Caleb Dresser is the Director of Healthcare Solutions at Harvard Chan C-CHANGE. In this role, he leads efforts to develop operational, analytical, and informational approaches to improve climate readiness in healthcare settings and enhance the capability of healthcare systems and professionals to address the climate crisis.
Caleb leads the Climate Resilient Clinics project at Harvard Chan C-CHANGE. Through this collaboration with Americares, Climate Central, and other organizations, he is working to develop evidence-based, patient-centered approaches to climate change adaptation, preparedness, and resilience in frontline health clinics. Current projects include evaluation and refinement of toolkits for patients, administrators, and clinicians, a pilot assessment of the use of targeted heatwave alerts for clinic staff, and adaptation of existing resources to new settings.
Caleb is also Assistant Director of the Physician Fellowship in Climate Change & Human Health, which is offered through a collaboration between Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Chan C-CHANGE, and other centers at Harvard. This fellowship trains physicians to become leaders in climate change and human health research, education, communication, and advocacy.
Caleb’s research focuses on the use of medical records data, surveys, and spatial information to understand operational implications of climate hazards, quantify exposure of patients and healthcare systems to climate-responsive hazards, and assess potential solutions and interventions to address these issues.
In addition to his work at the Center, Caleb serves as an Emergency Medicine attending physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and holds faculty appointments in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Department of Environmental Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Contact information and a list of Caleb’s published work is available on the Harvard Catalyst.
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.
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.
From rapid cooling body bags to ‘prescriptions’ for AC, doctors prepare for a future of extreme heat
Drs. Basu and Dresser share our extreme heat toolkit and heat alert system to protect patients' health during extreme heat.
Heat toolkit helps doctors and patients deal with temperature-related health risks
Our heat toolkit is helping doctors and patients deal with temperature-related health risks.
Making basic preparations before climate emergencies can help you protect your health
Our Fellows Drs. Humphrey and Dresser Making share preparations before climate emergencies that can help you protect your health.
Hurricanes and Health
Policymakers face three interlinked challenges in protecting human health from hurricanes: increasing risks, increasing exposure, and unequal impacts.
Climate change or COVID-19: Which is a greater threat to our health?
"Rather than focus on comparing the scale of these catastrophes, we should heed the lessons of our experience with COVID-19 as we face a changing climate and future pandemics," says Dr. Caleb Dresser.
National Shelter System Data: Opportunities, Challenges, and Applications to COVID-19
Our Climate and Health Fellow Caleb Dresser draws from available shelter and mobility data to detail how sheltering practices after disasters in the United States in 2020 have greatly differed from similar disasters in previous years.
At the Intersection of Human Migration and Climate Change: New Article Puts Out Call to Action
In a new article published in Current Environmental Health Reports this week, Dr. Caleb Dresser and others examine the complexities at the intersection of human migration and climate change.
