The State of Biomedical Science in the US — How Did We Get Here and What Can We Do?
The 177th Cutter Lecture on Preventive Medicine
Abstract: The decades following the Vandervar Bush report on governmental investment in scientific research were times of extraordinary growth and innumerable accomplishments for the US biomedical research enterprise. NIH funding grew from 45 million dollars in 1945 to over 41 billion dollars by 2020. Health outcomes improved dramatically, at least in part because of the science generated by that investment. Heading into 2020, the future of US biomedical research appeared remarkably bright. Adding in the extraordinary response of our scientific and clinical systems to the COVID-19 pandemic, few would have predicted the current challenges facing biomedical research in the US. Understanding how we got here is a first step towards restoring the trajectory of biomedical research in the US.
This hybrid event offers livestream and in-person viewing options (with limited in-person seating). Seats in the main auditorium are first come, first served. There will also be a recording of the event for those who cannot attend.
Stay for the reception 5:00-6:00PM in Sebastian’s Cafe.
Open to the public.
Speakers will share their own perspectives; they do not speak for Harvard.
Speaker Information
Organizers
Community-Engaged Research Working Group in Environmental Health
Join the Harvard Chan NIEHS Center’s working group on community-engaged research in environmental health!
This working group brings together faculty, trainees, students, and staff to discuss the methods and practice of conducting community-engaged research with a focus on environmental health.
We’ll meet in person in Kresge 201 on November 7, 1-2 pm, to establish our meeting cadence and group priorities. Bring your own lunch. Light refreshments will be provided.
Please email niehsctr@hsph.harvard.edu to RSVP!
Speaker Information
Organizers
Harvard Pop Center Social Demography Seminar: “Immigrant health and the duality of risk”
Arun Hendi, PhD, associate professor, sociology and public affairs, Princeton University, presents (remotely) “Immigrant health and the duality of risk.” The Social Demography Seminar (SDS) series at the Harvard 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.
With the aim of disseminating scholarly research, The Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies hosts a diverse array of speakers. They do not represent or speak for the Center, the School or the University, and hosting them does not imply endorsement of their views, organizations, or employers.
This event is open to the public. Please register in advance.
Speaker Information
Arun Hendi, PhD
Organizers
Film Screening: Raising Bar
A film screening and discussion about innovations in residential care for adults with IDD and autism and how public health students can contribute to this exciting movement.
There will be popcorn and candy!
This event is open to the public, but if you are not an HUID holder you will need a visitor’s pass for entrance to campus. Please email alevy1@hsph.harvard.edu if you require a visitor’s pass.
Organizers
Working With Your Brain: Compassionate Strategies for Focus and Follow-Through
On Thursday, November 20th, from 1-1:50 PM in Kresge 502, we welcome all members of the Harvard community to join us for a well-being workshop led by Center Student Engagement Committee member Kris Berg, MPH ’26.
This workshop will explore how stress, guilt, and unrealistic expectations exacerbate executive dysfunction, making it difficult to start or complete tasks. Participants will learn compassionate, neurodiversity-affirming strategies to work with their brains to reduce overwhelm, increase focus, and build sustainable motivation. Fidget toys and pizza provided.
Speaker Information
Kris Berg, MPH '26
Organizers
Monday Nutrition Seminar | EAT-Lancet 2.0: Healthy, Sustainable, and Just Diets for All
Please join the Department of Nutrition for the Monday Nutrition Seminar featuring Walter Willett, MD, DrPH, Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition and Director of the Thich Nhat Hanh Center for Mindfulness in Public Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Co-Chair of the EAT-Lancet Commission. Dr. Willett will present his talk on “EAT-Lancet 2.0: Healthy, Sustainable, and Just Diets for All”.
This lecture will take place 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 3:00pm ET on the Friday before the seminar to request a visitor pass to access the building.
Speaker Information
Walter Willett, MD, DrPH
Organizers
Social Demography Seminar: “Where children grow: Neighborhoods, housing, and child development”
Natalie Slopen, PhD, associate professor, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS), Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, presents “Where children grow: Neighborhoods, housing, and child development.” The event is co-sponsored by SBS.
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.
Speaker Information
Natalie Slopen, PhD
Organizers
Dissection of the Toxoplasma gondii cell division cycle
Title Talk
“Dissection of the Toxoplasma gondii cell division cycle”
THIS SPEAKER WILL BE IN PERSON IN FXB 301.
The event will be hybrid.
Speaker Information
The cell division cycle of Toxoplasma gondii is unconventional, which we are dissecting in multiple dimensions. At the cell division level, division progresses through an internal budding process driven by assembly of the unique cortical membrane skeleton. Furthermore, budding starts and proceeds while mitosis is ongoing. Waves of sequential gene expression tightly orchestrate gene communities catering to these unusual structures and series of events.
CHDS Seminar with Thomas Trikalinos of Brown University
Join The Center for Health Decision Science for a seminar with Thomas Trikalinos of Brown University, “Propagating Ambiguity into Decision Analyses of Test-and-Treat Strategies.” This presentation will discuss the basics of decision making under ambiguity, also known as “deep uncertainty” or “pervasive uncertainty.” Operationally, ambiguity is defined as uncertainty that the analyst is unwilling or unable to describe with a probability measure model, but is willing to describe with alternative uncertainty models, specifically, with uncertainty sets. For concreteness, it will address the decision analysis of whether the US should screen immigrants for latent tuberculosis infection, a problem with deep uncertainty about the performance of screening tests.
Speaker Information
Thomas Trikalinos
Organizers
Treating violence against children as a disease
Violence against children is pervasive, but not inevitable. It is preventable. Like pervasive diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis, we can diagnose and document violence against children, treat it and ultimately eradicate it. Join us for a wide-ranging discussion focusing on this topic to mark the publication of an important new book, Protecting the World’s Children: Public Health, Human Rights, Capabilities, co-edited by FXB Senior Fellow Susan Bissell and A.K. Shiva Kumar. The book includes the work of leading experts on the multi-faceted threats and violations facing today’s children. Panelists will engage with several key child protection issues and discuss solutions that demand urgent attention and action.
This event is co-sponsored by the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University, the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute at Harvard University, the Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights at the Harvard Kennedy School, the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University, and BYkids.
Speaker remarks are based on their own scholarship and experience. As such, they speak for themselves, not for Harvard University.