Climate change is affecting our health. Our trainees must be ready.
From infectious disease and water insecurity to malnutrition, air pollution, and more, climate change affects public health in many ways. Click here to watch a TEDx talk by Jonathan Patz, MD, MPH in which he shares new analyses showing how fighting global warming can improve health while cutting healthcare costs. Additionally, click here to access recordings from an in-depth course on responding to climate and health crises for health professionals.
We welcome anyone interested in climate and health education to join this passionate volunteer group!
I'm interested!Every Stanford-trained physician will have knowledge and skills in diagnosis, treatment, and advocacy to address the health and health equity impacts of climate change and to practice healthcare sustainably.
By implementing specialty-specific and cross-disciplinary, longitudinal climate and health curricula, we will drive a cultural and action-oriented shift to advance patient health, health equity, advocacy, research, and health system sustainability into the core ethos of Stanford Medicine.
CLIME is led by a network of stakeholders who support the integration of climate health and equity, as well as healthcare sustainability, into education at Stanford School of Medicine. This community consists of deans, clinical faculty, adjunct faculty, sustainability officers at Stanford Health Care and Stanford Medicine Childrenʼs Health, leaders and staff from the Stanford Center for Innovation in Global Health and the Center for Human and Planetary Health, retired physicians, residents, fellows, and medical students, as well as colleagues from other medical schools.
Develop and Integrate Climate and Health Curricula
CLIME is building comprehensive and longitudinal climate, health, and equity curricula along with sustainable healthcare education within and across all graduate medical education training programs at Stanford.
Develop Leadership and Empower Faculty
CLIME is initiating CHILL (Climate, Health, Innovation, Leadership, and Learning), a leadership development program to empower faculty and house staff by giving them the tools to educate and inspire others about climate and health issues. CLIME educates faculty through departmental lectures, grand rounds, journal clubs, a lunch lecture series, CME video distribution, and bottom-up education from students and trainees.
Support Student and Trainee Quality Improvement (QI) Projects
The initiative encourages students and trainees to pursue educational projects focused on environmental health, health equity, and healthcare sustainability. These projects foster innovation in medical education through various strategies, including a series of short videos for physicians, staff and the community.
Collaborate with Outside Stakeholders
CLIME partners with external organizations including the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education, The Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health, UC Center for Climate, Health and Equity, Physicians for Social Responsibility, National Academy of Medicine, Harvard, Emory, and other medical schools. This collaboration helps leverage existing expertise and resources to implement at Stanford.
Contribute to National Medical Standards
CLIME advocates for integrating climate, health, equity, and sustainability competencies into ACGME competencies, specialty board requirements and maintenance of certification.
Research and Publish Findings
CLIME will study the outcomes of its programs and publish findings, contributing to the academic body of knowledge on climate change and health education. QI projects are supported and publication is encouraged.
CLIME is not only preparing the next generation of physicians to address the pressing challenges of climate change, but also paving the way for a more equitable, sustainable future in healthcare. This initiative is a call to action for the entire Stanford medical community to lead by example — integrating climate and health/equity education, patient advocacy and sustainability into the very fabric of medical education and practice.
CHRE is a collection of expert-reviewed resources designed to integrate climate change education into health curricula. The collection offers open-access case studies and slide decks, and welcomes contributions from educators.
Visit SiteCLIME has compiled a list of resources for those interested in further engagement with climate health work. Click the link below to access the resources list.
Learn MorePlease fill this form out if you are interested in joining CLIME and getting involved in our community and activities.
I'm interested!
