Climate Action and Sustainability in Academic Medicine

The October Climate Action and Sustainability Academic Health System session topic is "How U.S. Medical Schools are Integrating Climate Change in their Curricula."

Current medical students will likely be practicing medicine for the next 25-35 years, when scientific projections indicate that the impacts of climate change on human health will make the catastrophic seem commonplace.

To prepare the workforce for the current and future climate crisis, many medical schools in the United States have introduced content on the health impacts of climate change into their medical education programs. This session will feature faculty members and course directors who are driving changes in climate-related curricula at U.S medical schools. While a limited number of medical schools have longitudinal threads for their climate change curriculum, the session will review how schools are making strides toward better integration. The webinar will feature multiple approaches for medical schools to offer required curricular content on the health impacts of climate change. 

Why this meeting is for you: 

• For faculty, students, residents, and staff: Learn how to make the case for climate change content at your medical school and practical steps you can take for better integration in the curriculum. 
• For sustainability and healthcare engineering professionals: Learn about the current state of how medical schools are teaching about climate change and how you can support those efforts.

Panelists include:

• Rebecca Philipsborn, MD, associate professor of pediatrics, director of the climate change and environmental health thread, Emory University School of Medicine 
• Stefan Wheat, MD, assistant professor of emergency medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine and Harborview Medical Center
• Bonus guest: Lawrence Rosen, MD, Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, will share the new Climate Health Curriculum Tool **

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Launched in 2023, the Climate Action and Sustainability in Academic Medicine Community forum is designed for individuals at academic health systems who have a professional or educational interest in sustainability and climate action across their organizational missions (clinical care, research, education, community engagement, and operations and facilities). This community is supported by the American Society for Health Care Engineering (ASHE), the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), and Practice Greenhealth.