Climate change is arguably humanity's greatest public health threat in the 21st century, with significant implications for human health today and in the future. Organizations such as the World Health Organization, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the China CDC, and the U.S. CDC have all highlighted the current and growing adverse impacts of climate change on communicable and non-communicable diseases, including mental health conditions.
The Yale Center on Climate Change and Health (YCCCH) is dedicated to advancing public health through research, education, public health practice, and advocacy, focusing on the fundamental interactions between climate change and human health. YCCCH’s transdisciplinary approach explores a wide range of topics, including the impacts of climate change on healthcare sustainability, the health of vulnerable populations like children, and strategies to promote health in urban environments. The goal is to produce information to foster a stable climate where human populations and diverse ecosystems can thrive.
Each year, YCCCH welcomes a diverse group of Master of Public Health students into the Climate Change and Health Concentration from various departments within the School of Public Health, including Environmental Health Sciences, Social and Behavior Sciences, Health Policy and Management, Chronic Disease Epidemiology, and Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases. After two years of rigorous coursework, seminars, and applied learning opportunities, graduates find themselves well-prepared to pursue a diverse range of careers tackling the health effects of climate change.
Students in the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases (EMD) have many opportunities to learn how climate change influences the spread and emergence of infectious diseases and work alongside YCCCH faculty and community partners. For example, Assistant Professor Colin Carlson, an EMD and YCCCH-affiliated faculty member, focuses on how climate change exacerbates risks related to both infectious diseases of poverty and pandemic threats. He also explores issues in global health governance, focused on the legal, political, and scientific determinants of outbreak reporting and data sharing.
Sydney Jones, MPH ’24, now a research associate with the Berkeley Air Monitoring Group, is a recent graduate of the Climate Change and Health Concentration, recently presented her research on tickborne diseases in Connecticut at the American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene (ASTMH) Annual Meeting. While at Yale, Sydney worked closely with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES), a YCCCH community partner. Her analysis of a survey of Connecticut residents about their perceptions, behaviors, and knowledge related to tickborne diseases like Lyme disease, babesiosis, anaplasmosis, Borrelia miyamotoi disease, and Powassan virus disease, will help improve tick surveillance programs at CAES.
YCCCH is proud to utilize Yale's multidisciplinary expertise and global reach to train future leaders, provide a comprehensive educational program, and catalyze innovative research. Please join YCCCH in addressing one of the greatest public health challenges of the 21st century!