment and across the lifespan, and highlight strategies to promote stability for young children and their caregivers.
The conversation will be moderated by our Chief Science Officer, Lindsey Burghardt, MD, MPH, FAAP, and feature Nathaniel Harnett, PhD, Assistant Professor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and Natalie Slopen, ScD, Associate Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.
Speaker Information
Organizer
Forging better futures: Solutions-based science to address extreme weather with Rachel Morello-Frosch, PhD, MPH
Please join the Harvard Chan NIEHS Center for Environmental Health and the Department of Environmental Health for a talk by Rachel Morello-Frosch, PhD, MPH, Professor, UC Berkeley School of Public Health. Dr. Morello-Frosch will discuss “Forging better futures: Solutions-based science to address extreme weather.”
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, 2-3 pm! Come in-person to discuss research interests, career plans, and funding opportunities. RSVP here!
About the speaker
Rachel Morello-Frosch, PhD, MPH, is an environmental health scientist, epidemiologist, and professor at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health and Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management. For over 25 years, her research has examined structural determinants of environmental health and how co-exposures to chemical and non-chemical stressors impact health. Much of her work has examined this question in the context of exposures to ambient air pollution, drinking water contaminants, endocrine disrupting chemicals, extreme weather, and effects on perinatal and developmental outcomes. In addition to using community-engaged approaches in her work, Rachel also collaborates with regulatory agencies to develop science-policy tools to assess the cumulative impacts of multiple environmental and social factors that inform regulatory decision-making. Morello-Frosch is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and a 2025-26 Harvard Radcliffe Fellow.
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Occupational and Environmental Medicine Grand Rounds
The Department of Environmental Health and the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Residency Program invite you to the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Grand Rounds.
Topic: “Impact of Repeated Blast Exposure on Military Special Operations Personnel”
Learning objectives:
- Describe the biomechanical mechanisms and pathophysiology of brain injury associated with repeated blast exposure.
- Identify the cognitive, psychological, and physical symptoms associated with chronic occupational exposure to explosive blasts.
- Evaluate the limitations of current diagnostic tools in detecting the effects of repeated blast exposure on the human brain.
Presenter: Kiel von Khan, MD, 1st year OEM Resident
Discussant: Brian Edlow, MD, Director, Laboratory for Neuroimaging of Coma and Consciousness (NICC); Vice Chair of Research at Mass General Brigham Neurology; Associate Director, Center for Neurotechnology and Neurorecovery (CNTR); Critical care neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital; Associate Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School
Location: Kresge 502 and Zoom
RSVP: Please click here to register.
CMEs for US licensed physicians
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Harvard Chan Education and Research Center. The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians. The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health designates this live activity for 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Speaker Information
Organizers
Nipah virus ecology and the importance of understanding spillover for preventing pandemics
Title Talk
“Nipah virus ecology and the importance of understanding spillover for preventing pandemics“
THIS SPEAKER WILL BE IN PERSON IN FXB 301.
The event will be hybrid.
Speaker Information
Spillover of zoonotic viruses from wildlife into livestock and humans is largely driven by human activities that modify natural systems in ways that increase contact with wildlife. Infectious disease surveillance systems are frequently designed to identify human cases once they’ve been admitted to a hospital. As a result, index cases and asymptomatic cases are often missed, making it difficult to identify mechanisms of spillover. Understanding the pathways by which zoonotic pathogens infect livestock and people and measuring the frequency of exposure to these pathogens is essential for developing effective interventions that reduce the risk of viral spillover and disease emergence. Here we will discuss the drivers of viral spillover and focus on Nipah virus to illustrate a multidisciplinary approach that has helped characterize viral circulation, spillover risk, and develop interventions. We will also discuss current gaps in knowledge as outbreaks continue to occur in India and Bangladesh.
Recorded Q&A, Tuesday, March 24, 2026, 1-1:30pm ET
At just 10 human cases, reports of Guinea worm, a debilitating parasitic disease with no vaccine or drug treatment, are at an all-time low, according to The Carter Center.* What drove this success?
Former CDC Director Rochelle Walensky and The Carter Center’s Sarah Yerian and Emily Staub answered questions following the screening of The President and the Dragon, a documentary about former U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s efforts to eradicate Guinea worm, at the Harvard Chan School. This a recording of that Q&A.
Released last fall, The President and the Dragon is available on various streaming platforms.
*Figures are provisional until officially confirmed.
Speakers
Emily Staub
Rochelle Walensky
Sarah Yerian
About The Studio
OEMR Mid-Year Research Presentations
The Department of Environmental Health and the Occupational and Environmental Medicine Residency (OEMR) Program invite you to the OEMR Mid-Year Research Presentations.
Date: Friday, March 13, 2026 at 1:10pm
Location: Building 1, 1302 and Zoom
Register: Click here to register for Zoom.
Presentations:
- Burnout and Mental Wellbeing in Healthcare Workers After Hurricane Helene: One-Year Longitudinal Outcomes
- Presenter: Tiffany Tam, MD, MPH
- Clear Roads, Clear Minds: Building a Safer Transportation Industry
- Presenter: Jeremy Berger, DO, MPH