Keeping care running: Practical steps to prepare for storms and other disruptions

Aparna Bole, MD is a pediatrician in Cleveland, Ohio, whose work centers on the intersection of environmental stewardship, justice, and pediatric health. Her leadership has focused on the health impacts of climate change, the child health benefits of climate solutions, and advancing climate-smart, resilient healthcare delivery. Dr. Bole is a current member and past chair of the Health Care Without Harm board of directors, and also serves on the boards of Climate Central and Environmental Health Watch. She has held national and state leadership roles with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Ohio Environmental Council, and the State of Ohio’s Lead Advisory Council.

Adele Houghton, FAIA, DrPH, LEED AP, is President of Biositu, LLC, where she works at the intersection of buildings, public health, and climate change. She is a member of the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows and received a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) degree from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where she also teaches. Her book Architectural Epidemiology (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2025), co-authored with Professor Carlos Castillo-Salgado of Johns Hopkins University, proposes a novel method for architectural design: combining neighborhood-scale environmental health data with participatory community engagement to maximize a building’s positive ripple effect on community and planetary health.

Robert (he/him) is the Assistant Director for Planning, Operations, and Analytics in the Department of Emergency Preparedness and Continuity at Mass General Brigham. With over a decade of experience in health care emergency planning, he manages various components of the health system’s emergency preparedness and response programs, including risk assessment and mitigation, emergency plan development, training and exercise design, process improvement, and regulatory readiness. Robert holds a master’s degree in healthcare emergency management from Boston University School of Medicine.