Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies

The Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies (HCPDS) is an interdisciplinary center at Harvard University, affiliated with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies
Established1964 (1964)
Parent institution
Harvard University
AffiliationHarvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
DirectorLisa F. Berkman
Location
Cambridge
,
Massachusetts
,
United States of America
Websitewww.hsph.harvard.edu/population-development/

The Center houses several post-doctoral programs, including the David E. Bell Fellowship, Sloan Fellowship on Aging and Work, and previously the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholars program.

History

The Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies was founded in 1964 by the Harvard School of Public Health (now the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health) under the direction of Dean Jack Snyder and director Roger Revelle with a mandate to address issues of population control. Over the years, the Center’s intellectual concerns have evolved, in broad strokes by decades, to address the following themes:[1]

  • 1960s: Population growth, water resources, reproductive biology
  • 1970s: Population and resources; migration
  • 1980s: Health transitions in developing countries
  • 1990s: Reproductive health, common security, and the global burden of disease
  • Early 2000s: Well-being of the global poor; health in Africa
  • 2008- : Social and environmental determinants of population health; immigration; aging societies; and health effects of workplace policies, especially as they pertain to women[1]

50th anniversary and symposium

As a celebration of its 50th anniversary, the Center for Population and Development Studies honored several individuals who played important roles in the development of the Center, including:

  • Lincoln Chen, MD, MPH, former director of the Center for Population and Development Studies from 1988-1996 and Taro Takemi Professor of International Health at the Harvard School of Public Health. He was honored for his work as former Director of the Center, which included engaging the Center more directly in international policy research, as well as his work in the publication of several landmark global population books.[2]
  • Mary Paci, daughter of former HCPDS Director Roger Revelle and member of the Center for Population and Development Studies's advisory committee. She was honored for her work as a long-term member of the advisory committee of the Center and continued support of funding initiatives at the Harvard School of Public Health.[2]
  • Sissela Bok, philosopher, ethicist, writer, and former Senior Visiting Fellow at the Center for Population and Development Studies.[3] She was honored for her work at the Center, including research that contributed to the field of ethics and population study, as well as the convening of a number of workshops and seminar series.[2]

In addition, the Center hosted a 50th anniversary symposium entitled "Reimagining Societies in the Face of Demographic Change," which concerned recent demographic challenges faced by communities in the 21st century, including a rapidly aging global population, women's health and declining fertility, and initiatives the Center for Population and Development Studies is pursuing to help address these challenges.[4] Some of the keynote speakers at the symposium included:

  • Julio Frenk, MD, PhD: Former Dean of Faculty at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and T & G Angelopoulos Professor of Public Health and International Development, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Kennedy School[5]
  • Lisa Berkman, PhD: Director, Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies; Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy, Epidemiology, and Global Health and Population,

Harvard School of Public Health[6]

Leadership

Current director
Lisa F. Berkman
TitleThomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy, Epidemiology, and Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Director of the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies
Academic background
Alma materNorthwestern University (B.A.), University of California, Berkeley (M.S., Ph.D.)
Academic work
DisciplineDemography and Social epidemiology
Websitehttps://www.hsph.harvard.edu/lisa-berkman/

Social epidemiologist Lisa Berkman was appointed director of the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies by Harvard Provost Steven E. Hyman in October 2007. Berkman is the Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy, Epidemiology, and Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (formerly the Harvard School of Public Health). She was chair of the School’s Department of Society, Human Development and Health from 1995 – 2008. Recognized for her groundbreaking work in the field of social epidemiology, she is noted for identifying the effects of social networks on mortality risks that helped define the field in the late 1970s. Berkman also broadened the field with her investigations of how social conditions related to inequality, race, ethnicity, and social isolation influence health and aging.[10]

Before coming to the Harvard Chan School in 1995 to head what was formerly the Department of Health and Social Behavior, Berkman was head of the department of chronic disease epidemiology at Yale School of Medicine.[10]

A graduate of Northwestern University, Berkman received her master’s and doctorate in epidemiology from the University of California, Berkeley. She joined the Yale faculty in 1979 as an assistant professor.[10]

She is currently president of the Association of Population Centers, a member of the Institute of Medicine, and serves as chair of the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health. She is a past president of the Society for Epidemiologic Research.[10]

Previous directors
Director Term Achievements
Roger Revelle 1964-1976 A trained oceanographer and natural scientist, he studied interactions between people and environments. He co-founded the University of San Diego, and directed the Scripps Institution of Oceanography
William Alonso 1976-1978 A demographer and sociologist, his research focused on demographic changes, in particular in very urbanized areas. He developed a mathematical model, connecting migration and the evolution of the distribution of the population.
Nathan Keyfitz 1978-1980 As a statistician and sociologist, he was a pioneer of mathematical demography. His later research focused on environmental and food security, sustainable development, the ethics of consumption, climate change, and poverty.
 David E. Bell 1981-1988 An economist, he served under President Truman and then as director of the U.S. Bureau of Budget and USAID under President Kennedy. His work focused on the intersection of health, population, and economic development.
Lincoln Chen 1988-1996 A medical doctor, he ushered in a new era at the Center by assertively engaging in a number of international policy research topics such as health equity, health transitions, reproductive health and rights, and global burden of disease.
Michael Reich 2001-2005 An international health policy expert, his research focused on economic, political and ethical issues in population policies and reproductive health, access to medicines in the developing world, and the neglected health problems of the global poor.
Christopher J.L. Murray 2005-2007 A physician and health economist, his work, including the inception of the Global Burden of Disease model, led to the development of new methods and empirical studies that strengthened the basis for population health measurement.

[1]

Current work

Over the past 50 years, the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies has shifted in its concerns about overpopulation and has expanded its focus to examine relevant questions involving demographic shifts, resources, health, and the environment. The Center continues to rely strongly on a robust cadre of multi-disciplinary faculty to advance the field of population science. Although it covers an array of topics, the Center addresses some of the world’s leading population and demographic challenges by focusing on the following five research focal areas[11]

  • Social & Environmental Determinants of Population Health
  • Aging Societies
  • Population Mobility: Migration in a Global Economy
  • Lifecourse Perspective
  • Work, Health, and Well-being[11]

Major projects

Current major projects of the Center include:

  • Adversity and Resilience after Hurricane Katrina: This longitudinal study analyzes social demographic markers of low-income parents who lived in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.

[12]

  • Health and Aging in Africa: A Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa (HAALSI): This study follows and tests a cohort of Agincourt residents for HIV infection and cardiometabolic disease risk factors, then integrates that data with mortality data to study the drivers and consequences of HIV and non-communicable diseases in an aging population in Agincourt, South Africa.[13]
  • The Program on the Global Demography of Aging (PGDA): Housed at the HCPDS, the Program on the Global Demography of Aging (PGDA) is funded by a NIH grant, and provides support for research on demographic and aging throughout the world with a particular focus on developing countries.[13]

Postdoctoral fellowships
  • David E. Bell Fellowship: Named in honor of the late David E. Bell, former Harvard School of Public Health professor and former director of the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies. the Bell Fellowship Program provides opportunities for research and leadership training in a flexible, 1 or 2 year, non-degree program for researchers and practitioners in the field of population and development. Bell Fellows examine a broad range of critical issues in the field of population and development studies from multidisciplinary perspectives.[14]
  • Sloan Fellowship on Aging and Work: Funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, this interdisciplinary, postdoctoral fellowship addresses the challenges of aging societies and labor force participation.[15]

References
  1. Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies: About Us: History
  2. Celebrating 50 Years: Commemorative Issue: 1964-2014
  3. Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies: Researchers and Affiliates
  4. Harvard Gazette: Managing an Aging Populace
  5. VIDEO Julio Frenk: The Next Stage of Global Health: The Road to Sustainable Development
  6. VIDEO Lisa Berkman: Demography Is Not Destiny: Social Resilience in the 21st Century
  7. VIDEO Babatunde Osotimehin – Cairo @ 20: The Promise of the Youth Dividend
  8. VIDEO Jack Rowe – Myths and Realities of an Aging Society
  9. VIDEO Sir Michael Marmot – Fair Society: Healthy Lives
  10. Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies: About Us: People: Director
  11. Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies: Research
  12. Risk Project
  13. Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies: Major Projects
  14. Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies: Postdoctoral Fellowships: Bell Fellowship
  15. Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies: Postdoctoral Fellowships: Sloan Fellowship
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