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COLLECTION Identifier: H MS c314

Howard H. Hiatt papers

Overview

Records in the Howard H. Hiatt papers were created by Hiatt during the course of his career as Dean of the Harvard School of Public Health, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Physician-in-Chief at Beth Israel Hospital from 1941 to 2001. The collection also includes records of Hiatt’s activities as a physician, researcher, educator, medical school administrator, and contributing member of national and international professional health care boards and foundations. His early research focused mainly on the application of molecular biology to medical problems, particularly cancer.

Dates

  • Creation: 1940-2014 (inclusive),
  • Creation: Majority of material found within 1975-2001 .

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research. Access requires advance notice. Access to Harvard Unviersity records is restricted for 50 years from the date of creation. Access to personal and patient information is restricted for 80 years from the date of creation. These restrictions appear in all series. Researchers may apply for access to restricted records. Consult Public Services for further information.

The papers are stored offsite. Researchers are advised to consult Public Services for further information concerning retrieval of material.

Conditions Governing Use

The Harvard Medical Library does not hold copyright on all materials in the collection. Researchers are responsible for identifying and contacting any third-party copyright holders for permission to reproduce or publish. For more information on the Center's use, publication, and reproduction policies, view our Reproductions and Use Policy.

Extent

18 cubic feet ( (17 records storage cartons and 1 document box).)
12 cubic feet (12 unprocessed papers in 12 records center cartons)

Records in the Howard H. Hiatt Papers were created by Hiatt during the course of his career as Dean of the Harvard School of Public Health, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Physician-in-Chief at Beth Israel Hospital from 1941 to 2001. Records in this collection consist of: personal and professional correspondence and subject files from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Beth Israel Hospital, and Harvard School of Public Health departments and offices, including the Office for Diversity, the Department of Health Policy and Management, the Harvard AIDS Institute, the Takemi Program for International Health, the Office of Program Planning, the Harvard School of Public Health Development Office, and the Center for the Analysis of Health Practices; ad-hoc and standing committee records such as the Advisory Committee on Planning, the Affirmative Action Committee, and the Chernin Committee on Outside Professional Activities; notes, book reviews, research files, and draft writings and publications on subjects such as nuclear disarmament, end of life care, and health resource allocation; executive administrative files including curriculum development records, meeting minutes, appointment books, grant proposals and reports; research data, lab notes, and reports from the Brigham and Women’s Medical Intensive Care Unit (Medical Intensive Care Unit) Study and the Harvard Medical Practice Study; speech and lecture files and notes; newspaper articles and magazine clippings; conference and professional organization materials; and a smaller number of photographs and memorabilia.

Materials are mostly in English, with a very small number of records in French.

Biographical Notes

Howard H. Hiatt (1925-2024), M.D., 1948, Harvard Medical School, joined the faculty at Harvard Medical School in 1955, was the first Herrman L. Blumgart Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Physician-in-Chief at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, from 1963 to 1972, and Dean of the Harvard School of Public Health from 1972 to 1984. From 1988 to 1990, he was the Head of the Center for Policy and Education, Harvard AIDS Institute. Hiatt specialized in oncology and internal medicine, molecular biology, and biochemistry. He was also known for his public speeches and essays on the human consequences of nuclear war. During his tenure as Dean, the Harvard School of Public Health introduced teaching and research focused on molecular and cell biology, initiated programs in health policy and management, and biostatistics. Hiatt also integrated Harvard School of Public Health’s teaching and research programs with those in other Harvard University faculties, in an attempt to encourage cross-disciplinary research to bring together medicine and social science in the curriculum.

Howard Haym Hiatt was born in Patchogue, New York in 1925. He enrolled in Harvard College in 1944, and after two years, entered Harvard Medical School as part of an accelerated program to supply doctors to the armed services. He received an M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1948, and, no longer having to serve in the army, was able to pursue postdoctoral training directly at Boston’s Beth Israel Hospital, New York Hospital, and Cornell Medical College, followed by a faculty appointment as Assistant in Medicine at the University of Chicago Hospital from 1952 to 1953. After working as an Investigator for the National Institutes of Health from 1953 to 1955, Hiatt accepted an appointment as an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School in 1955.

Hiatt's early research focused on the application of molecular biology to medical problems, particularly cancer. He was a member of the team at the Pasteur Institute, Paris, that first identified and described messenger RNA, and he was among the first to demonstrate messenger RNA in mammalian cells. In 1963, he accepted the Herrman L. Blumgart Professor of Medicine position at Harvard Medical School. In 1972, while working as Physician-In-Chief at Beth Israel Hospital, he was appointed Dean of the Harvard School of Public Health. While Dean, Hiatt made the Harvard School of Public Health a leader in the biological and decision sciences, health policy and management, and introduced molecular and cell biology into its research and teaching. In 1983, Hiatt was instrumental in starting the Takemi Program in International Health, which aims to advance knowledge about international health and to contribute to institutional development and improvement of national policy.

During the course of his career, Hiatt authored numerous research articles on diverse topics such as disease prevention, delivery of health care and services, and the health and human consequences of nuclear war. His articles have appeared in Journal of Molecular Biology, Journal of Biological Chemistry, the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of Clinical Investigation, and the Journal of the American Medical Association. His book, Medical Lifeboat: Will There Be Room For You in the Health Care System? (1989) confronted and offered solutions to major problems in the American health care system. He is also the co-author, with Paul C. Weiler, of A Measure of Malpractice: Medical Injury, Malpractice Litigation, and Patient Compensation, which presents the findings of the Harvard Medical Practice Study, a comprehensive investigation of the performance of the medical malpractice system.

Hiatt married Doris Bieringer (died 2007), a librarian who co-founded a reference publication for high school libraries, in 1948 and had three children: Frederick (1955-2021), Deborah, and Johnathan. Hiatt died on March 2, 2024 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was suvrived by his longtime companion Penny Janeway.

Series and Subseries in the Collection

  1. I. Professional Activities Records, 1965-2001.
  2. ___ A. Correspondence and Working Files, 1965-1999.
  3. ___ B. American Academy of Arts and Sciences Records, 1991-2001.
  4. II. Writings and Publications, 1940-1997, undated.
  5. III. Speeches, Lectures, Conferences, and Related Records, 1963-1985.
  6. IV. Personal Records, 1968-1993, undated.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

  1. Accession number 2002-031. The Howard H. Hiatt papers were donated to the Harvard Medical Library in the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine by Howard H. Hiatt on 07 January 2002.

Related Collections in the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Center for the History of Medicine

  1. Records of the Harvard School of Public Health. Office of the Dean, 1961-1985, Series 00322

Processing Information

Processed by Michael Dello Iacono and Suzanne Denison June 2010.

Processing staff in the Center for the History of Medicine analyzed, arranged, and described the records and created a finding aid to improve access to the collection. To enhance preservation, processing staff removed hanging folders, reducing the volume of the collection. Records were re-housed in acid-free folders, and preservation photocopying was performed on acidic paper, newspaper clippings, and on items that contained adhesives. Duplicate records, office supply documents, reprints, and vendor contracts and correspondence, and records that did not meet the collection policy of the Center for the History of Medicine were discarded. All folder titles were transcribed from the originals.

Title
Hiatt, Howard H. Papers, 1940-2001 (inclusive), 1975-2001 (bulk): Finding Aid.
Author
Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine. Center for the History of Medicine.
Language of description
und
Sponsor
The Howard H. Hiatt Papers were processed with grant funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, as awarded and administered by the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), 2010.
EAD ID
med00131

Repository Details

Part of the Center for the History of Medicine (Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine) Repository

The Center for the History of Medicine in the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine is one of the world's leading resources for the study of the history of health and medicine. Our mission is to enable the history of medicine and public health to inform healthcare, the health sciences, and the societies in which they are embedded.

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