As this month (June 2014) marks the fifth anniversary of the official end of the Great Recession, experts at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and elsewhere are asking what the short and long-term health consequences of the economic meltdown and its aftermath are. We are all part of a big medical and public health experiment that none of us volunteered for, the results of which may not be known for some time. Here are some of the HSPH faculty available to comment on this issue:

Kasisomayajula “Vish” Viswanath, professor of health communication at HSPH, who just wrote an op-ed (“The Hidden Health Costs of the Great Recession”) on Pacific Standard. He also did an interview ("Recession health costs will be 'substantial and enduring,' researcher says") on Minnesota Public Radio this week.

Ichiro Kawachi, professor and chair, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, who is quoted in this May 24, 2014 article ( "The Science of Inequality: Can disparities be deadly?") in Science on the topic of income inequality and health disparities.

Mariana Arcaya, Yerby Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, whose study published in Circulation linked living near foreclosed property to risk of higher blood pressure. Read the American Heart Association press release (Living near foreclosed property linked to higher blood pressure).

In addition, HSPH and Harvard Law School students volunteer with two Boston nonprofits – Project No One Leaves and City Life – that work with people facing foreclosure and other housing crises.

Read a feature story ("Failing Economy, Failing Health") about the short- and long-term health consequences of the Great Recession in the new Spring issue of Harvard Public Health Magazine, which has just come out online and is hitting mailboxes soon.

For more information or to request an interview, contact Marge Dwyer, Media Relations Manager, Harvard School of Public Health, 617.432.8416 or [email protected]