Academic and Training Program Hub

The Harvard University Center for the Environment, a center of the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability, is an interdisciplinary hub of research, learning, and collaboration for all things related to the environment on campus and beyond. he Harvard University Center for the Environment (HUCE), a center of the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability, encourages research and education about the environment and its many interactions with human society. It aligns with the mission of the Salata Institute to develop and promote durable, effective, and equitable solutions to the climate change challenges confronting humanity, and serve as a fulcrum for collaboration across Harvard’s many areas of expertise. Together, we pursue practical, real-world solutions that address all aspects of the climate crisis and engage directly with governments, businesses, NGOs, and communities to collaboratively implement them.

The mission of the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability is to develop and advance durable, effective, and equitable solutions to the climate change challenges confronting humanity.

The Emergency Preparedness Research, Evaluation, & Practice (EPREP) Program at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health provides public, private, and non-governmental organizations with the expertise to prepare for and respond to emergencies of all types. We convene public health, health care, first-responders, and other organizations to offer practice-based education, exercises, and evaluation activities centered on public health emergency preparedness and community safety.

The Nutrition and Global Health Research and Training Program is dedicated to scientific research, teaching, collaborative work, and training in nutrition and global health. Our program takes an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and conducting research about global health issues, with a special emphasis on concerns pertaining to low-and middle-income countries (LMICs).

The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) is a University-wide academic and research center in humanitarian crisis and leadership supported by Harvard University's Office of the Provost. HHI is based at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Department of Global Health and Population and is affiliated with Brigham and Women’s Hospital Emergency Medicine Department. As an Inter-Faculty Initiative (IFI) at Harvard University, HHI collaborates closely with faculty and students throughout all Harvard Schools and Harvard Teaching Hospitals.HHI’s aim is to relieve human suffering in war and disaster by conducting interdisciplinary, practice-based research and education that can be used by scholars, policymakers, NGOs, and others to foster interdisciplinary collaboration in order to:• Improve the effectiveness of humanitarian strategies for relief, protection, and prevention;• Instill human rights principles and practices in these strategies; and• Educate and train the next generation of humanitarian leaders.

By evaluating solutions, we help inform decision makers about which climate actions are most impactful to improve health and health equity in communities around the world.When our Center was founded nearly 30 years ago (originally at Harvard Medical School) by two physicians, Drs. Eric Chivian and Paul Epstein, we became the first center based at a medical school to focus on the impact of climate change on human health. In 1997, our Center published an open letter signed by 400 physicians and health professionals from 30 countries—in a full-page ad in the The New York Times—to warn world leaders attending the Kyoto Summit of the health effects they could expect if climate change was left unchecked.Since then, we have been at the forefront of efforts to promote climate solutions that protect health: From our landmark study that demonstrates the full cost of coal across the life cycle, to our research on toxics in gas stoves and the health benefits of clean energy, to our educational programs reaching students around the world, we have worked to elucidate how energy use, planetary health, and human health are interdependent.

The Johnson Lab studies how environmental exposures impact our immune system and our overall health. We research these topics through the lens of extreme weather conditions, the number one threat to global public health.

The Harvard Chan National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Center for Environmental Health is a coordinated set of resources and facilities supporting environmental health research and training activities throughout the greater Boston area. The center promotes integration between basic and applied environmental science, and fosters collaborations that cross departmental and institutional boundaries.