Academic Resources

Student handbooks are helpful for each incoming cohort to track their requirements and milestones. Please contact the office to obtain the handbook for your year of entry.

The BBS Tutoring Program is open and free of cost to all BBS students.  If students find themselves needing extra help in a course, students can work with a BBS Tutor.  There are several ways to be connected with a tutor: teaching fellows may suggest that a tutor would benefit students; the course director may suggest it to students; or finally, students may decide to seek additional help.  We really want to encourage students to take advantage of the program and if it helps students to do so, students can do it under conditions of strict confidentiality. If a student decides that they want to work with a tutor, they may contact Danny Gonzalez at the BBS Program Office to request one.

The BBS Peer Mentor Program is a student-led initiative administered through the HMS Office of Graduate Education. The purpose of the program is to facilitate relationships and strengthen a supportive community between more advanced PhD students and first year students.  Our goal is to improve social connections in the BBS community and ensuring that students have access to a diverse group of graduate student peer mentors to help them navigate life as a graduate student. Ultimately, the Peer Mentoring program is designed to help students by providing a system of support throughout all stages of the program.  The BBS Peer Mentors are not intended to replace professional mental health counseling and support services such as those offered on campus through the GSAS Student Services Office and CAMHS.

CFs are PhD-level scientists pursuing careers focused on teaching, improving, and supporting science education. The CF Program functions as an educational laboratory that both researches and improves the learning experience for graduate students and postdoctoral trainees in the HMS community. Like postdoctoral fellows in a science lab, the CFs work with faculty members to bring new energy, creativity, and innovation to graduate and medical coursework. As trained research scientists, the CFs take a scientific approach to curricular redesign and course improvement, observing and identifying challenges, and then designing and implementing modifications. The CFs work together as a community, sharing their novel strategies for curricular revisions to promote integration across graduate courses and bringing their insights gleaned from current educational scholarship into HMS classrooms. Learn more about our CF program.

The Disability Access Office (DAO) partners with FAS students with visible and invisible disabilities to identify barriers and implement plans for access. Through collaboration with the campus community, we foster an environment of equity and inclusion. Download DAO At a Glance Flyer.

The Harvard International Office (HIO) is part of the University’s Central Administration and offers services to international students and scholars at Harvard College, the graduate and professional schools, as well as the numerous research centers and affiliated teaching hospitals, to minimize the difficulties they may experience both upon arrival and later during their stay at Harvard.

The Academic Resource Center (ARC) helps create conditions for optimizing student learning by providing a range of support services that draw on research in the behavioral and learning sciences. Students have access to academic coaching, accountability sessions, peer tutoring, ESL peer conversations, and workshops. Academic coaches work with students to help them bring out their academic best. Through one-on-one sessions, accountability groups and hours, and group workshops, academic coaches introduce students to techniques for managing time, reading strategically, studying effectively, building better habits, and much more. They also assist students with prioritizing goals, creating accountability structures, customizing their learning environment, connecting with instructional staff, and finding the resources they need.

The Fellowships & Writing Center (FWC) helps GSAS students to heighten the impact of their research. At the FWC, students can work with specialists on their writing and presentational skills, whether in the context of composing a fellowship proposal, working on a dissertation chapter, preparing an article for publication, or refining a conference presentation. Students can come to the FWC for individual consultations, peer workshops, and other programming, including the Writing Oasis, which connects you with small writing groups that meet weekly and are designed to provide community and accountability.

The mission of the Countway Library is to cultivate and advance education, research, scholarship and professional growth in the health and biomedical sciences by facilitating access to scholarly information and knowledge, preserving a historical record, and creating a stimulating and synergistic setting for intellectual growth. Discover what’s happening at Countway Library: upcoming classes, workshops, and events.

To provide help, training, and guidance for students involved in new ventures, consulting, or other outside work, and to develop easier ways for students to discuss these plans with their program and advisors, OGE and HMS have jointly developed guidelines and policies for students.  Please review the OGE website and complete a form if necessary. https://ogephd.hms.harvard.edu/outside-activities

Harvard Griffin GSAS PhD and master’s students have access to iThenticate, a web-based application that enables authors to compare their manuscripts, grant proposals, and other writing against web and scholarly publications to check for similar or duplicate content.