Harvard School of Public Health - Yearbook (Cambridge, MA)

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CHILDREN ' S RESEARCH PROJECT Standing —Mrs. Phyllis Paskauskas, Dr. Leo Miller, Mrs. Charlyne Costin. Sitting —Mrs. Elinann Reynolds. Dr. Sylvia Krakow, Miss Miriam Ekdahl. Maternal and Child Health is usually the first of the personal health services to be introduced in countries developing their health programs, and the study of these programs in Puerto Rico is part of the curriculum designed to improve student understanding of the problems of their establish¬ ment. Further, it is still a major part of the heal.h services in any health department in this country because of the need to reduce maternal morality, infant mortality, and the conditions leading to handicaps, as well as to provide, in cooperation with other public and volutary agencies, coordina¬ tion of services. The full- and part-time faculty and staff include individuals from the fields of pediatrics, obstetrics, family planning, social work, and nursing, so that consideration may be given to various aspects of deterrents to health within the large groups of the population with which the department is con¬ cerned. Dr. William M. Schmid r That Damned Word Health, I. Gordon, Lancet 2:638-693, Sept. 20, 1958. STUDENTS, DEPARTMENT MEMBERS AND HEALTH OFFICIALS IN PUERTO RICO

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The Age of The Computer Robert B. Reed, Chairman T HE Department of Biostatistics has the peren¬ nial pleasure of coming in close contact with practically all of the students at the School. We are, of course, aware of the fact that this pleasure is at times one-sided and that whereas E. T. Bell has identified mathematics as both the Queen of the Sciences and the Hand-maiden of the Sciences, there exists a school of thought that considers biostatistics to be the Necessary Evil of Public Health. Perhaps the advent of the computer age will make biostatistics more palatable. There is no doubt that modern computers are of almost incon¬ ceivable assistance in coping with the necessary evils of tedious and complex statistical manipula¬ tion. However, the output of a reasonably active computer is a continuous reminder of the classic principle of public health that statistics are like garbage—once you have collected them, you must decide what to do with them. And the disposal problem is increasing by leaps and bounds. The impact of the computers on biostatistics is, in a sense, only one part of the information ex¬ plosion that is being felt throughout all of science. For the student of biostatistics, it means two things. On the one hand, the mechanics of proc¬ essing masses of records and numbers is becoming increasingly more rapid and efficient. Simultane¬ ously, this processing is becoming the concern of In the window below are Claire Wasserboehr, Margaret In the window below are Raymond Neff, Carol Leonard, Holt, Judith Shapiro, Dr. Jane Worcester, Dr. Jacob Dr. David Heer, Linda Parrish, and Margaret Drolette. Feldman, and Dr. Lenin Baler.