Advertise on podcast: Code Green: The Climate-Smart Health Professional

We are kicking off our new “Sustainability Series” with Jeremy Greene, MD PhD. Dr. Greene is physician-historian and the founding Director of the Center for Medical Humanities and Social Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. In this episode, we speak about the shift towards the increasing disposability of medical technology and solutions to reduce the global impact of medical waste. Resources mentioned: • Hypodermics on the Shore, The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/08/hypodermic-needles-disposable-syringes-washed-up-beaches/675167/ • Why are plastic syringes not being recycled?, The Lancet: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)01333-9/abstract • After the Single Use Project: https://aftersingleuse.net/ • The PASS-UP model: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.7326/ANNALS-25-01264 Episode written and produced by Dhivya Arasappan and Isha Thapar, and edited by Isha Thapar.

In this episode we talk with Dr. John Balbus, a tireless climate advocate and the inaugural director of the Office of Climate Change and Health Equity within HHS. In the last year, the climate movement has faced many setbacks requiring more resilience, courage, and joy. In this conversation, we explore how to support this work and these feelings amid uncertainty, while charting through Dr. Balbus' illustrious career.  Episode Written by Phoebe Cunningham and Elizabeth Whidden, Produced by Natasha Sood, and Edited by Liana Haigis and Dhivya Arasappan.

In this episode, we bring you “on the ground” interviews from Medical Students for a Sustainable Future’s 2025 Climate Health Equity Day conference. We spoke with medical students, organizers, and advocates about their experiences at the conference, the urgent need for climate-informed health policy, and how future physicians are mobilizing for planetary health justice. These conversations capture the energy and vision of the next generation of healthcare leaders working to center equity in climate and health. Episode written and hosted by Phoebe Cunningham and Elizabeth Whidden, produced by Natasha Sood, and edited by Liana Haigis.

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Alia Badawi, author of a patient case exploring how particulate matter and air pollution exacerbate inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Check out the written case (adaptable for medical school curricula) at Climate Resources for Health Education: https://climatehealthed.org/course/pemphigus-and-atopic-dermatitis-due-to-pm-exposure/ . Rohan Arora, Cameron Nosrat, and Dr. Eva R Parker were also involved in the creation of this case. Episode written and hosted by Phoebe Cunningham and Elizabeth Whidden, produced by Natasha Sood, and edited by Liana Haigis

In this episode, we speak to medical students Vennela Avula, Alice Moon, and Ahmed Sayed, co-authors of a case emphasizing the connection between cardiovascular health and climate change with a preventative and primary care lens. Check out their written case (adaptable for medical school curriculum) at Climate Resources for Health Education: https://climatehealthed.org/course/primary-prevention-of-cardiac-disease/.  Episode written by Phoebe Cunningham and Elizabeth Whidden, produced by Natasha Sood, and edited by Liana Haigis.

In this episode, we’re joined by Zach Williams, MPH, and Dr. Gaurab Basu, MD, MPH, to explore the power of education and advocacy in addressing the climate-health nexus. Dr. Williams, Associate Director of the Environment & Health Program at Physicians for Social Responsibility, brings expertise in youth engagement and public health education. Dr. Basu, Director of Education and Policy at Harvard Chan C-CHANGE, integrates climate justice into medical education and policy advocacy. Tune in for actionable insights and inspiration to advance climate-health work in your career and community.

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Melody Porlier and Dr. Arpana Jain, co-authors of a case exploring the interaction of traumatic injury and rising infectious disease risks. Check out their written case (adaptable for medical school curricula) at Climate Resources for health education: https://climatehealthed.org/course/vibrio-vulnificus-and-necrotizing-fasciitis/.  Dr. Annie Cherner was also involved in the creation of this case.  Episode written by Phoebe Cunningham and Elizabeth Whidden, Produced by Natasha Sood, and Edited by Liana Haigis.

In this episode, we’re going to discuss reconnecting to your climate interests within your career and how to use those passions to advocate within your community. We’ll be talking with Dr. Paul Devine Bottone who is a pediatrician and adolescent health specialist at the CHOP and Penn Student Health. He has a particular interest in the interplays of climate justice and adolescent and young adult health, with focuses on climate anxiety and food sovereignty. Relevant comments and links for episode: Physicians for Social Responsibility https://psr.org/  Braiding Sweetgrass By Robin Wall Kimmerer Episode written by Phoebe Cunningham and Elizabeth Whidden, Produced by Natasha Sood, and Edited by Liana Haigis.

In this episode we speak to Dr. Carissa Klarich, Dr. Jennifer Robohm, and Dr. Robin Cooper, co-authors of a case emphasizing the connection between climate change, anxiety, and panic disorder. Check out their written case (adaptable for medical school curricula) at Climate Resources for Health Education: https://climatehealthed.org/course/anxiety/. In addition to podcast participants, case development was led by Caellaugh Catley. Resources mentioned: Landmark Montana climate case https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/14/us/montana-youth-climate-ruling.html Caellaugh Catley’s climate efforts https://sustainability.wustl.edu/student-represents-school-of-medicine-at-cleanmed-conference/ Episode written by Phoebe Cunningham and Elizabeth Whidden, Produced by Natasha Sood, and Edited by Liana Haigis.

Learn about climate change career paths & advocacy efforts within the field of med ed during this conversation with Dr. Farah Hussain, first-ever Director of Planetary Health Curriculum at the Perelman School of Medicine.Relevant links mentioned in episode: - IPCC report https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/2:49 - Lancet countdown on climate & health homepage https://www.thelancet.com/countdown-health-climate - Ayana Elizabeth Johnson's venn diagram on climate action https://www.ayanaelizabeth.com/climatevenn

We’re releasing this episode from the archives (recorded in 2021) – an interview between Dr. Lisa Patel and our podcast editor & Brown University student, Liana Haigis. Dr. Patel is the Executive Director of the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health and a Clinical Associate Professor in Pediatrics for Stanford Children's Health. This episode’s conversation covers a lot of ground, including the unique vulnerabilities of pediatric patients to climate change, wildfires & hospital power outages, and community resilience. Dr. Patel discusses key learnings about environmental justice and physician advocacy, her focus areas. Below are two articles that she highlights in this episode:- Confronting Carbon Inequality  https://www.oxfam.org/en/research/confronting-carbon-inequality- Reparations as a Public Health Priority – A Strategy for Ending Black-White Health Disparities  https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2026170

Dr. Terry O’Connor, Dr. Nuzhat Islam, and MD-PhD candidate Douglas Fritz walk with us through their clinical case highlighting the impact of climate change on arboviral infectious disease. Check out their written case (adaptable for medical school curricula) at Climate Resources for Health Education here: https://climatehealthed.org/course/arboviruses/ Dr. O’Connor is an instructor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Washington and Director of the Diploma in Climate Medicine at the University of Colorado Climate and Health Program. Dr. Islam is a second year internal medicine resident at the University of California in San Diego and a co-founder of the Planetary Health Report Card. Douglas is a second year MD/PhD student at the University of Colorado and one of the vice chairs for Medical Students for a Sustainable Future. Hosted by Genny Silva Edited by Liana Haigis

In this episode, we speak with medical student James Sullivan from the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University about the process of creating an integrated climate-health curriculum at the medical school.  If you want to learn more, check out this journal article about the Cleveland Clinic’s climate-health curricular design: Climate Change and Medical Education: An Integrative Model (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34432714/) Episode written by Genny Silva, Produced by Natasha Sood, and Edited by Liana Haigis

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Heather Whelan, Kelsey Barter, and Hossein Moein Taghavi about the connections between heat, air pollution, and neurodegenerative disease. Dr. Whelan is a Professor of Medicine at University of California San Francisco, Kelsey is a medical student at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and Hossein is a research assistant at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Whelan, Kelsey, and Hossein wrote this case as part of the Climate Resources for Health Education (CRHE) initiative (Case OSS9.2). Join us as we dive into this patient case!To learn more about CRHE head over to climatehealthed.org. Episode written by Genny Silva, Produced by Natasha Sood, and Edited by Liana Haigis

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Gaurab Basu about how climate change, at its core, is a health inequity multiplier and a human rights issue. Dr. Basu is a physician and the founding co-director of the Cambridge Health Alliance Center for Health Equity Education and Advocacy in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is also an instructor in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Join us as we discuss all of this and more! To learn about Dr. Basu’s initiatives, head over to: Gaurab Basu | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Hosted by Natasha Sood Written by Natasha Sood & Sarah Hsu Edited by Liana Haigis Referenced Resources: C-CHANGE | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Climate Change Effects On Public Health | Yale School Of Public Health