Research Team

Gillian SteelFisher, Ph.D., M.Sc., Director of the Harvard Opinion Research Program, Principal Research Scientist, Department of Health Policy and Management (HPM)
Email: gsteel@hsph.harvard.edu
Phone: 617-432-2859

Gillian SteelFisher is a principal research scientist in HPM and director of the Harvard Opinion Research Program (HORP). For more than a decade, her work has focused on understanding public response to infectious disease outbreaks. This includes key behavioral responses driving policies, including adoption of vaccines and medical countermeasures like antivirals, as well as non-pharmaceutical strategies like hand-washing, mask-wearing and social distancing. She has worked on H1N1, Zika, Ebola, polio, and COVID-19. With this focus, she also directs HORP’s international projects, aiming to better understand the ways that the public is responding to major public health issues across the globe. Dr. SteelFisher’s work has been instrumental in response and communications efforts for the CDC and UNICEF as well as state and local public health agencies across the United States. Dr. SteelFisher teaches applied survey methodology at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. She received her Ph.D. in Health Policy from Harvard University and her masters in health behavior and communication from Harvard School of Public Health. She is the former president of the New England chapter of the American Association for Public Opinion Research.

Mary Gorski Findling, Ph.D., Sc.M., Managing Director
Email: mgorski@hsph.harvard.edu

Mary G. Findling is the managing director of the Harvard Opinion Research Program. She has been working with HORP for more than a decade, where she has designed surveys, written academic journal articles and polling reports, and tracked public opinion on health and social policies in the United States. Dr. Findling played a major role in designing The Impact of Coronavirus on Households Across America series, as well as Life in Rural America, Sports and Health, What Shapes Health, and Workplace and Health with RWJF and NPR. Dr. Findling has contributed to more than 40 publications in journals including the New England Journal of Medicine, Health Affairs, American Journal of Public Health, Health Affairs Scholar, JAMA Health Forum, JAMA Pediatrics, and Obesity. Dr. Findling sits on the Peer Review Board for Health Affairs Scholar and has previously co-taught HPM-247, Political Analysis and Strategy for U.S. Health Policy. Before joining Harvard, Dr. Findling worked on federal food policies for the Pew Charitable Trusts in Washington, DC. Dr. Findling earned a PhD in health policy from Harvard University in 2018. She also holds a Master of Science in social and behavioral sciences from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a BA in public health from Johns Hopkins University.

Hannah Caporello, Senior Research Projects Manager
Email: hcaporel@hsph.harvard.edu
Phone: 617-432-7032

Hannah Caporello is senior research projects manager for the Harvard Opinion Research Program. She manages HORP’s polling projects and other applied research activities designed to support public health agencies in real time during infectious disease outbreaks, including COVID-19, Zika, and polio. Before coming to HORP, Hannah was program associate at Citizens for Juvenile Justice in Boston working on policy advocacy for young people in Massachusetts’ criminal justice system. Hannah completed her undergraduate degree at New York University in public health and public policy. 

Robert J. Blendon, Sc.D., Former Executive Director
Email: rblendon@hsph.harvard.edu
Phone: 617-432-4502

Robert Blendon is the Richard L. Menschel Professor of Public Health and Professor of Health Policy and Political Analysis, Emeritus. He also serves as professor of health policy and political analysis at both Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Dr. Blendon  served as the senior associate dean for policy translation and leadership development at Harvard Chan School. He directs the Harvard Opinion Research Program. Dr. Blendon co-directs the Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) survey project, and a project for NPR and KFF on American attitudes toward health care. He is past president of the Association of Health Services Research and winner of their Distinguished Investigator Award. He is also a recipient of the Baxter Award for lifetime achievement in the health services research field and the Warren J. Mitofsky Award for Excellence in Public Opinion Research.