Learning Opportunity

Learning Opportunity: Climate and Health Study Group

Are you a health professional interested in:

  • keeping up with and discussing recent literature on climate and its intersection with health?
  • supporting others in their educational and advocacy efforts regarding climate and health?
  • maintaining a high quality of scientific information and scholarly responsibility?

Join other health professionals for the bi-monthly seminars of the Climate and Health Study Group. C&HSG has been meeting since 2017 to discuss climate change and its health impacts. The meetings include perspectives from engineering, economics, architecture, design, human rights, agriculture, and a diverse array of disciplines to help attendees better understand the broad phenomena affecting climate and health.  

The Climate and Health Study Group is primarily a function of Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate, an organization of health professionals dedicated to advocating for policies, practices, and education regarding climate change and health. HPHC also supports the environmental greening of health care organizations and supports planning to adapt health care organizations to climate change.

The C&HSG generally meets by Zoom from 10 am to noon on two Wednesdays a month. Its next meeting is planned for Wednesday, April 15, at 10:00 am to noon. If you would like to join their discussions, please contact C&HSG member Andrew Jameton, PhD at <[email protected]>.

Please note: this is a non-credit learning opportunity for  health professionals. No UMN affiliation is required. No fee is required. 

April 15 2020: What might a Post-Pandemic World Be Like?

Featured Speaker: Thomas Fisher, Professor, Director of the Minnesota Design Center, Director of MSSD and Dayton Hudson Chair in Urban Design, School of Architecture, College of Design, University of Minnesota

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated trends – good and bad – that were underway before the crisis began, with economic, environmental, and human health implications. Professor Fisher will explore what some of those implications might be and how the  crisis presents opportunities to move this country, as well as possibly other parts of the world, in a more equitable, sustainable, and resilient direction. Thomas Fisher is the fifth most published author in his field, having written 11 books and authored or co-authored over 450 articles in professional journals.

April 29 2020: Climate Migration and Climate Refugees

Featured Speaker: Jack DeWaard, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Sociology; Graduate Faculty, Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota

Drawing on his work as lead investigator of the UMN two-year Interdisciplinary Collaborative Workshop “Migration and Migrants in Terrifying Times,” Prof. DeWaard will discuss current research on population displacement and migration in relationship to accelerating global climate change.

Jack DeWaard, PhD is faculty in the UMN Department of Sociology. He is also a graduate faculty member of the Minnesota Population Center and affiliated with the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and the Institute on the Environment. His current research focuses on population displacement after extreme weather events.

May 13 2020: Germs: Our Intimate Friends and Mortal Enemies

Featured Speaker: Phillip Peterson, MD, Professor of Medicine and Distinguished International (Emeritus), Division of Infectious Diseases and International Medicine, University of Minnesota Medical School  

Drawing on his forthcoming book Microbes: The Life-Changing Story of Germs, Dr. Peterson puts climate change and the current pandemic in historical and evolutionary context.

Phillip Peterson, MD, is a leader of our C&HSG series, and of Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate. With Dr. Paul Quie, he is a founder and sponsor of the annual UMN Quie and Peterson Global Health Lecture. His main work is fostering interdisciplinary, intercollegiate, and community partnership to address pressing health problems of the global village.

May 27 2020: Adapting the Unique Functions of the Health Care System to Climate Change

Featured Speakers:

  • Andrew Jameton, PhD, Professor Emeritus in the Health Promotion, Social & Behavioral Health Department, College of Public Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center
  • Bruce Snyder, MD, FAAN Clinical Professor of Neurology, University of Minnesota School of Medicine
  • Phillip Peterson, MD Professor of Medicine and Distinguished Global Professor Emeritus, University of Minnesota Medical School
  • James Black, MD, PhD Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota
  • Anthony Moulton, Senior Fellow, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota 
  • Kathleen Schuler, MPH Health Kids and Families Program Director, Conservation Minnesota  

More details to come.