Dr. Catharina Giudice is a Climate and Human Health Fellow at the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment and an emergency physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She is interested in how climate events such as storms, floods, heat waves, and wildfires affect delivery of health care and how to enhance preparedness and resilience.
Catharina obtained her bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, before earning her medical degree from the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Subsequently, she completed her training in Emergency Medicine in Los Angeles. There she witnessed the worst heat waves and wildfires in Southern California’s history, which put an already overburdened healthcare system under immense strain during the COVID-19 pandemic. This experience motivated her to purse a climate fellowship and seek innovative solutions to improve healthcare facilities’ ability to cope with climate event.
Prior to fellowship, Catharina was involved in numerous local healthcare sustainability initiatives and helped establish the sustainability committee at one of the largest public hospitals in the United States. She is a member of the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health and has served as vice chair of the Emergency Medicine Residents’ Association (EMRA). Catharina has also contributed to medical education curriculua on the health effects of climate change which are now accessible on open platforms like Aliem.
Throughout her fellowship, Catharina is dedicated to focusing on health systems resiliency and preparedness, with special emphasis on mitigating the health impacts of climate change on communities that are disproportionately affected. She is currently enrolled in the Master of Public Health program at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Extreme heat and pollution can double the risk of a heart attack
Our Fellow Dr. Catharina Giudice comments on a study showing heat and air pollution interact to harm health.
