Building on the success of its Physician Fellowship in Climate & Health, the University of Colorado School of Medicine is pleased to announce a new professional development program for health care providers of all specialties.
Government, nonprofit funding agencies, and hospital systems are scaling up climate and health opportunities. Health care providers must learn to lead on:
BECOME A LEADER IN THE CRITICAL HEALTH ISSUE OF OUR TIME.
Community leaders, deans, department chairs, elected officials, hospital CEOs, nonprofit executive directors, and government agencies will be tasked with climate plans. They will need expertise and counsel on the health impacts of their operations and
policies to benefit their constituencies and patients.
Our ecosystems are now under such stress that widescale human suffering is all but a certainty. Record heat exposures, flooding episodes, wildfires, hurricanes, and forced displacement are increasingly exacerbating health disparities, predominantly in our most vulnerable populations.
The first diplomate class at the National Center for Atmospheric Research
Diplomates in Climate Medicine will be credible, knowledgeable, and effective leaders on smart, patient-centric policies on this critical health crisis.
Few clinicians can effectively articulate the dizzy interplay between public health, energy policy, geopolitics, earth science, government, and medicine. Policy has stalled due to the difficulty in translating complex earth science into convincing connections between extreme heat and illness in urban communities, pandemics and loss of biodiversity, or severe weather and food insecurity.
Climate Medicine Diplomates can fill that gap, crafting patient-centric narratives when working with CEOs, community leaders, and policymakers by:
ALL PARTICIPANTS WILL RECEIVE A PRINTED COPY OF OUR TEXTBOOK, Global Climate Change and Human Health (2e) at enrollment.
OUR PARTNERS
The Diploma in Climate Medicine is for the clinician concerned with the impacts of climate change on the health of our families, patients, and society. In this program, you will receive the hands-on training and professional credentials necessary to be a credible, knowledgeable, and influential voice in advancing smart, patient-centric policy in climate and health. Leadership opportunities on behalf of communities, health care systems, academic institutions, NGOs, governments, and policymakers are coming. This program will give you the background and skills to be an effective change agent.
The Diploma in Climate Medicine will offer the superlative distinction for expertise and leadership in this novel field.
The program has five separate one-week certificate program. Completion of all five certificates leads to the Diploma in Climate Medicine.
A carefully integrated curriculum permits participants to have a 360-degree, comprehensive perspective on the health impacts of climate change.
All courses include cross-cutting themes on climate justice, leadership, and climate & health communication.
We conduct each course in a hybrid fashion with the following components:
Each of the five courses will offer a professional certificate from the CU School of Medicine and may serve as a stand-alone course in that topic. Participants completing all five certificates will receive a Diploma in Climate Medicine from the CU School of Medicine. Courses do not need to be taken sequentially, but it is recommended that you start with Foundations and Updates in Climate Medicine. To receive your certificate and CME credit, all required coursework must be completed in 28 days from the start of the certificate course (first live Zoom session).
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the partnership of the Wilderness Medical Society (WMS) and University of Colorado. The WMS is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians. All education content presented in this activity has been reviewed and validated as appropriate in keeping with sound scientific principles.
The WMS designates this educational activity for [maximum credit hours pending] AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM. Each physician should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Please note, for those that wish to claim CME credits and certificate, there will be an additional fee of $150 per person per diploma course.
Upon completion of the program, participants will have gained:
Foundations in Climate Medicine | Fall 2022 September 25 - October 2, 2022 |
Sustainable Healthcare | Spring 2023 May 15 - May 22, 2023 |
Disaster Resilience and Response | Fall 2023 October 30 - November 5, 2023 |
Community Resilience | Spring 2024 February 7 - February 13, 2024 |
Global Challenges | Fall 2024 Planned |
Few
clinicians can effectively articulate the dizzy interplay between public health, energy policy, geopolitics, earth science, government and medicine. It is no underestimation that recent policy has stalled from the difficulty in translating complex
earth science into convincing linkages between extreme heat and illness in urban communities; loss of biodiversity and pandemics; or extreme weather and food insecurity.
Climate doctors can fill that gap, crafting patient-centric narratives when sparring over policies with CEOs, community leaders, and policymakers in advocating for climate-resilient policies; credibly addressing deeply rooted environmental justice issues; and effectively leading health systems to decarbonize. This is where to begin — a solid foundation to build upon for your Diploma in Climate Medicine.
Features of this course include:
The
American health sector is responsible for an estimated 8.5% of national carbon emissions. Its full-cost operational footprint is enormous when considering facility operations, sources of energy use, and goods and services supply chains. We need health
care champions to implement cost-saving strategic investments through energy and waste efficiencies; "greener" operative practices; healthier food services; and smarter purchasing. All represent tangible opportunities for you to lead as a change agent,
both as a heavyweight within the American economy and as a care provider charged with the health and well-being of our communities.
Features of this course include:
Lancet
has called climate change the “biggest global health threat of the 21st century.” Consider that wildfires are more intense and longer lasting than ever before. We have suffered from months of persistent air degradation across huge swaths
of our country, resulting in untold illness. We have experienced flooding, structural damage and displacement from hurricanes, each year increasingly energized from warmer average temperatures. The data tell us that chaotic changes to our ecosystems
are undermining healthy living, exacerbating illness, and stressing social determinants of health. The list of climate-related health effects is no different than a busy emergency department triage list: fainting (from extreme heat), shortness of
breath (from degraded air quality and increased aeroallergens), fever (from vector-borne diseases), vomiting and diarrhea (from diminished water quality), and trauma (from extreme weather events). Understanding the root causes and responses to disasters
will be a crucial part of your DiCM experience.
Features of this course include:
The economic and structural systems fueling climate change and environmental degradation, also shape our existing public health landscape and social determinants of health. If we seek to protect the health and wellness of our communities, the Diplomat
in Climate Medicine will need to be facile in understanding basic concepts of public health drivers and policy at the individual, local, and regional level.Understanding the social and health impacts of innovations and transformational policy
in the transportation, built environment, energy, food and agriculture sectors will be critical for the effective health professional advocate. As a DCM, you can be a clarion voice for your community, schooled in these concepts to advocate for and
effect climate-smart and climate-ready public health policies.
Features of this course include:
The first four courses will give you a firm foundation on the health impacts of climate change, opportunities and barriers for health sector responses, public health and policy strategies, as well as communication and advocacy skills. This final course will turn its lens toward global challenges and issues of international governance.
Features of this course include:
Climate Medicine is a new concept in clinical care, and at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, we are defining it. The Climate & Health Program utilizes education, research, service, and partnerships to help build a sustainable community committed to climate health.
Our goal is to advance the capacity of all health care professionals to effect change in this critical health crisis. We can't think of a better endeavor for our creative energies, educational passion, and professional work. Our team believes the impact
of training leaders in climate and health will amplify our collective voice and influence policy change for years to come. We hope that Diploma in Climate Medicine graduates will become effective guardians against the burgeoning threat. We need formidable
innovators and leaders on this critical issue for all of humanity.
Our faculty are experts on climate change and human health unsurpassed among academic centers. We not only bring your our best talents, but pull from luminaries in the field to augment our faculty.
Jay Lemery, MD | Rosemary Rochford, PhD |
Terry O'Connor, MD | Bhargavi Chekuri, MD |
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In 2018, he was appointed a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and in 2020 he was awarded George Mason’s top research honor—the Beck Family Presidential Medal of Excellence in Research and Scholarship—and the Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication. In 2021, Maibach was identified by Thompson Reuters as one of the world’s 10 most influential scientists working on climate change. He has served as associate director of the National Cancer Institute and worldwide director of social marketing at Porter Novelli. He earned his PhD in communication science at Stanford University, his master of public health at San Diego State University, and his bachelor’s in psychology at the University of California, San Diego. |
Women. She has presented at Health Care Without Harm’s CleanMed annual conference, California’s American College of Emergency Physicians, and FemInEM. In 2019 she was awarded as an inaugural Emerging Physician Leader by Health Care Without Harm’s Physician Network. As a National Physician Fellow, she has partnered with Health Care Without Harm and the US Environmental Protection Agency Climate Science and Impacts Branch. |
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Chirjiv Anand, PhD MS
Isabela-Cajiao Angelelli MD
Hayley Blackburn, PharmD
Jaime Butler-Dawson, PhD, MPH
Brian Cheseboro, MD
Amy Collins, MD
James Crooks, PhD
Shanda Demorest, DNP, RN, PHN
Caleb Dresser, MD
Matthew Eckelman PhD
Utibe Effiong, MD, MPH, MHA
Gregg Furie, MD
Karly Hampshire MD Candidate
Aisha Harris, MD
Andrea Hicks, PhD
Katherine James, MPH
Katie Lichter, MD, MPH
George E. Luber, PhD
Mark Mitchell, MD, MPH, FACPM
Julie K. Moyle, MSN, RN
Bernadette Woods Placky
Jon Polley
Colleen Reid, PhD
Caitlin Rublee, MD, MPH
Todd L Sack MD FACP
Emily Sbiroli, MD
Elizabeth Schenk, PhD, RN, FAAN
Rahul Sharma, MD, MBA
Ted C. Shieh, MD
Hardeep Singh, MD
Emma Sirois
Dean Sittig, PhD
Cassandra Thiel MD
Jeff Thompson MD
Walt Vernon, PE, LEED AP, EDAC
Moriah A. Washington, MPA
Nick Watts MBBS
Noe Woods, MD
The Diploma in Climate Medicine is open to health care practitioners who hold an advanced degree and licensure in any area of clinical practice.
The diploma is awarded upon successful completion of all five certificates. You do not need to enroll in the diploma program to take an individual certificate course.
The four additional certificate courses will roll out over the subsequent 24 months. There is no time period within which the five certificate courses must be completed to be awarded a diploma.
The inaugural Diploma in Climate Medicine cohort at Rocky Mountain National Park.
We will award three $900 scholarships to exceptional applicants who can attest to need (see application details below).
A
$500 refundable deposit is required with your application. The final
payment is due 45 days prior to the start of the certificate course.
Participants who complete all 5 certificates, will be eligible for a 50% discount from their final certificate.
To prepare your application for submission, please have the following documents available:
Participants applying for subsequent programs will not be required to re-submit application documents. In the event of limited spots for a single certificate course offering, preference will be given to returning participants seeking a diploma.
Students can expect to hear a decision on their application within four weeks. For questions regarding your application, please email meagan.rivers@cuanschutz.edu.
Your deposit will be refundable if you are not accepted and up to 3 months before the certificate course start.
Should the program be canceled due to insufficient enrollment, a full refund will be given. Notification of cancellation will be provided at least 45 days prior to the program’s start date.
We regret that we are unable to provide refunds should an applicant register then be unable to attend the program.
For all inquiries regarding the Diploma in Climate Medicine, please email meagan.rivers@cuanschutz.edu.