Build, expand, or update a website

In conjunction with the Office of Communications and External Relations (OCER), the web team provides support for a wide array of HMS web properties, including the HMS flagship site and sites for department centers and labs.

Harvard Medical School offers a variety of support models for community members who want to build, expand, or update a website. Depending on where your work is based within the HMS community, there is a path for you to build a website.

  • Eligibility

    Eligibility is based on position and affiliation within the HMS community.
    Quad-based Benefits-eligible

    If you are part of an HMS Quad-based department, center, program, or initiative and are a benefits-eligible Harvard employee, you may qualify for a website on the HMS web platform. A self-service web platform via CampusPress is also offered to benefits-eligible Harvard employees.  Certain services are unavailable to individuals employed by HMS-affiliated hospitals or research institutions, even if they have a primary appointment in a preclinical, Quad-based department. HMS is reviewing service eligibility guidelines and is currently only providing websites to students with a documented academic need.

  • Security

    Web platforms adhere to rigorous security and best practices.
    Cloud-based Secure

    We utilize secure, high-availability, cloud-based platforms to manage HMS websites. This ensures the rapid creation of accessible, HMS-branded sites. They adhere to industry standards and best practices, making the websites scalable and future-proof. Moreover, ongoing support and maintenance for these sites are also handled, guaranteeing long-term security and functionality.

Website creation support models

  • For Quad-based departments, centers, and initatives

    Services for Quad-based departments and initiatives.
    Drupal Supported

    If you work in an HMS Quad-based department, center, program, or initiative and are a benefits-eligible Harvard employee, your group may qualify for a website on the HMS web platform. This Drupal-based platform has pre-set design elements, templates, and branding supported and managed by HMS IT and the Office of Communications and External Relations. If you fit this category and would like more information, contact benjamin_sharbaugh@hms.harvard.edu.

    Examples:

  • For Quad-based individuals and labs

    Self-service web platform through CampusPress.
    CampusPress HUIT support

    In addition, Harvard University offers a self-service web platform (currently free, although fees may start as early as FY24) based on WordPress through CampusPress to anyone who is a benefits-eligible Harvard employee.

    After being approved, individuals can sign in using HarvardKey and create a new site for their personal work or their department, office, initiative, lab, and so on. These sites are self-service (you will use an existing platform with preset templates to build your pages) and can be created at your own pace. For more details on this platform and additional services available to Harvard users, visit Harvard Web Publishing.

    Note that prior approval is required before requesting a Harvard CampusPress site. Email Senior Director, Digital and Branding Ben Sharbaugh (benjamin_sharbaugh@hms.harvard.edu) with a brief description of the site, along with the full name and email address of the site owner, if different from the submitter. After approval, complete a form requesting a CampusPress site from Harvard Web Publishing. Attach the approval email to the submission form.

    Visit the HUIT website for more information on CampusPress at Harvard. Note that support requests related to CampusPress websites must be submitted to Harvard University Information Technology (HUIT) at ithelp@harvard.edu.

  • For affiliates and the hospital-based community

    Support is provided by your primary institution, not HMS
    Eligibility Contact info

    Web creation services at Harvard Medical School are available only to benefits-eligible Harvard employees and currently enrolled degree-seeking students. Therefore, these services are not available to individuals employed by HMS-affiliated hospitals or research institutions, including if the individual has a primary appointment in a preclinical, Quad-based department. See the following list of contacts at each affiliate who can assist with web creation services at your primary institution:

  • HMS domain name guidelines and requests

    HMS domain name eligibility
    Process Naming

    Top-level HMS domain names (those with hms.harvard.edu in the name) will be approved by the Use of Name Committee for the following:

    • HMS Quad-based preclinical departments and offices. For example:

      • dbmi.hms.harvard.edu
      • genetics.hms.harvard.edu
      • ghsm.hms.harvard.edu
      • fa.hms.harvard.edu
      • postdoc.hms.harvard.edu
      • campusplanning.hms.harvard.edu
    • HMS faculty employed by and eligible to receive benefits from Harvard and whose labs are based in preclinical departments physically situated on the HMS campus. For example:

      • zitniklab.hms.harvard.edu
      • reich.hms.harvard.edu
      • brugge.med.harvard.edu
      • harveylab.hms.harvard.edu
      • roguljalab.hms.harvard.edu
      • abrahamlab.med.harvard.edu
      • baymlab.hms.harvard.edu

      Note – We should ensure the word lab is included in the domain name, as in the Zitnik and Rogulja examples above.

      Note – Many labs do not use HMS domain names and instead use custom .org or .com URLs, like Zak Kohane (zaklab.org) and Galit Lahav (lahavlab.com).

    • Approved HMS institutes, programs, initiatives, and centers (IPCIs) and School-wide initiatives approved by the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. For example:

      • primarycare.hms.harvard.edu
      • bioethics.hms.harvard.edu
      • computationalbiomed.hms.harvard.edu
      • artsandhumanities.hms.harvard.edu
      • nutrition.hms.harvard.edu
    • Educational programs. For example:

      • postgraduateeducation.hms.harvard.edu
      • meded.hms.harvard.edu
      • ghsm.hms.harvard.edu/education/master-medical-sciences-global-health-delivery

      Note – Some programs use top-level HMS domain names (like PME and Postgraduate Medical Education), while some are pages off of the department or office’s web page (like the Master’s of Medical Sciences in Global Health Delivery).

    • HMS Central needs that support the School’s operations and mission (for example, Faculty Affairs’s Faculty Handbook, Technical platforms, and applications developed by HMS IT, and so on). For example:

      • facultyhandbook.hms.harvard.edu
      • profpromotions.hms.harvard.edu
      • tableau.hms.harvard.edu
      • cv.hms.harvard.edu

    For HMS Quad preclinical department- and faculty-led projects and initiatives that are not institutional or School-wide initiatives, we strongly recommend that these projects and initiatives should be built on the department, lab, or office website. These requests should be vetted through the department website administrator and would carry the following domain names:

    • Department initiatives, formatted as DEPARTMENT_NAME.hms.harvard.edu/INITIATIVE_NAME. For example:

      • genetics.hms.harvard.edu/resources
      • neuro.hms.harvard.edu/resources/rt-pcr
      • hcp.hms.harvard.edu/research-data
      • hcp.hms.harvard.edu/health-and-human-capital-over-life-course-0
    • Lab initiatives, formatted as LAB_NAME.hms.harvard.edu/INITIATIVE_NAME. For example:

      • klein.hms.harvard.edu/resources
      • reich.hms.harvard.edu/software
      • baymlab.hms.harvard.edu/tools.html
      • zitniklab.hms.harvard.edu/data
      • zitniklab.hms.harvard.edu/software

    If the content for the project or initiative was built on an OpenScholar website, then the initiative may be granted a top-level HMS domain name, provided that the homepage of the website includes language that clearly specifies that this is an initiative of the lab or department (as opposed to a School-wide initiative or approved IPCI). For example:

    The INITIATIVE_NAME is a project of the DEPARTMENT_NAME at Harvard Medical School.


    Any other individuals, groups, or entities not mentioned above—including student groups, affiliate-based faculty who are not employed by or eligible for benefits from Harvard, faculty whose labs are not based in preclinical departments physically located on the HMS campus, programs, initiatives, centers, and so on—are not eligible for HMS domain names, and these requests will be declined.

  • Web design and development

    Site creation and support.
    Development Maintenance

    The web team manages the creation, support, and ongoing improvement of dynamic web-based sites and systems. Our developers help to carry website enhancement projects from conceptualization to completion, delivering high-quality and scalable web solutions that stay future-proof by following industry standards and best practices.

    • We build external- and internal-facing websites quickly and affordably by leveraging open-source content management systems like Drupal.
    • We manage HMS websites at scale using a secure, high-availability cloud-based platform to spin up accessible, HMS-branded websites quickly.
    • We handle ongoing support and maintenance for the sites under our purview.
    • We provide project management support for web projects, ensuring that goals, timelines, and budgets stay balanced.

    To submit a work request, email warp-web-help@hms.harvard.edu or submit a STAT service request. Our team works in 3-week cycles with an established SLA guideline.

  • Web content management training

    CMS training for the HMS platform is provided.
    Hands-on Self-service

    Training details are available on our web training page. For more assistance, contact Sam Peasley at sam_peasley@hms.harvard.edu.

  • Web consulting

    Get help for analyzing your web-related needs.
    Analysis Advising

    We can help to analyze your web-related needs and suggest options to identify the solutions that best address your unique challenges. We adapt our expertise in proven web strategies and best practices to your situation, helping you to avoid pitfalls and delays and navigate the best route toward success. We're the folks to ask if you're unsure where to start or whether the solution you've imagined best fits your requirements.

    • We'll help you choose where and how to build, rebuild, or improve your web presence, whether hosted on our servers, external hosting platforms, or Harvard's CampusPress CMS.
    • We can advise on various aspects of your web needs, from your site's information architecture to the selection, setup, and configuration of a CMS or web technology.