Photo by: Michael Goderre, Boston Childrens Hospital

Bringing climate solutions to the bedside.

When Hurricane Maria made landfall on Puerto Rico it devastated the island but also caused national shortages of intravenous saline, a backbone of basic medical care when the supply chain was put out of commission.

Hurricanes, wildfires, extreme heat, and other consequences of burning fossil fuels and climate change don’t just threaten our health, they threaten the ability of medical providers to deliver care to all those who need it.

It’s essential that health care providers understand how climate change could impact their clinical practice, be empowered to safeguard their patients’ health, and use their voices to engage the health care community and public to act on climate change.

Harvard Chan C-CHANGE runs Climate MD, a program focused on:

  • Working with community health clinics
  • Demonstrating climate impacts to health care delivery in medical journals
  • Preparing medical leaders on climate and health
  • Changing the national media narrative on climate change
  • Communicating directly with patients

Staff in front of a health clinic

Working with frontline health clinics

We are working with frontline health clinics to protect patients’ health from climate shocks like heatwaves, hurricanes, flooding, and wildfires. Our programs work with clinic providers, staff, and patients to prevent harm from the climate crisis and improve health equity.

Learn about patient-centered climate resilience and our work with frontline health clinics.


Dr. Renee Salas speaks at climate crisis event
Photo By Jim Mahoney for Coverage

Demonstrating climate impacts to healthcare delivery in medical journals

We reach health care professionals by publishing and amplifying research on patient-centered climate action, including the yearly analysis tracking the impact of climate change on human health in the U.S. Policy Brief for the Lancet Countdown, and demonstrating the connections between climate change and pediatrics, climate-informed primary care, psychology, emergency medicine, surgery, internal medicine, cancer, pulmonology, infectious diseases, and more.


 

 

cityscape with park and people walking

Preparing medical leaders on climate and health

Our team co-hosts the Health Effects of Climate Change, a massive open online course that has been taken by more than 100,000 students in over 100 countries, Harvard University’s Climate Change and Health Fellows for physicians, and the Climate Health Organizing Fellows program for U.S. health professionals.

We helped introduce climate-related curricula into Harvard’s medical and public health education to ensure a more climate-ready healthcare workforce, including a climate change curriculum at Harvard Medical School (and providing a roadmap for other medical schools to do the same), and a concentration in climate change and planetary health at Harvard Chan School. We also outlined the first residency curricula to better prepare doctors for climate change and identified climate and health initiatives at educational institutions.


 

 


Man putting medical mask on a child

Changing the national media narrative on climate change

We serve as the media’s go-to source for climate change and health information, regularly interviewing with top-tier national and health media and hosting workshops and media trainings for organizations on how to effectively communicate about climate and health issues.



Communicating directly with patients

We regularly publish information about how people can stay healthy in a changing climate through our work with frontline health clinics around the country, our collaborations with the Harvard Health Letter, one of the most trusted and widely-read sources of health information in the world, our fact sheets on kids and climate, and our monthly Climate Optimist newsletter.

Preterm and early-term birth, heat waves, and our changing climate

Heat waves pose an escalating threat to human health in general and the health of pregnant people and infants in particular.

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Harvard Medical School’s New Climate Change Curriculum Shows Early Success

New report details how Harvard Medical School developed, implemented, and evaluated its curriculum to prepare healthcare professionals for climate change.

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Toward a Climate-Ready Health Care System: Institutional Motivators and Workforce Engagement

Dr. Caleb Dresser argues that health care systems must reframe incentives and engage their workforce to become climate-resilient.

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Study: Teaching community organizing principles to health professionals significantly increases their capacity to take climate action

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Federal investments in climate change and health research are inadequate says Harvard analysis

Critical knowledge gaps hinder an evidence-based response and are perpetuated by scarce federal research funds.

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Hundreds of Hospitals on Atlantic and Gulf Coasts at Risk of Flooding from Hurricanes

Our study is the first to systematically investigate flooding risk to nearly 700 U.S. hospitals on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts from Category 1-4 storms.

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Communicating Statistics on the Health Effects of Climate Change

Health professionals need to communicate the health and equity implications of climate change effectively to protect health and motivate action.

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A Pediatrician’s Guide to Climate Change-Informed Primary Care

A practical approach for connecting climate change with health during pediatric well visits.

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The medical response to climate change

Our Director Dr. Aaron Bernstein lays out five pillars for the medical response to climate change.

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Adding A Climate Lens To Health Policy In The United States

Our Yerby Fellow Dr. Renee Salas and Interim Director Dr. Aaron Bernstein outline specific recommendations for achieving climate action through health policy and decision making.

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Climate change threatens the achievement of effective universal healthcare

Minimizing the health harms of climate change will only be achieved through an integrated agenda and aligned solutions.

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Diseases are on the rise due to climate change

Extreme weather events can affect critical medical supplies, and that's just one of the many ways climate change affects health, and why doctors are speaking out.

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Combating EPA rollbacks — Health care’s response to a retreat on climate

Our Director Gina McCarthy and Co-director Dr. Aaron Bernstein on the many things the healthcare sector can do to fight the climate crisis.

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'Like a sunburn on your lungs': how does the climate crisis impact health?

Our Co-Director Dr. Aaron Bernstein and Research Fellow Dr. Renee Salas share insight into how the climate crisis threatens public health and complicates healthcare.

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Medications can raise heat stroke risk. Are doctors prepared to respond as the planet warms?

Our Co-Director Dr. Aaron Bernstein discusses the effects of extreme heat on vulnerable populations, particularly those on medication.

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Gina McCarthy Is Fired Up About Climate Change and Public Health

Explores the links between climate change and health, including who is most vulnerable and how healthcare will be impacted by climate change.

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Climate change threatens public health and doctors’ ability to provide care

Dr. Ari Bernstein writes about how climate change compromises healthcare providers' abilities to care for their patients in this op-ed.

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How Climate Change Is Challenging American Health Care

Our Director Gina McCarthy and Research Fellow Renee Salas on the 2018 Lancet’s report on climate and health.

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Alcohol: Balancing Risks and Benefits

Moderate drinking can be healthy—but not for everyone. You must weigh the risks and benefits. –Introduction –What's Moderate Alcohol Intake? What's a Drink? –The Downside of Alcohol –Possible Health Benefits of Alcohol –Genes Play a Role –Shifting Benefits and Risks –The Bottom Line: Balancing Risks and Benefits Introduction Throughout the 10,000 or so years that…

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Dr. Renee Salas

Renee N. Salas MD, MPH, MS

Renee's work focuses on the intersection of the climate crisis, health, and healthcare delivery.

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Caleb Dresser

Caleb Dresser MD, MPH

Caleb is an emergency medicine physician whose research focuses on addressing health needs during and after climate-related disasters.

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Gaurab Basu

Gaurab Basu MD, MPH

Gaurab's work focuses on the intersection of climate change, health equity, medical education, and advocacy.

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Chelsea Heberlein

Chelsea Heberlein

Chelsea works with frontline health clinics, researchers, and collaborating organizations to put patients at the center of climate resilience.

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Anna Miller MPH

Anna translates science into action by promoting awareness of the health impacts of climate change.

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Sweta Waghela

Sweta Waghela

Sweta works with frontline health clinics to prevent foreseeable harms from the climate crisis.

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