'What makes our voice land isn't that we're louder than other messengers. It's that healthcare trains us, shift after shift, to center our messaging in what we’ve heard - with empathy and in building trust.’

About this event

Join us for a conversation with Dr. Lisa Patel, the Executive Director for the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health (MSCCH) and Melissa Blum, Executive Chair of Medical Students for a Sustainable Future (MS4SF). For more than a decade, MSCCH, MS4SF and similar groups have been raising public awareness about the health threats of climate change and carbon pollution. These organizations have been very active in pushing for a faster and more impactful response from federal and state government. Over the last two years, they have also been speaking out against the myriad rollbacks and backpedaling we have seen in Washington. Lisa and Melissa also have a robust set of perspectives and personal practices that allow them to find hope and joy in their work.

Dr. Lisa Patel, Guest Speaker

After receiving a BS degree from Stanford University, Dr. Lisa Patel worked in Egypt, Brazil, and India on international development projects with community-based organizations and non-profits. With an MS degree from the Yale School of the Environment, Lisa then became a Presidential Management Fellow for the EPA. Having seen the impacts of environmental decline on children’s health, Lisa obtained her MD in Pediatrics from Johns Hopkins University. Over the years, she has chaired and served on committees for the American Academy of Pediatrics, Our Children’s Trust, and similar organizations. Lisa is widely sought after for her expertise on climate, health and equity by major national media outlets – including the Washington Post, US News and World Report, CNN, the New York Times, the LA Times, and Bloomberg News.

Melissa Blum

Melissa Blum is a fourth-year medical student at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Executive Chair of Medical Students for a Sustainable Future, a national network of over 1,000 early-career health professionals working to address the health impacts of climate change. As a Blair and Georgia Sadler Fellow at Health Care Without Harm, she studies the impacts of extreme heat on pregnancy outcomes and works to translate this research into heat alert systems for patients and health care providers. Melissa has also led efforts to improve climate health education and health care sustainability within her medical school.

Dan Quinlan, moderator

Dan Quinlan is the founder the non-profit SolaVida. His focus is on working with people who are passionate about making the world a more humane and healthy home for all people. His advocacy work revolves around reducing carbon pollution – through projects in advocacy, communications, and finance – mostly in collaboration with health professionals. Dan has also spent years wandering (formally and informally) around ideas about wisdom and joy – across neuroscience, psychology, wisdom traditions, philosophy, sociology, the arts and more.