HILS Home > Programs of Study > Biological Sciences in Public Health
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Programs and DisciplinesThe Program in Biological Sciences in Public Health (BPH), established in 1993, trains leaders who possess expertise in the individual fields of biological research and a broad interdisciplinary knowledge of epidemiology and biostatistics. The program trains research scientists in the following areas of emphasizing cellular and molecular biology: nutritional biochemistry; cardiovascular biology; gene regulation; cell-environment interactions; radiobiology; genetic toxicology; carcinogenesis; pulmonary inflammation; immunology; infectious diseases: protozoa, helminths, viruses and bacteria; genetic approaches to disease mechanisms.
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Students apply cutting-edge technology to the solution of worldwide problems with a focus toward better treatment and prevention of human diseases. It has become increasingly evident that progress in disease prevention is optimally promoted by a close interaction between epidemiologists and laboratory scientists, where laboratory discoveries and epidemiological observations interact in an iterative manner to advance research in both fields.
This program includes faculty from the school's Departments of Genetics and Complex Diseases, Environmental Health, Immunology and Infectious Diseases and Nutrition, in addition to faculty at Harvard Medical School and other Harvard-associated institutions. This interdisciplinary program fosters a stimulating and supportive environment for research training in the biomedical sciences.
The BPH program is rooted in the rich and diverse environment of the Harvard School of Public Health, dedicated to advancing the public’s health through learning, discovery, and communication.
The field of public health is inherently multi-disciplinary and so, too, are the interests and expertise of the School’s faculty and students, which extend across the biological, quantitative, and social sciences. With our roots in biology, we are able to confront the most pressing diseases of our time—AIDS, cancer, and heart disease—by adding to our knowledge of their underlying structure and function. Core quantitative disciplines like epidemiology and biostatistics are fundamental to analyzing the broad impact of health problems, allowing us to look beyond individuals to entire populations. And, because preventing disease is at the heart of public health, we also pursue the social sciences to better understand health-related behaviors and their societal influences—critical elements in educating and empowering people to make healthier lifestyle choices.
From advancing scientific discovery to training national and international leaders, the Harvard School of Public Health has been at the forefront of efforts to benefit the health of populations worldwide. Shaping new ideas in our field and communicating them effectively will continue to be priorities in the years ahead as we serve society’s changing health needs.
Located in Boston’s Longwood Medical Area, the program brings together faculty in the biological sciences throughout Harvard University.
The Medical Area, which includes the Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School, and a cluster of hospitals, comprises one of the most concentrated areas of scientific research facilities in the world.
The interaction of faculty working at associated institutions, through joint teaching and research, enables the program to serve as a meeting place for the biological, medical, physical, and chemical scientists. This provides students and faculty alike with a wider range of experience and techniques than may be found in any single discipline or department.
At the Harvard School of Public Health alone, modern research laboratories are housed on 14 floors of three buildings. Students have access to the adjacent Countway Library, the most complete biomedical research collection in the nation.
The main Harvard University campus in Cambridge encompasses a wide variety of strong academic departments and facilities in the humanities and sciences. The program specifically interacts with the biological sciences programs in the Departments of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, and Biophysics.
The program offers opportunities in a wide range of laboratory experiences and considerable interaction among the program components. Academic programs fulfill needs and goals through core and advanced courses, seminars, rotations in laboratories, and a qualifying examination. Courses may be chosen from the offerings of Harvard University as well as from those of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Rotations are an integral part of each program; they allow students to investigate several types of research and laboratories before choosing a thesis laboratory. Students choose a thesis laboratory by the end of their first year.
Although individual programs vary, generally students take a qualifying examination during their second year. After successful completion of the qualifying examination, the thesis advisor supervises the doctoral candidate's research and study, with an advisory committee periodically reviewing progress.
Typically, about four years of laboratory work are needed to complete the thesis research, which is defended before three examiners. Generally, students complete the degree in five to six years.
To qualify for admission, applicants must demonstrate strong enthusiasm and ability for the vigorous pursuit of scientific knowledge. Minimal requirements include a bachelor's degree and undergraduate preparation in calculus, physics, biology, and chemistry, both physical and organic.
Applicants wishing to do research in nutritional biochemistry, molecular and cellular toxicology, cardiovascular biology, immunology and infectious diseases, radiation biology, and environmental health/physiology usually apply to the Biological Sciences in Public Health (BPH) program.
The department-affiliated BPH program components at the Harvard School of Public Health are described below.
The concentration focuses on normal and pathological functions of organisms. It centers on the respiratory system because the system presents an immense, thin surface area to the environment, and thus is an important route of entry to the body as well as a site of damage from toxins and infections.
Areas of study include mediators and adhesion molecules involved in inflammation; the effects of inhaled particles; lung infections; biomechanics of cells and tissue in normal and inflamed lungs; smooth muscle function in asthma; control of breathing; sleep-related breathing disorders; mechanisms of dyspnea and respiratory sensations; cardiovascular pathobiology; and epithelial cell, macrophage, lymphocyte, and neutrophil lung biology. The biology is broadly based, ranging from molecular and cell biology to integrated organismic, environmental, and comparative physiology.
The concentration integrates a range of scientific disciplines, including physics, bioengineering, physiology, biomathematics, cell biology, molecular biology, clinical science, and epidemiology. By working within this rich interdisciplinary environment, students learn many measurement technologies, discover a variety of disciplinary approaches, and develop mature scientific thinking.
Special facilities are available, including a confocal microscope, analytical electron microscopes, a flow cytometer, a sleep laboratory, and a sensation laboratory.
The program is designed to prepare students for research careers in respiratory physiology, cell and molecular biology, or bioengineering. Graduates ordinarily assume positions as faculty members and research scientists in graduate schools, medical schools, research institutes, or schools of public health. Career opportunities in the biological sciences as they apply to public health are expected to grow in academia and in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.
The complex interplay of biological processes with environmental factors as they apply to chronic, multigenic, and multifactorial diseases is the focus of the new Department of Genetics and Complex Diseases. Department faculty aim to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying the intricate interaction between genetic determinants and their divergent responses to environmental signals to affect the health of human populations.
Research focuses on several broad categories, including stress and inflammatory signaling, genomic instability, and molecular transport. Areas of study include diseases such as diabetes and cancer, disease-risk conditions such as obesity, age-related (chronic) diseases, and the normal aging process. These are investigated both at the mechanistic level and in the context of population studies.
Department faculty are involved in multidisciplinary collaborations with faculty members in other HSPH departments and Harvard-affiliated centers as well as other institutions.
The Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases focuses on the biological, immunological, epidemiological, and ecological aspects of viral, bacterial, protozoan, and helminthic diseases of animals and humans and the vectors that transmit some of these infectious agents.
Research emphasizes basic pathogenic mechanisms that may lead to better diagnostic tools, the development of vaccines and other immune interventions for prevention and control of infection and disease, and the identification of new targets for antiviral and antiparasite drugs.
Laboratory-based research may be supplemented by field-based studies of epidemiological and ecological aspects of infectious disease transmission and control. Diseases of developing countries are emphasized.
Members of the department take a multidisciplinary approach to infectious diseases, including immunology, molecular biology, public health entomology, cell biology and ultrastructure, biochemistry, pathology, virology, epidemiology, and ecology. They undertake research both within the school and around the world.
Immunologic studies focus on genetic regulation of the immune response; molecular mechanisms of the regulation of class II genes; the function and regulation of T-cell-derived cytokines; and cytokines involved in the regulation of inflammation.
The curriculum currently focuses on genetic regulation of the immune response, molecular mechanisms of the regulation of class II genes, and the function and regulation of T-cell-derived cytokines. Students take courses in cell biology, immunology, and molecular immunology.
The mission of the Department of Nutrition is to improve human health through enhanced nutrition. The department strives to accomplish this goal through research aimed at improved understanding of how diet influences health, the dissemination of new knowledge about nutrition to health professionals and the public, the development of strategies to enhance nutrition, and the education of researchers and practitioners.
The Department of Nutrition provides training and research opportunities in basic science relating to nutrition and in epidemiologic aspects of nutrition as they affect public health. Nutrition policy and the evaluation of nutritional interventions are long-standing interests of the department, particularly as they concern the populations of Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the United States. Interests of the department range from molecular biology to human studies of cancer and heart disease. Students learn and use the latest techniques in biochemistry, physiology, biostatistics, epidemiology, and related fields. Departmental research, whether basic or applied, is relevant to human health.
Current research covers a wide range of topics, including large prospective studies of dietary factors in relation to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and ophthalmologic disease; development of methods to assess nutritional status by an analysis of body tissue; the interaction of nutritional factors with genetic determinants of disease; the interaction of nutritional factors and infectious agents; nutritional influence on blood pressure; effects of nutrition programs on the mental and physical consequences of malnutrition; nutritional determinants of blood lipid factors; lipoprotein metabolism; molecular mechanisms of diabetes and obesity and regulation of the intra- and inter-cellular delivery of macromolecular nutrients; determinants of blood lipid factors, lipoprotein metabolism; molecular mechanisms of diabetes and obesity; regulation of the intra-and-inter-cellular delivery of macromolecular nutrients; and the molecular mechanisms leading to atherosclerosis and thrombosis.
Graduates ordinarily assume positions as faculty members and research scientists in graduate schools, medical schools, research institutes or schools of public health. Career opportunities in the biological sciences as they apply to public health are expected to grow in academia and in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.
Students considering graduate work should request an application from the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
Online submission of the application is encouraged; see www.gsas.harvard.edu for forms and more information.
Students should request information and an application from:
Harvard University
1350 Massachusetts Avenue
Holyoke Center 350
Cambridge, MA 02138-3654
telephone: 617-495-5315, 617-495-5396
e-mail: admiss@fas.harvard.edu
The Office of Admissions and Financial Aid is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Eastern Standard Time.
Immaculata DeVivo, Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology; Associate Professor of Medicine.
Mechanisms of carcinogenesis and associations with disease for future prevention.
Doug Dockery, Professor of Environmental Epidemiology; Associate Professor of Medicine (Epidemiology); Chairman (Faculty).
Health effects of air pollution exposures in populations who have been followed for up to twenty-five years.
How M. tuberculosis uses specialized secretion systems and surface structures to mediate interactions with the infected host.
Brendan Manning, Assistant Professor of Genetics and Complex Diseases in the Faculty of Public Health.
Signal transduction pathways underlying complex human diseases, including tumor syndromes, cancer, and metabolic diseases.
Matthias Marti, Assistant Professor in Immunology and Infectious Diseases in the Faculty of Public Health.
Molecular and cellular basis underlying the pathology of malaria.
James Mitchell, Assistant Professor of Genetics & Complex Diseases in the Faculty of Public Health.
Beneficial effects of dietary restriction on health in mammals.
Eric Rubin, Associate Professor of Immunology and Infectious Disease in the Faculty of Public Health; Assistant Professor of Medicine (Microbiology and Molecular Genetics).
Bacterial genetics of tuberculosis and tularemia.