The Yale Center on Climate Change and Health recently invited Dr. Neha Pathak, MD, chief physician editor, health and lifestyle medicine at WebMD, to discuss the challenges physicians face in communicating health concerns related to climate change.
During the January 27 seminar, Dr. Pathak presented strategies for communicating climate-related health information based on her experience as a practicing physician and medical journalist.
Dr. Pathak currently oversees WebMD’s medical team to ensure the accuracy of the site’s health information. WebMD is a leading digital health news and information website that provides comprehensive and reliable health and medical information online.
Dr. Pathak is also a media spokesperson for WebMD and hosts WebMD's Health Discovered podcast. She is board-certified in both internal medicine and lifestyle medicine. As a member of the WebMD medical team, she reports on topics related to lifestyle, the environment, and climate change impacts on health.
Dr. Pathak is co-founder of Georgia Clinicians for Climate Action and Co-Chair of the Global Sustainability Committee for the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. She is a Public Voices Fellow on the Climate Crisis with the Op-Ed Project and a graduate of the Yale School of Public Health’s Climate Change and Health certificate program, which aims to help clinicians, educators, and other working professionals effectively communicate the health effects of climate change.
Pathak began the seminar by recounting her experiences as a practicing physician, highlighting the challenges of incorporating climate health information during short patient exams. She suggested strategies clinicians can use when seeking to connect climate change to health.
Pathak shared her own “aha” moment in finding ways to discuss climate change and health when she noticed her daughter’s worsening seasonal allergies. In previous years, allergies usually picked up in patients after St. Patrick’s Day. But lately, Pathak said, allergists are seeing a rise in symptoms as early as Valentine's Day. These examples of climate-related health issues presenting during patient exams - such as allergies or heat-related illnesses - offer clinicians an opportunity to discuss the health impacts of climate change, Pathak said.
Pathak also discussed best practices for physicians interested in communicating climate-related health concerns in the media. The anatomy of a good op-ed or commentary article, she said, should include the potential health impacts of an issue, the intended audience impacted by the issue, and the actions needed to tackle rising concerns. The most effective articles clearly identify health impacts, policy solutions, and appropriate actions in responding to a pressing health concern, she said.
She demonstrated this strategy by sharing her article “Bougie moms, unite! Our superpowers could be the key to saving our kid’s future,” which spins a mother’s desire to create a healthy home into a desire to create a healthy climate.
“I wanted them [readers] to feel like their beautiful, perfect, pristine suburban environment was also at risk,” she said regarding the article’s focus. “Though the majority of folks think about climate change, there’s a huge gap between their attitudes and their actual activities.”
While publishing focused health communications in the media is important in raising general awareness and encouraging action, Pathak emphasized the significant benefits that can come from direct doctor-to-patient communication. Conversations in the clinic can be guided by a patient’s understanding and background, she said, while the impact of articles in the media is always less certain.
Pathak ended her talk with a call to action, urging those present to expand their scope of practice to include climate considerations and to share their knowledge with patients.
A full recording of Pathak’s talk is available on the Yale Center for Climate Change and Health YouTube page.