Zoom

Zoom is available for the following groups:

• HMS and HSDM faculty and staff in an on-quad department with these employee classifications can sign in directly at harvard.zoom.us:
  • Faculty – Senior (F), junior (J), and other (O) faculty
  • Students – Graduate (G, H) and temporary (D) students
  • Postdoctoral researchers – Internal (Y) and external (N, Z) researchers
  • Staff – Administrative and professional (A), support (S), and temporary (T) staff
  • Additional support – Interns (E), temporary staff (T), and teaching assistants (I)
• HMS and HSDM Quad-based students – You can sign in directly at harvard.zoom.us.
• Off-Quad HMS faculty and employees at HMS-affiliated institutions – If you are actively teaching an HMS course (that leads to an HMS degree or post-graduate certificate), or involved in research through a Quad-based HMS department, and need Zoom in support of those HMS activities, you may request Zoom access.

HMS does not provide Zoom accounts for:

• Hospital-based activities – We encourage those involved in other graduate medical education, hospital-based research, or clinical departmental activities to request a Zoom account from their affiliated hospital.
• Non-Harvard business purposes – Due to licensing limitations, we cannot issue Zoom accounts for purposes outside of the direct business of Harvard University and HMS.

To ensure a secure meeting, follow the recommended steps to host a secure online event using Zoom. 

Users must exercise caution and not share Protected Health Information (PHI) or Personally Identifiable Information (PII) about patients through Zoom. Learn more about Harvard’s data classifications. 

• Recorded sessions - Approved for up to Medium Risk Confidential (L3) data. 
  • Ask for participant consent before starting the recording. 
  • If L3 data is discussed in the session, move the recording and transcript files from Zoom (computer folder or cloud) to your preferred storage method (OneDrive, SharePoint, Dropbox). Then, delete the recording and associated files from your Zoom cloud or computer folder. 
• Not recorded sessions - Approved for up to High Risk Confidential (L4) data. 
  • If L4 data is discussed in the session, ensure no AI companions are present in the conversation. Use End to End Encryption (E2EE) to mitigate risk and protect sensitive meeting content. 
• Learn more about Data Security Levels 3 and 4. 

If you are hosting a large event, HMS IT strongly recommends hosting a Zoom Webinar. Webinar features create a better experience for "one-to-many" type communications by limiting content sharing, audio and video to designated hosts and panelists.  

• Zoom Webinars - Best used for "one-to-many" communication; attendees join in "listen and view only" mode. 
  • Town Halls 
  • "All-hands" department meetings 
  • Product training 
  • Customer onboarding 
      
• Zoom Meetings - Best used for full interaction and collaboration between all participants. Meetings allow all attendees to share their screens and use video and audio. 
  • "Face-to-face" meetings 
  • Document sharing 
  • Interactive meetings 

For a detailed comparison, visit the Zoom Meeting and Webinar comparison page. 

Access 

You can host a regular meeting with up to 300 participants using your Zoom for Harvard license. Large Meeting (over 300 participants) and Webinar features are available to all HMS Zoom users upon request. Review Request a Zoom Webinar, Large Meeting, or Translated Captions License for more detailed information.