LIVING CLOSER FOUNDATION
PHYSICIAN FELLOWSHIP IN
CLIMATE & HEALTH SCIENCE POLICY
ESTABLISHED IN 2017, IT IS THE FIRST NON-GOVERNMENTAL FELLOWSHIP OF ITS KIND IN THE USA.
OUR PARTNERS
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO
HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL
Our goal is to train physicians to create leaders in the field of climate change and health. This training program seeks to empower physicians through education and successful communication skills and to characterize the impact of these changes on our collective health.
We currently have two fellowship programs. Both Fellowships involve placement with our principal partners at the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health and locally through the University of Colorado Consortium on Climate and Health and Harvard Medical School.
The Living Closer Foundation Physician Fellowship in Climate & Health Science Policy, University of Colorado, CO. Established 2017
This Fellowship is a 12-month program hosted by the University of Colorado Department of Emergency Medicine. The Fellowship is based in the University of Colorado Department of Emergency Medicine.
Director of Program: Dr Jay Lemery, CU and Andrea Durrell
2017-2019: Dr Cecilia Sorenson
2019-2020: Dr Caitlin Rublee
2020-2021: Dr Hanna Linstadt
For more information on applying for the fellowship, visit https://www.coloradowm.org/climate-health-science-policy-fellowship/
Fellow in Climate and Human Health of the Living Closer Foundation Consortium on Climate Science and Health Policy, Harvard Medical School, MA. Established 2019
This Fellowship is a 24-month program hosted by the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Director of Program: Dr Sachit Balsari and Andrea Durrell
2019-2021: Dr Caleb Dresser
OUR PHYSICIAN FELLOWSHIP TEAM
Committed to the Cause
DR JAY LEMERY
Fellowship Director
Jay Lemery, MD, Is A Professor Of Emergency Medicine At The University Of Colorado School Of Medicine, Chief Of The Section Of Wilderness And Environmental Medicine, And Faculty In The Department Of Environmental And Occupational Health At The Colorado School Of Public Health. He Is A Past-President Of The Wilderness Medical Society.
Dr. Lemery has expertise in austere and remote medical care, as well as the effects of climate change on human health. He sits on the National Academy of Medicine’s (IOM) Roundtable on Environmental Health Sciences, Research, and Medicine and is currently the Medical Director for the National Science Foundation’s Polar Research program. He is a physician consultant to the Exploration Medical Capability Element of NASA’s Human Research Program. From 2014-2016, he was the EMS Medical Director for the United States Antarctic Program.
DR CECILIA SORENSON
CU Fellow, 2017-2018 & 2018-2019
Cecilia Sorensen, MD is a physician-investigator in the area of climate change and health at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and the University of Colorado School of Public Health and an emergency medicine physician at Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colorado. Following residency training at Denver Health, she became the first Living Closer Foundation Fellow in Climate and Health Science Policy.
Dr. Sorensen is a health author for the U.S. Fourth National Climate Assessment and serves as a technical advisor for the annual Lancet Climate and Health U.S. Policy Brief. Her academic interests are broad and she has published research regarding the impacts of climate change on women's health, worker health, wildfires and health care utilization, the spread of Zika Virus and mortality following Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Dr. Sorensen has lectured nationally and internationally on these subjects while also providing education for the lay public.
DR CAITLIN RUBLEE
CU Fellow, 2019-2020
Caitlin Rublee, MD, MPH is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and faculty at the Institute for Health and Equity at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. She serves as the current chair of the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine Climate Change and Health Interest Group and is on the Board of Directors for Wisconsin Health Professionals for Climate Action. Scholarly work has addressed the impact of dust storms on intensive care unit admissions, the management of heatstroke, strengthening emergency care systems in low-resource settings, reducing waste in emergency departments, and climate change education for health professionals. She has presented nationally and internationally on building health care facility resilience against extreme weather events. Dr. Rublee is the clinical correlates editor for the second edition of Global Climate Change and Human Health textbook. She remains dedicated to advancing public health and equity through cross-sector collaboration and advocacy.
DR HANNA LINSTADT
CU Fellow, 2020-2021
Hanna Linstadt is the Living Closer Foundation Fellow in Climate and Health Science Policy for the 2020-2021 academic year and is a clinical instructor in emergency medicine at the University of Colorado. She attended medical school at New York Medical College and completed her emergency medicine residency training at Stanford University, where she also served as chief resident. While at Stanford, she became interested in the connection between climate and human health as well as how the health care system itself contributes to climate change. She looks forward to the year to learn more about the relationship between climate and health and to develop ways to encourage key stakeholders to enact climate-smart policies in the future.
Harvard Fellowship Director
Dr. Satchit Balsari is assistant professor in emergency medicine at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Since 2009, he has been a fellow at Harvard FXB, where his research has contributed to advocacy on behalf of vulnerable populations affected by disasters and humanitarian crises. Until March 2017, he served as Director of the Global Emergency Medicine Program at Weill Cornell Medical College/NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
DR CALEB DRESSER
Harvard Fellow, 2019-2021
Caleb Dresser is the 2019-2021 Fellow in Climate and Human Health of the LCF Consortium on Climate Science and Health Policy through the Department of Emergency Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Caleb’s current work focuses on the means to address health needs during and after climate-related disasters, with particular attention to heat waves and tropical cyclones. He is currently studying the hazards posed by extreme heat events and weather-related electrical outages for patients in communities near Boston, including the threat that these can pose to patients with specific medical vulnerabilities. He is also examining the long-term health impacts of hurricanes and other climate-related disasters, including issues of prolonged loss of access to medical services and temporary and permanent migration of affected populations.
Caleb completed his medical education at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and his residency in Emergency Medicine through the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He is currently enrolled in the Master of Public Health program at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and practices emergency medicine as a member of Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians.