Introduction to the Harvard School of Public Health

The Harvard School of Public Health is a direct descendant of the first professional training program in public health in America, the Harvard-MIT School for Health Officers, a joint venture that began in 1913. In 1922 Harvard split off from MIT, and the Harvard School of Public Health was formally established. In 1946 the school celebrated its new status as a freestanding faculty of Harvard University, no longer an administrative part of the medical school.

Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Bulding and main entrance of the HSPH

Since its founding, the school, through its faculty and graduates, has been at the forefront of efforts to stem disease and promote health worldwide. During the early years the focus was on infectious diseases, deadly workplace exposures, and sanitation— from Alice Hamilton’s pioneering studies of lead and mercury poisoning, to Thomas Weller’s path-breaking research on the polio virus and Philip Drinker’s invention of the iron lung. More recently the school has expanded its reach to new areas, including the effects of race, gender, class, and social isolation on health; the reform of national health systems; and cutting-edge research on the biomarkers of disease. Three Nobel Prizes, a Lasker Prize, two MacArthur Awards, presidential citations, and countless other honors attest to the excellence and impact of this work. Five successive HSPH alumni led the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (1962–1989) for an unprecedented 27 years. More difficult to quantify—but a far better gauge—are the perceptible gains in length and quality of life realized through all these efforts.

Laboratories on the 3rd floor of the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building

Today the faculty of the Harvard School of Public Health includes almost 350 members from the diverse fields and disciplines that constitute public health. The student body comprises over 800 individuals from throughout the United States and three dozen other countries. Students, like faculty, come from an array of fields and include physicians (40 percent of the student body), health services administrators, epidemiologists, nurses, dentists, lawyers, statisticians, environmental scientists, engineers, research assistants, psychologists, and social workers. Approximately one-third of HSPH students are enrolled in the interdisciplinary master of public health program, one-third in master of science programs, and one-third in doctoral programs.

The school is organized into ten academic departments, the locus of most teaching and research activity; two interdisciplinary divisions (Biological Sciences and Public Health Practice); the Office for Professional Education (for the MPH program); and fifteen specialized research centers. The school’s academic programs are described in detail in the Official Register.