Medical Students Organize Climate Elective

When four UMass Chan Medical School students wanted to learn more about the impact of climate change on public health, they didn’t wait for others to tell them. They took action.

“I knew this was a public health emergency, and something that all of us as medical professionals are going to have to deal with in the future as it relates to our patients’ health,” said Azraa Amroze, a second-year T.H. Chan School of Medicine student. “We weren’t really exposed to the relationship between climate change and health, so I wanted to get students involved so we could learn more about this.”

Amroze reached out to classmates, some of whom were already involved in the UMass Chan Climate Action Coalition, and they began to plan an Optional Enrichment Elective (OEE) course to bring climate change information into the curriculum.

An OEE is a course designed by students working with a faculty advisor that must be reviewed and approved by a subcommittee of the T.H. Chan School of Medicine Elective Curriculum Committee. OEEs do not carry formal credit, however they are listed on a student’s transcript.

Joseph Douglass, Sarah Calove, Rachel Lyons and Amroze, all second-year T.H. Chan School of Medicine students, became the co-leaders of the OEE they created called “Climate Change and Medicine”. They identified content areas of interest and recruited guest speakers. The team was advised by Heather Alker, MD, assistant professor of family medicine & community health at UMass Chan.

The course ran from January through March, with seven 90-minute lectures, conducted on Zoom. The program included:  

“Introduction to Climate Change and Health,” by Caleb Dresser, MD, T.H. Chan School of Medicine ’16, a climate and health fellow at Harvard Medical School and emergency medicine resident at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

“Climate Change, Health and Health Care,” by Amy Collins, MD, an emergency medicine physician at MetroWest Medical Center and senior clinical advisor at Health Care Without Harm.

“Sustainable Health Care Systems,” by Winston Vaughan, Boston director of climate solutions, at Health Care Without Harm.

“Effective Advocacy at the Community and State Level,” by Regina La Rocque, MD, MPH, an infectious disease specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital.

“Climate Justice and Equity,” by Caitlin Rublee, MD, MPH, assistant professor of emergency medicine, at Medical College of Wisconsin.

“Climate Health Action: Heat and Priority Populations,” by Melanie Garate, climate resiliency project manager, at Mystic River Watershed Association and Caleb Dresser, MD, a climate and health fellow at Harvard Medical School and an emergency medicine resident at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

“Impact of Climate Change on Women’s Health,” by Cecilia Sorensen, MD, an emergency medicine physician and The Living Closer Foundation Fellow in Climate and Health Science Policy at University of Colorado, Boulder.

On average, 15 to 20 students logged on for each lecture.  “We wanted to learn about how climate change is already affecting patients now, how it will continue to do so in the future,” Douglass said. “We also felt it was important to know what we can do to advocate for change, to try and stop this at the source, and prevent future impact on public health.”

With this OEE now completed, plans are underway to recruit a new group of medical students to develop another OEE on climate change and health.