The Harvard Center for Risk Analysis (HCRA) is a multidisciplinary group of faculty, research staff, students, and visiting scholars who work together to improve decisions about environmental health. We conduct state-of-the-art research, educate the next generation of leaders in risk analysis and related disciplines, and encourage public discourse about risk topics. Our work in each area is introduced below. To learn more about HCRA, please contact any member of our faculty or research staff.
Pursuing State-of-the-Art Research
HCRA's research is focused broadly on developing risk, economic, and decision analysis methods that are well-grounded in the natural and social sciences. We use these methods to provide insights useful for informing real-world decisions. Our work draws on diverse disciplines including epidemiology, toxicology, environmental science and engineering, decision theory, cognitive psychology, applied mathematics, statistics, and economics. Areas of practical application include risks from air pollutants such as particulate matter, ozone and mercury; conventional and toxic water and waste pollutants; and emerging issues such as nanomaterials and low-level pharmaceuticals in the environment. HCRA researchers work on problems across the globe with recent activity in Kuwait, Cyprus, Mexico, France and China as well as the United States.
Since our founding, HCRA researchers have published hundreds of papers in leading, peer-reviewed journals. Some noteworthy recent examples include:
- John Evans, James Hammitt, and Jonathan Levy's work on the benefits of decreasing air pollution in Mexico City was published in a book edited by Nobel laureate Mario Molina , Integrated Strategy for Air Quality Management in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area.
- Joel Schwartz' research on mortality resulting from exposure to particulate matter suggested that small particles are more toxic than expected, posing a health risk even at current ambient levels.
- James Shine addressed the use of sediment quality guidelines to develop a better understanding of ecological risks.
- Tom Smith used toxicokinetic modeling approaches to assess the effects of exposure to diesel exhaust and 1,3-butadiene.
Educating Tomorrow's Leaders
HCRA faculty are actively engaged in training masters and doctoral students at the Harvard School of Public Health. Our faculty presently teach 10 courses to over 150 students in diverse departments including environmental health, health policy and management, biostatistics, and epidemiology. HCRA faculty also serve on 25 doctoral committees, chairing 20.
Information about our programs can be found on our academic study page. In addition, we sponsor several continuing professional education courses in the U.S. and Europe on topics such as risk analysis, risk perception and communication, economic methods for analyzing policies and regulations, and similar topics. See our seminars and workshops page for more information on these courses.
Furthering Public Discourse
We are committed to communicating our research findings to scholars, decision-makers, and citizens. We seek both to advance the research literature and to inform real-world decisions that confront government and corporate leaders as well as the general public. HCRA's newsletter, Risk in Perspective, summarizes important research findings and reaches an audience of thousands of opinion leaders in the public and private sectors. All past issues are available on the Risk in Perspective page of this website; to receive future issues, please use the link to the HCRA mailing list that appears above.
Our faculty and researchers work closely with journalists from the print and electronic media who are interested in developing stories that summarize and explain our work, and prepare OpEd essays for leading newspapers and websites. We also sponsor opportunities for researchers and scholars to discuss their work with members of the academic community and the general public; see our seminars and workshops page for a schedule of planned events.
