Climate Change and Health Boot Camp: Building Skills and Knowledge for Effective Engagement

2023 Climate Change & Health Boot Camp Instructors:

Jessica Beagley, Policy Lead, The Global Climate & Health Alliance. 

Robin Cooper, MD, Steering Committee member, Climate Psychiatry Alliance; Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco. 

Jessica Fanzo, PhD, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Global Food & Agricultural Policy and Ethics, Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University. 

Julie Herbstman, PhD, ScM, Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. 

Natalia Linos, MSc, ScD, Executive Director, FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard University. 

Ed Maibach, PhD, MPH, Director, Center for Climate Change Communication, George Mason University. 

Latoya Storr, MD, Research Fellow, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

2022 Climate Change & Health Boot Camp Instructors:

Marcalee Alexander, MD, Founder, Sustain Our Abilities, & Editor in Chief, The Journal of Climate and Health, & Clinical Professor, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of PM&R, & Research Associate, Department of PM&R Harvard SOM. Marcalee Alexander, MD is Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Climate Change and Health and President of Sustain Our Abilities. A specialist in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, her passion to work in climate change caused her to transition from a full time academic practice into full time advocacy, education and research work related to climate change, disability and the need for community. She is currently working to establish research related to heat protection for persons with SCIs and to have the international community in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation attend to issues related to climate change.

Gaurab Basu, MD, MPH, Co-Director, Center for Health Equity Education & Advocacy (CHEEA) and Health Equity Fellow at Harvard C-CHANGE. Gaurab Basu is a physician, health equity educater and climate advocate. As co-director of CHEEA, he co-leads the Climate Health Organizing Fellows program. He has been named to the Grist 50, has written numerous op-eds, and been engaged in various advocacy projects related to Massachusetts climate policy.

Gary Belkin, MD, PhD, MPH, Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

Jesse Bell, PhD, Director, Claire M. Hubbard Professor of Water, Climate, and Health Program, University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Jonathan Buonocore, ScD, Research Scientist, Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment (C-CHANGE). Dr. Jonathan Buonocore is currently a Research Scientist at the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment (C-CHANGE) at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. His research focuses on building and applying methods to understand the health benefits of climate policies and energy strategies, including cap-and-invest strategies for transportation, carbon pricing, renewable energy deployment, and building electrification. He also applies these methods to energy systems, largely focused on oil & gas extraction and midstream infrastructure, and on geoengineering through stratospheric aerosol injection.

Amy Collins, MD, Medical Director of Physician Engagement and Education, Health Care Without Harm. Dr. Amy Collins is an emergency medicine physician in the Boston suburbs and a sustainable health care professional. She founded the sustainability committee at MetroWest Medical Center in 2007 and led the sustainability efforts there for seven years. Under her leadership, MetroWest Medical Center received numerous Environmental Excellence Awards from Practice Greenhealth, including the Environmental Leadership Circle Award, the most prestigious award offered. She also worked as a sustainable health care consultant for Vanguard Health Systems and implemented sustainability programs at Vanguard’s 26 hospitals nationwide. She now serves as the Medical Director of Physician Engagement and Education at Health Care Without Harm leading their Physician Network, with a goal to support physicians and medical students who are interested in promoting environmentally responsible, climate-smart health care. She speaks internationally about the intersection between climate change, health and health care and the role of the health care sector in leading climate solutions.

James Crooks, PhD, MS, Associate Professor, National Jewish Health. Dr. Crooks is an environmental epidemiologist and data scientist at National Jewish Health, a research hospital in Denver, Colorado. His research focuses on the impacts of climate and air pollution on health.

Maria Diuk-Wasser, PhD, Professor, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology, Columbia University & Faculty, Climate and Health Program, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Professor Diuk-Wasser's research investigates the environmental and anthropogenic changes driving the emergence of vector-borne and zoonotic diseases such as Lyme disease. Her interdisciplinary approach addresses how climate and land use change impact pathogens' natural transmission cycles as well as human ecology and behaviors linked to exposure and disease vulnerability.

Kristie Hadley, MD, Instructor in Emergency Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Dr. Kristie Hadley is an Emergency Physician working in New York City, a current fellow in Columbia’s Global Emergency Medicine fellowship, and will be starting with the GCCHE in the fall. In her work, she focuses on the intersections between food security, environmental degradation, social justice and migration both in the US and globally.

Kim Knowlton, DrPH, Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health & Senior Scientist, Science Office, Natural Resources Defense Council. Kim Knowlton is a health scientist specializing in the human health impacts of climate change, particularly air pollution and extreme heat. She served as co-convening lead author for the human health chapter of the US Third National Climate Assessment; as a member of the 2nd and 4th New York City Panels on Climate Change; and participated in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's 2007 Fourth and 2013 Fifth Assessment Reports. She now works with community partners in the U.S. and India to adapt to the changing climate, connect the dots between climate and health, and put science in the service of advocacy to demand action & protect people and planet.

Vijay Limaye, PhD, Senior Scientist, Science Office, Natural Resources Defense Council. Dr. Limaye is an environmental epidemiologist interested in addressing international environmental health challenges—quantifying, communicating, and reducing the risks associated with climate change—with a focus on the public health burdens of air pollution and extreme heat. At NRDC, he leads economic valuation research and advocacy to understand and address the significant health costs of climate-sensitive events.

Beth Mark, MD, MES, Psychiatrist, Student Counseling, University of Pennsylvania and Steering Committee Member Climate Psychiatry Alliance. Dr. Mark is a staff psychiatrist at the Student Counseling Center of the University of Pennsylvania,  She is a steering committee member of the Climate Psychiatry Alliance and a member of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry Climate Committee. Dr. Mark writes and presents on climate change and mental health, and has a particular interest in climate change education in the classroom including how best to support teachers and students with the emotional aspects of teaching and learning about this topic.

Nicholas Nassikas, MD, Instructor in Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Dr. Nassikas is a pulmonary and critical care physician scientist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. His research focuses on climate change, air pollution, and respiratory diseases.

Jeff Shaman, PhD, Professor, Department of Environmental Health Sciences & Director, Climate and Health Program, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health & Chair, Faculty of the Earth Institute, Columbia University. Jeffrey Shaman is a Professor of Environmental Health Sciences and Director of the Climate and Health Program at the Mailman School of Public Health.  He is also Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs in the Columbia Climate School and Chair of the Faculty of the Earth Institute.  His research includes studying large-scale waves in the atmosphere and the health impacts of climate change and variability.

Marisa Traniello, Senior Humanitarian Assistance Officer, USAID. Marisa Traniello works for USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance responding to natural disasters and complex emergencies. She previously worked at the UN World Food Program and the Clinton Health Access Initiative. Her current work focuses on addressing food security and nutrition needs during international disasters and climate adaptation in humanitarian assistance.

Homan Wai, MD, Associate Professor of Medical Education, UVA School of Medicine Inova Campus. Dr. Wai is an Internal Medicine Hospitalist Physician at the Inova Health System. He is a founding steering committee member and Co-Chair of Education of Virginia Clinicians for Climate Action (VCCA).  Dr. Wai was integral in the creation of Virginia Climate and Health Education Collaborative (VCHEC) where two annual summits have been held.  The VECHC aims to share ideas among local clinician training programs in order to make progress in the curriculum integration of climate change and health.  At UVA, Dr. Wai has co-directed a two-week climate and health elective for senior medical students.

Stefan Wheat, MD, Emergency Medicine Physician, University of Colorado Anschutz Emergency Department. Dr. Wheat is a Climate & Health Science Policy Fellow at the University of Colorado. He works as a Physician-Fellow at the Department of Health and Human Services in the Office of Climate Change and Health Equity. He also serves as an Associate Research Scientist at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health to advance the mission of the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education.

Julie Wormser, Senior Policy Advisor, Mystic River Watershed Association. Wormser co-founded and co-facilitates the Resilient Mystic Collaborative, a voluntary partnership among 20 cities and towns working together to protect people and places from extreme weather. As Executive Director of The Boston Harbor Association, Julie was instrumental in drawing attention to Boston's need to prepare for coastal flooding from extreme storms and sea level rise. Julie holds a BA in biology from Swarthmore College and an MPA from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

Lew Ziska, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Dr. Ziska is a plant physiologist who studies the intersection between plant biology, rising CO2 and climate change within the public health context.  He has focused on climate/polinosis, CO2 and food allergies, CO2 and rice nutrition, climate and food safety, chemical pest management, inter alia.

"This boot camp exceeded my expectations. It included high level professionals who taught us the advances in the work on climate change and the interference of this in every moment of our daily and professional lives." - Staff member at ICAP, 2023

"This is a course that everyone should take to understand the full spectrum of how climate change and health are inextricably linked. The expanse of knowledge that I gained in three days was incredible and I feel much more equipped to navigate this information." - Staff member at PSE Heathy Energy, 2023

"Absolutely essential for anyone interested in teaching climate change and health or working in this field.  This course covered all essential aspects and I was especially impressed with the discussions of equity and acknowledgement of disproportionate impacts on populations at risk!" - Faculty member at Albany Medical Center, 2023

"The training was comprehensive and evidence based, led by very well respected leaders in their field. I appreciated the global camaraderie and different perspectives depending on both geographic location and professional background." - Attending physician at Advocate Aurora Health, 2023

"This training provided an incredible overview of the overwhelming number of ways in which climate change is already impacting human and planetary health - in a highly unequal manner. It has inspired me to consider how I can use my unique background and position as a health professional to increase scientific evidence needed to inform mitigation and adaptation strategies, and to strive to reduce the catestrophic effects of climate change on human health moving forward." - Fellow at National Cancer Institute, 2022 

"This was an eye opening course with ample opportunity to learn and to network. It was informational, honest and heartfelt. Inspirational and aspirational. Great job." - Faculty member at UCLA, 2022

"Deep dive into technical, academic, practical and applied health issues related to climate change and health. Great opportunity to hear from a variety of practioners across fields working on this truly wicked global problem. Great faculty and excellent discussions." - Staff member at Public Health Agency of Canada, 2022

"The boot camp created a safe space to learn about climate change, how it impacts health, what is currently being done about it, and what you can do to address the issue. I met people from all over the world who are similarly passionate about this topic and was able to learn from their experiences as well." - Resident Physician at JPS Health Network, 2022

"A comprehensive, intensive training providing a strong foundation on the science of climate change, impact on human physical and mental health, and what this may mean for the future of our communities and society. The training provides numerous resources to continue learning after the boot camp as well as opportunities to build new connections with others in the field." - Staff member at Columbia University Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, 2022