Annual Meeting 2024 Agenda

Day 1 – Sunday, February 11

Registration and Breakfast

Welcome and Introduction

Lisa Patel, Executive Director, Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health

Ed Maibach, Founder and Director, George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication

Forging Climate Solutions to Accelerate Action Across America (CME/CE)

Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali, Executive Vice President of Conservation & Justice, National Wildlife Federation

Big Oil v. Our Health: How Industry Has Stymied Action (CME/CE)

Moderator: Bev Harp, Director of State Affairs, Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health

Ben Franta, Senior Research Fellow and Founding Head, Climate Litigation Lab, Oxford Sustainable Law Programme

Linda Rudolph, Senior Advisor, Climate, Health and Equity, the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health

Laalitha Surapaneni, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Hospital Medicine, University of Minnesota

Break

Why Don’t We Talk About Fossil Fuels Like We Talk About Tobacco? (We Should) (CME/CE)

John Kotcher, Research Associate Professor, George Mason University’s Center for Climate Change Communication

Abby Novinska-Lois, Executive Director, Healthy Climate Wisconsin

Nick Seaver, Senior Vice President and Co-Director, Training Programs, Burness

Rob Gould, Strategic Communications Director, Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health

Lunch

Virtual Networking Session

Preparing Vulnerable Populations for 2024 Heat Waves: A Speciality-Based Approach (CME/CE)

Moderator and speaker: Kate Huffling, Executive Director, Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments

Caleb Dresser, Director of Healthcare Solutions, Harvard C-CHANGE

Gaurab Basu, Director of Education and Policy, Harvard C-CHANGE

Mani Berenji, Assistant Clinical Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health, UCI Program in Public Health

Hayley Blackburn, Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice, University of Montana

Robert Feder, American Psychiatric Association 

Youth Engagement in Climate Solutions and Mental Well-Being (CME/CE)

Moderator: Leyla McCurdy, Chair, Children’s Environmental Health Committee
APHA, Environment Section 

Michelle Loosli, Senior Manager, Climate Education, American Public Health Association

Elizabeth Pinsky, Associate Director for Advocacy, MGH Center for Environment and Health

Coffee Break

Collaborating With Frontline Communities for Climate Action (CME/CE)

Moderator: Julian Watkins, 2023 Climate & Health Equity Fellow

Dana Johnson, Senior Director of Strategy and Federal Policy, WE ACT for Environmental Justice

Camilo Mejía, Director of Policy and Advocacy, Catalyst Miami

Break

Climate & Health Equity Fellowship Presentations (CME/CE)

Esmeralda Morales-Weston, 2023 Climate & Health Equity Fellow

Cheryl Holder, 2023 Climate & Health Equity Fellow

Julian Watkins, 2023 Climate & Health Equity Fellow

Reception

Lori Byron, Chair, Montana Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate

Julia Olson, Executive Director & Chief Legal Counsel, Our Children’s Trust

Developing Speciality-Specific Patient Guidance for Heat: A Peer Review Workshop (CME/CE)

Description: With the summer of 2024 projected to be worse than the historic summer of 2023, preparing vulnerable populations for heat has become an imperative for clinicians. In this workshop, participants will have the chance to provide feedback and help improve patient-facing materials on heat developed by Harvard C-CHANGE and Americares that targets vulnerable populations, such as patients with asthma/COPD, diabetes, mental health disorders, or chronic kidney disease.

Caleb Dresser, Director of Healthcare Solutions, Harvard C-CHANGE

Communicating With Patients on Climate Change With an Equity Lens (CME/CE)

Description: Specialities are considering how best to integrate climate change into patient encounters and visits. With limited time during clinical encounters, how this information gets integrated for maximum impact is an area of active development. This workshop will bring interested participants together to discuss the challenges and barriers along with the opportunities to integrate climate counseling into our patient visits using an equity frame. This workshop will aim to produce a framework or roadmap that can be used by practitioners to guide further research on high impact opportunities to best protect vulnerable patients from the health harms of climate change.

Maya Ragavan, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of General Academic Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh

Shalini Shah, Assistant Director, Pediatric Environmental Health Center/Region I PEHSU, Boston Children’s Hospital

Making the Case That Fossil Fuel Pollution Is the Common Enemy of our Health and Our Climate: The Power of Naming Big Oil (CME/CE)

Description: New research shows naming fossil fuel pollution and Big Oil misinformation is effective for increasing engagement and activation. At the same time, messaging should be crafted carefully to ensure that it does not worsen existing political polarization. Learn and practice how to use this messaging with decision-makers and the public in your presentations, social media, or op-eds.

Nick Seaver, Senior Vice President and Co-Director, Training Programs, Burness

Rob Gould, Strategic Communications Director, Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health

Day 2 – Monday, February 12

Breakfast

Welcome and Introduction

Lisa Patel, Executive Director, Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health

State-Level Climate Policy: How We Win and Why We Lose (CME/CE)

Moderator: Bev Harp, Director of State Affairs, Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health

Tonyehn Verkitus, Executive Director, PSR Pennsylvania

Samantha Ahdoot, Chair and Founder, Virginia Clinicians for Climate Action

Cheryl Holder, Founding Co-Chair & Interim Executive Director, Florida Clinicians for Climate Action

State-Level Organizing on Climate-Smart Healthcare (CME/CE)

Moderator: Lisa Del Buono, Executive Director, Michigan Clinicians for Climate Action

Anna Goldman, Co-Founder, Clean Power Prescription, Boston Medical Center

Lauren Koch, Sustainability Program Manager, Ohio State Wexner Medical Center

Noe Copley-Woods, Assistant Dean for Sustainability, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

Break

Indigenous Health and Climate Change

Amba-Rose Atkinson, PhD Candidate, Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland and Harvard University FXB Center Visiting Scholar

Victor Lopez-Carmen, MD Candidate, Harvard Medical School

Lunch

Research Hot Topics From the Journal on Climate and Health (CME/CE)

Moderator: Ann-Christine Duhaime, Associate Director, MGH Center for the Environment and Health

Ritu Parchur, Senior Research Fellow, Prayas Health Group, Pune

Ratika Samtani, Faculty -Assistant Professor-III, IIHMR Delhi

Iris Blom, World Health Organization Youth Council

Ilyssa Gordon, Associate Professor of Pathology and Medical Director, Sustainability, Cleveland Clinic

Eva Rawlings Parker, Assistant Professor, Dermatology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Federal Climate Policy: Wins, Opportunities and How Health Orgs are Weighing In (CME/CE)

Laura Kate Bender, National Assistant Vice President, Healthy Air, American Lung Association

Break

The Importance of Get Out the Vote in 2024 (CME/CE)

Aliya Bhatia, Executive Director, Vot-ER

Ben Fulgencio-Turner, Director, Climate for Health 

Nathaniel Stinnett, Environmental Voter Project

Congressional Remarks

Representative Kathy Castor, 14th District of Florida, Chair of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis

Preparing to Speak to Your Lawmakers (In Person Only)

This session is required for those attending the in-person visits to Congress on February 13.

Liz Scott, Director of Advocacy, American Lung Association 

Soapbox Presentation: Logistics of Meetings on Capitol Hill (In Person Only)

This session is required for those attending the in-person visits to Congress on February 13.

Kevin Schultze, Senior Vice President, Soapbox Consulting

1. Op-Ed Write-athon (CME/CE)

Description: Bring an idea, partially, or fully written op-ed, and join this session with Burness Communications to take your op-ed to a new level. This session is designed to be a follow-up to our previous op-ed 101 session hosted in 2023. If you did not attend that session, please watch this webinar prior to this breakout. A recording of that workshop is available here as a refresher.

Anna Chen, Senior Associate, Burness

2. Climate-Resilient Clinics and Hospitals: How to Navigate Opportunities Through the Inflation Reduction Act (CME/CE)

Description: New funding through the Inflation Reduction Act can provide transformative support to community health centers, clinics, and hospitals to improve their climate resilience, improve their efficiency and reduce operating expenses, and decrease their carbon footprint. In this workshop, learn about resources you can use to advocate for mitigation and resilience measures at your health care institution in addition to what support and resources exist through the HHS Office of Climate Change and Health Equity to catalyze change.

Jess Hinshaw, Environmental Health Director, National Association of Community Health Centers

Aparna Bole, Senior Consultant, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Jenny Keroack, Senior Policy Advisor, HHS Office of Climate Change and Health Equity

Organizing for Change on Climate-Smart Health Care: Lessons From Community Organizing (CME/CE)

Description: The most impactful change comes from talented leaders who understand the importance of organizing. This workshop will introduce you to Marshall Ganz’s framework for people, power, and change. This framework has already been applied with success by other health professionals, and you will learn how it can be applied to your health systems to motivate more ambitious action on climate change.

Pedja Stojicic, Executive Director, People Power Health

Self-Care for Climate Activists (CME/CE)

Robert Feder, American Psychiatric Association 

Environmental Justice: Inclusive Emergency Preparedness for Persons With Disabilities (CME/CE)

Liz Treston, City Council Vice President, Long Beach NY

Carol Myers, Occupational Therapists for Environmental Action

Day 3 – Tuesday, February 13

In-Person Visits to Congress