Major Projects

The goal of this project is to integrate the study of chronic disease (including HIV, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, with a special focus on cognitive impairments including dementia) and their interactions with social, family and economic conditions to better understand the determinants of health and functional status in the elderly in South Africa. Principal Investigators: Lisa Berkman and Thomas Gaziano; Project Director: Julia Rohr

The overarching goal of this project (also referred to as Burden of Disease and Deprivation in India across Micro and Macro Public Policy Units) is to improve precision public policy, public financing, and governance in India related to population health and development. The researchers aim to harness key population health and development data geocoded to multiple micro and macro public policy units, develop an intelligent public data and analytics platform to disseminate the findings in an interactive way, and engage multiple stakeholders in order to foster evidence-based policy discussion, formulation, and action.  Principal Investigators: S (Subu) V Subramanian and  Rockli Kim  **This project is connected to the research taking place at the Geographic Insights Lab.

The Work and Well-Being Initiative (WWBI) is a multi-disciplinary, broad-based research and policy initiative designed to develop and implement evidence-based workplace change for worker well-being. The goal of the initiative is to provide a deeper understanding of worker well-being, and to identify the workplace policies and practices that enhance the lives of workers in the workplace and throughout their lives. The initiative’s website features an Employer Toolkit that can be used to help employers create workplace conditions which foster the health and well-being of all workers in an inclusive manner. Directors: Lisa Berkman and Meg Lovejoy

The David E. Bell Fellowship Program—named in honor of the former Clarence Gamble Professor of Population Sciences and International Health, Emeritus, at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and director of the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies—provides opportunities for research and leadership training in the field of population and development. Bell Fellows examine a broad range of critical issues from multidisciplinary perspectives. Since its creation in 1990, the program has awarded over 80 postdoctoral fellowships to international professionals in population and development. Directors: Lisa Berkman and Jason Beckfield