Climate change is a growing public health concern with implications for safety and well-being; nutrition and food security; food, water, and vector-borne diseases; and mental health. Climate change and the social determinants of health are closely aligned, contributing to disparate environmental exposures and health inequalities, as a disproportionate number of low-income individuals, some communities of color, and those with higher vulnerability to disease and chronic health conditions are at risk. The 2020 Lancet Countdown U.S. Brief addresses emerging infectious diseases including COVID-19 and highlights the intersection among the converging health crises—climate change, COVID-19 and systemic racism.
Join national experts and faculty from the MGH IHP School of Nursing Center for Climate Change, Climate Justice and Health at this symposium as we address the climate-related health consequences on vulnerable communities and systemic racism with a lens on how COVID-19 disproportionately impacts Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC).
Registration fee includes access to all live sessions, any recorded keynote sessions, course materials and resources.
*Student Rate applies to individuals currently enrolled in a full-time degree granting program at the time of the symposium. It does not apply to part-time students. Student status verification may be requested.
**Current IHP faculty, staff, & students can use existing D2L account at checkout to register.
SPECIAL GUEST
Senator Edward J. Markey, a consumer champion and national leader on energy, environmental protection and telecommunications policy, has a prolific legislative record on major issues across the policy spectrum and a deep commitment to improving the lives of the people of Massachusetts and our country.
Whether the issue is climate change, clean energy, safeguarding privacy, nuclear non-proliferation, investor protection or preserving an open Internet that spurs competition and consumer choice, Senator Markey stands up for the priorities and values of Massachusetts.
While serving for 37 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, Senator Markey fought for his constituents throughout his Congressional District. When he was Dean of the Massachusetts delegation in the House, he worked to harness the energy and influence of his colleagues on behalf of the entire Commonwealth. Elected to the Senate in a special election in June 2013, Senator Markey is bringing his experience, energy and expertise to fight for all the people of Massachusetts.
Senator Markey has amassed an unparalleled record of energy and environmental legislative achievements. He has consistently fought to create new jobs in American clean energy and served as a leading consumer champion against rising gas prices and foreign oil. He is the principal House author of the 2007 fuel economy law, which will increase fuel economy standards to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, the first increase in a generation. He also is the author of the appliance efficiency act of 1987, which stopped the construction of hundreds of coal-fired plants. Senator Markey authored the law that established the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve, ensuring that New England families won’t be left out in the cold when oil prices spike. And he is the author of the revolutionary law that requires electricity regulators to open up the wholesale electric power market for the first time.
Read more about Senator Markey.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Dr. Renee N. Salas is a Yerby Fellow at the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment (C-CHANGE) at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Affiliated Faculty and previous Burke Fellow at the Harvard Global Health Institute (HGHI). She is also a practicing emergency medicine physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Salas focuses her career on the intersection of the climate crisis, health, and health care delivery – both through the generation of new knowledge and translating and applying existing knowledge to different sectors – through research, education, and outreach.
She engages in research to better understand how climate change is impacting the health care system and to develop evidence-based adaptation with various partners. She has also spearheaded initiatives like her first author Interactive Perspective for the New England Journal of Medicine that outlines the consequences of climate change on clinical practice, which serves as a main feature for the Climate Crisis and Health topic page for the journal. Dr. Salas also served as the lead author on the 2018 Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change U.S. Brief, and is again in 2019, and works with a core team to manage the U.S. Brief Working Group that supports the creation of the annual Brief.
Dr. Salas communicates the important and novel connections between the climate crisis, health, and health care through publications in high impact journals, as an invited speaker nationally and internationally, in writing for the lay public, and through media engagements. Her work has been featured in media outlets like the Associated Press, CNN, USA Today, and others.
She was the founder and past Chair of the Climate Change and Health Interest Group at the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine. In addition, she is 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 that trains 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. Her Master of Public Health degree is from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health with a concentration in environmental health.
Pete studied meteorology at Lyndon State College in Vermont one of the first colleges in the country to offer a concentration in broadcast meteorology. His television career had humble roots in the basement of a motel in White River Junction, Vermont, where WNNE-TV was housed at the time. His next stops were WMTW in Portland, Maine, WVII in Bangor, Maine, WGME in Portland, Maine, and then on to Fox 25 in Boston.
The search for a television home didn’t end there though. He returned to Portland to work at Fox 51 with his wife as anchor before moving to WHDH in Boston in 2002. All along the way, he gained experience across all of New England’s microclimates, visited countless schools (where some of the students went onto become interns of his), civic organizations and donated time to dozens of charities.
Pete has received numerous accolades in his long career from the Associated Press, Maine Association of Broadcasters, two Emmy nominations and three Best of Boston awards. In his spare time, he embarrasses himself on the guitar and likes making sawdust in his workshop.
Caleb Dresser is the 2019 to 2021 Fellow in Climate and Human Health of the LCF Consortium on Climate Science and Health Policy through the Department of Emergency Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, with concurrent fellowship at Harvard C-Change and the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard. Caleb’s current work focuses on the means to address health needs during and after climate-related disasters, with particular attention to heat waves, tropical cyclones, and wildfire. He is currently studying the hazards posed by extreme heat events and weather-related electrical outages for patients in communities near Boston, including the threat that these can pose to patients with specific medical vulnerabilities. He is also examining the long-term health impacts of hurricanes and other climate-related disasters, including issues of prolonged loss of access to medical services and temporary and permanent migration of affected populations. Caleb completed his medical education at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and his residency in Emergency Medicine through the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He is currently enrolled in the Master of Public Health program at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and practices emergency medicine as a member of Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians.
Dr. Hart is an environmental epidemiologist, and her research focuses on the impact of multiple environmental exposures on risk of chronic diseases, primarily in the Nurses’ Health Studies (NHS, NHSII, NHS3), the Growing Up Today Study (GUTS, where she is the Scientific Director), and the Health Professionals’ Follow-Up Study (HPFS). In her role as Director of Geographic and Contextual Measures for the cohort, she leads all efforts to geocode residential address histories and append environmental exposures. She also co-leads the Spatial and Contextual Exposomics and Epidemiology Laboratory (www.spacelab.org).
Dr. LaRocqe is a physician-scientist with an interest in the impact of climate change on human health. She is on staff at the Massachusetts General Hospital Division of Infectious Diseases and is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is on the board of Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility, and she was elected to the Natural Resources Commission in Wellesley, Massachusetts in 2017. She has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters.
Dr. Keith L. Seitter has been the Executive Director of the American Meteorological Society since 2004. He joined the AMS in the early 1990s, leading a number of AMS programs and serving as Deputy Executive Director for several years prior to being named the Executive Director.
Before joining the AMS, Seitter was on the faculty at the University of Lowell, now University of Massachusetts at Lowell. He earned his undergraduate degree in meteorology at the Pennsylvania State University and a doctorate in geophysical sciences at the University of Chicago. Seitter had a postdoctoral appointment at the Air Force Geophysical Laboratory at Hanscom Air Force Base before moving to the University of Lowell.
Seitter is a Fellow of the AMS and Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society. He is also a member of many other societies and organizations and serves on several advisory boards. He has given numerous invited lectures and published papers in AMS and other scientific and publishing journals.
The AMS, founded in 1919, is the nation's leading professional society for those involved in the atmospheric and related sciences. With more than 14,000 members, the Society promotes the advancement of the atmospheric and related sciences, technologies, applications, and services for the benefit of society through scientific journals, conferences, and public education programs across the country.
Dr. Nicholas joined the Institute faculty in 1989 after many years of clinical practice at the Massachusetts General Hospital. She is Professor and teaches in the Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing program as well as in the Direct-Entry Master of Science and Doctor of Nursing Practice programs. She is also a member of the steering committee for the Center for Climate Change, Climate Justice and Health at the Institute.
Dr. Nicholas is engaged in research on quality of life in chronic illness, particularly HIV/AIDS and international/cross-cultural work. She completed both a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard School of Public Health in 1999, and a Master of Public Health degree in International Health (HIV/AIDS Focus).
Dr. Nicholas was the recipient of a J. William Fulbright Senior Scholar Award for 2003-2004 to study population issues and health status in Germany. She serves on the editorial review panels of several journals including AIDS Care, American Journal of Public Health, Nursing Research, American Journal of Nursing, Nursing and Health Care: Perspectives on Community, and The Journal of Nursing Scholarship.
Dr. Nicholas is the recipient of several grants and awards for her research. She is a Visiting Professor at Catholic University in Leuven, Belgium, and St. Luke's Hospital in Tokyo, Japan. Dr. Nicholas was recently awarded a J. William Fulbright Senior Scholar Award in South Africa for 2006-2007 to continue her research and teaching on symptom management and adherence to therapy in HIV disease in Durban, South Africa. In 2010 she received the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care Research Award. She is also the recipient of a Nursing Spectrum Community Service Award and a Boston Business Journal Champion in Health Care Award.
Suellen Breakey, PhD, RN, is Associate Professor in the School of Nursing at MGH Institute of Health Professions. She teaches in the accelerated BSN programs. Her clinical background includes cardiac surgery, critical care, hospice care, and global health nursing.
Dr. Breakey is a member of the steering committee for the Center for Climate Change, Climate Justice and Health at the Institute. Her global nursing efforts are focused on prevention and treatment of rheumatic heart disease in resource-limited settings. She is a leader with Team Heart, a nonprofit organization that provides RHD screening, cardiac surgical care and follow up, and patient/provider education in Rwanda.
Her scholarship interests include bioethics, global health ethics, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. In 2015 Dr. Breakey's book Global Nursing in the 21st Century was published.
Suellen Breakey, PhD, RN, is Associate Professor in the School of Nursing at MGH Institute of Health Professions. She teaches in the accelerated BSN programs. Her clinical background includes cardiac surgery, critical care, hospice care, and global health nursing.
Dr. Breakey is a member of the steering committee for the Center for Climate Change, Climate Justice, and Health at the Institute. Her global nursing efforts are focused on prevention and treatment of rheumatic heart disease in resource-limited settings. For over 10 years, she was a leader with Team Heart, a nonprofit organization that provides RHD screening, cardiac surgical care and follow up, and patient/provider education in Rwanda.
Her scholarship interests include bioethics, global health ethics, and the impact of climate change on health and well-being. Dr. Breakey is a co-author of Global Nursing in the 21st Century, which was published in 2015.
In support of improving patient care, MGH Institute of Health Professions is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.
Nurses/Nurse Practitioners:
MGH Institute of Health Professions designates this activity for 4.75 contact hours for nurses.
The American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Certification Board (AANPCB) accepts credit from organizations accredited by ANCC Providers.Criteria for successful completion include: attendance at the entire live event and completion of the post-evaluation form.
Physicians/Physician Assistants:
MGH Institute of Health Professions designates this live activity for a maximum of 4.75 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits ™. Physicians should claim only credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in this activity. AAPA accepts AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ from organizations accredited by ACCME.
