August 2024 Champion: Elizabeth Cerceo

Blog > Champions of the Month > August 2024 Champion: Elizabeth Cerceo

August 27, 2024 | By: Ira Dreyfuss

Elizabeth Cerceo, MD, FACP, FHM


Photo provided by Elizabeth Cerceo

It is possible to work on broad policy and person-to-person at the same time. Elizabeth Cerceo’s climate activism educates decision-makers and medical students.

An associate professor, Dr. Cerceo teaches at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University in Camden, New Jersey, part of the state system. Her research looks at the bigger picture — policy — notably at the hospital level and higher, such as the federal government.

Dr. Cerceo’s journey started in the community of Westmont, not far from Camden, with her dad’s example. On his own, Eugene Cerceo, a chemist, collected rainwater samples and analyzed them for acid rain. “He would publish this as single-site research,” Dr. Cerceo says. “It didn’t specify that it’s our backyard.”

That approach — doing what you should, where you are — carried forward. “My brother and I used to make fun of him — like, ‘the mad scientist,’” Dr. Cerceo says. “But all of that really stuck with me very deeply.”

In terms of climate change, Dr. Cerceo’s work began to jell after residency. “It was a gradual evolution of being more and more frustrated,” she says. “Policy wasn’t changing. Nothing was changing.”

Dr. Cerceo decided to make changes. “Maybe I can have an impact on the health system in which I see patients, and on the students and the residents I educate,” she says. “I found that to be empowering.”

Her advocacy looks at health care’s contribution to the climate crisis. Dr. Cerceo calls for instance, for more federal funding for research on delivery systems, such as which clinical pathways and products deliver high-quality care through climate-friendly approaches.

She wants greater reporting requirements, so the public can know what organizations are doing regarding environmentally clean operations. And this includes operations that impinge on the hospital. Almost 8.5 percent of US emissions come from healthcare, Dr. Cerceo says.

As for climate doomers, Dr. Cerceo is not one. “We’re crafty, and we’ll figure out some way,” she says.

It will take work and a positive attitude, Dr. Cerceo says. “I’m an optimist, and I am extremely persistent,” she says. “I’m very nice about it, but I don’t forget.”

Dr. Cerceo recommends optimism even when things look tough. “I think people want to hear what’s possible,” she says. “Every age has gone through its crises. We can overcome, and I think history has shown that, over and over again.”