Dr. Renee N. Salas is Affiliated Faculty at the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a previous Yerby Fellow. She is also Affiliated Faculty and previous Burke Fellow at the Harvard Global Health Institute and Affiliated Faculty at the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is an emergency medicine physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Salas leads endeavors with the world’s top general medical journals. She spearheads The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) Group’s Climate Crisis and Clinical Practice Initiative and serves as a guest editor for the NEJM Group series entitled “Fossil-fuel Pollution and Climate Change.” She was the lead author of the cornerstone Interactive Perspective for The New England Journal of Medicine that launched the journal’s climate crisis and health topic page and continues to contribute content. Dr. Salas is also a member of the global Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, serving as the lead author of the Lancet Countdown Brief for the United States between 2018 to 2021 – moving to senior author in 2022 – and founded and leads its U.S. Working Group of over 80 U.S. organizations.
Dr. Salas was elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) in 2021 for her work on climate change and health, an honorific society that is considered one of the highest honors in the field of health and medicine. She served on the original planning committee for the NAM’s Grand Challenge on Health and Climate Change and continues to serve on committees related to this work. She has testified before Congress for the full House Committee on Oversight and Reform on how climate change is harming health.
Dr. Salas lectures and serves on committees at the nexus of climate and health internationally and nationally, advises and publishes in high-impact journals, and her work and expertise are regularly featured in mainstream media outlets like the New York Times, NPR, Time, and the Associated Press. She engages in research on how climate change is impacting the healthcare system and developing evidence-based adaptation. She also strives to engage across a diverse range of sectors, and frequently speaks at high-level engagements. Her work also spans disciplines, such as collaborations on Amicus Briefs for Juliana v. United States and a response letter to the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed transparency rule.
She is the founder and past Chair of the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) Climate Change and Health Interest Group and founded and led their first pre-conference workshop on the topic. She gave the first national emergency medicine conference presentations on climate change and health at the SAEM and American College of Emergency Physicians annual meetings.
Dr. Salas has been the recipient of a range of honors and awards, such as the national SAEM Public Health Leadership Award and the Network for Excellent in Health Innovation Innovator in Health Award. She is also the recipient of the Clinician-Teacher Development Award from Massachusetts General Hospital and the Shore Fellowship from Harvard Medical School.
Her Doctor of Medicine is from the innovative five-year medical school program to train physician-investigators at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine with a Master of Science in Clinical Research from the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Both institutions later awarded her with Early Career Leadership Awards for her outstanding career achievements. Her Master of Public Health is from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health with a concentration in environmental health. Dr. Salas received her undergraduate degree from Saint Mary’s College, which later recognized her as a prestigious Shannon Scholar for exceptional alumna.
COVID-19 RECOVERY SERIES: COVID-19 and Climate Change: A True Public Health Crisis - An Interview with Renee N. Salas, M.D., MPH, M.S.
Our Climate MD Leader Dr. Renee Salas talks about the intersection of climate change and COVID-19 in her work as an Emergency Medicine physician.
Episode 226: Renee Salas On Making Climate Change Personal
Our Climate MD leader Dr. Renee Salas shares her expertise around climate change, human health, and environmental racism.
Texas storm offers glimpse of how climate change threatens public health
Our Yerby Fellow Dr. Renee Salas discusses the health challenges posed by climate change and the complexities of responding to a disaster in the middle of a pandemic.
Harvard Chan C-CHANGE announces Youth Summits on Climate and Public Health to empower the next generation of leaders
Summer program will prepare high school students to take climate and public health action in their communities.
The pressure is on for forecasters warning about high heat
News that temperatures last year once again hit global highs underscores challenges facing weather forecasters tasked with educating people about the dangers of heat.
John Kerry: Restoring American Credibility On Climate Change 'Not So Simple'
Dr. Renee Salas talks about the Lancet Countdown findings that our nation is not adequately prepared for global-scale health challenges, including climate change.
Climate action: The best gift for global health
Our Climate MD leader Dr. Renee Salas writes that the health community mobilized against covid-19 and can mobilize again on climate change.
Will Biden leverage Medicare to tackle climate change?
With the Biden transition team announcing picks to lead the Department of Health and Human Services and the CDC, our Climate MD leader Dr. Renee Salas joins a small but growing chorus of health experts saying the administration should look to using Medicaid and Medicare to spur climate action.
Health care is coming to grips with its pollution problem
Our Climate MD leader Dr. Renee Salas says that health care providers need to step up and eventually eliminate their contributions to climate change.
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.
