News from the Center for Health Decision Science

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Welcome to this month's edition of the Center for Health Decision Science (CHDS) newsletter. Explore recent decision science publications, featured courses and events, as well as news within the field.

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Newsletter Issue: March 2025

CHDS News Stories - Recent

Hammitt at Symposium on Valuing Health

CHDS’ James Hammitt recently participated in the Symposium on Valuing Life and Health, sponsored by the Australian National University. The symposium brought together expert policy makers and academics to discuss both theoretical and practical challenges to valuing changes in length and quality of life.

Causes of Poor Cancer Survival in the UK

CHDS’ Zachary Ward and colleagues assessed the causes of the UK’s poor rate of cancer survival compared with other high income countries, in a recent Lancet Oncology commentary. Cancer is the leading cause of death in the UK and the authors report that the UK is ranked 28th out of 33 countries with similar wealth for 5 year stomach and lung cancer survival.

United Nations Cardiovascular Disease Goal

CHDS faculty Thomas Gaziano presented Meeting the United Nations Goal of Reducing Premature Cardiovascular Disease Mortality: Global trends, policies and implementation at a seminar sponsored jointly by the Department of Global Health and Population and the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies.

Impact of Batch Ordering Diagnostic Imaging in the Emergency Department

Jacob Jameson, third year doctoral student in Health Policy, and CHDS faculty Soroush Saghafian published a study examining how physician variation in batch versus sequential test ordering in the emergency department (ED) affects both patient care and operational efficiency.

Using Routine Data for Drug-Resistant TB Surveillance

CHDS faculty Nicolas Menzies and third-year doctoral student in the Department of Global Health and Population, Sarah Baum, co-authored a study published in PLOS Computational Biology developing a modeling approach to correct for potential biases in estimates of drug resistant Tuberculosis (DR-TB) prevalence estimated from rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs).

More CHDS News

CHDS Publications - Selected Recent

Ahmed SR, Befano B, Egemen D et al. Generalizable Deep Neural Networks for Image Quality Classification of Cervical Images. Sci Rep. 2025 Feb 21;15(1):6312. PMID: 39984572.

Baird TA, Previtera M, Brady S et al. A Scoping Review of Risk Presentation in Patient Decision Aids: Communicating Risk in Imaging. J Am Coll Radiol. 2025 Feb;22(2):172-182. PMID: 39426648.

Fleurence RL, Bian J, Wang X et al. Generative Artificial Intelligence for Health Technology Assessment: Opportunities, Challenges, and Policy Considerations: An ISPOR Working Group Report. Value Health. 2025 Feb;28(2):175-183. PMID: 39536966.

Jameson JC, Saghafian S, Huckman RS et al. Variation in Batch Ordering of Imaging Tests in the Emergency Department and the Impact on Care Delivery. Health Serv Res. 2025 Feb;60(1):e14406. PMID: 39501704.

Landy R, Haber GW, Graubard BI et al. Impact of Screening for Human Papillomavirus-Positive Oropharyngeal Cancers: A Microsimulation-Based Modeling Study. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2025 Feb 6:djaf033. PMID: 39913364.

Li Y, Marks SM, Beeler Asay GR et al. Effectiveness and Cost-Effectiveness of Expanded Targeted Testing and Treatment of Latent Tuberculosis Infection Among the Medicare Population in 2022. Ann Intern Med. 2025 Feb 7. PMID: 39918348.

Menzies NA, Marks SM, Hsieh YL et al. Contribution of Post-TB Sequelae to Life-Years Lost from TB Disease in the United States, 2015-2019. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2025 Feb 10. PMID: 39928299.

Saelens BE, Rowland MG, Scholz K et al. Parents in Peer Delivery of Family-Based Behavioral Pediatric Weight Management: the SHIFT Randomized Noninferiority Trial. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2025 Feb 13;33:548-559. PMID: 39948764.

Swartwood NA, Cohen T, Marks SM et al. Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on TB Outcomes in the United States: A Bayesian Analysis. Clin Infect Dis. 2025 Feb 27. PMID: 40036593.

Featured Resource

Sodium Reduction Legislation and Urinary Sodium and Blood Pressure in South Africa

This study, published by JAMA Cardiology, found sodium reduction regulations in South Africa led to lower blood pressure in adults with high hypertension rates.

SPH News: Legislation Reducing Salt Content in Processed Foods Linked with Drop in Blood Pressure among South Africans

CHDS Seminars - Upcoming

CHDS seminars feature national and international decision science experts. The seminars are virtual via Zoom and require pre-registration using the links provided below.

Speakers share their own perspectives; they do not speak for the Center for Health Decision Science or for Harvard University.