Session Description

Based on its clinical mission and role in the health care system as a safety net provider for vulnerable populations and a leader in disaster medicine and response, emergency medicine is on the front lines of the climate health crisis. Learn about the impacts of climate change on human health from nationally recognized climate health thought leaders. They’ll also learn about opportunities for physicians to advocate for a sustainable future through leadership, education, and research. Climate change is already negatively affecting human health, and numerous professional medical societies have issued policy statements calling on physicians to advocate for policies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to educate their patients and communities about climate change and health.

Learning Objectives

• Learn about the impacts of climate on health and emergency medicine. 
• Discuss how climate change disproportionately impacts vulnerable populations. 
• Discover advocacy opportunities.
• Understand the scientific basis of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions.

Speakers

Jay Lemery, MD, FACEP, FAWM
Professor, University of Colorado School of Medicine

Dr. Jay Lemery is an associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and is chief of the section of Wilderness and Environmental Medicine. He is the co-editor of Global Climate Change and Human Health: From Science to Practice (2015) and co-author of Enviromedics (2017). Lemery serves as an adviser to the organization Climate for Health (ecoAmerica) and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication.

Jeremy Hess, MD, MPH
Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, Global Health and Environmental Medicine, University of Washington

Dr. Jeremy Hess is associate professor of emergency medicine, global health and environmental medicine at the University of Washington. He is the principal investigator of a National Institutes of Health-funded grant supporting work in India on the epidemiology of extreme heat and strategies for developing, implementing, and evaluating early warning systems. He is also a consultant for the Climate and Health program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.