Residency Electives
The CU Climate & Health Program offers a novel and innovative two- to four-week elective for residents across the country in Climate Medicine. Goals of the elective are to provide resident physicians with foundational knowledge, skills, and abilities in planetary health to effectively lead the health sector in mitigating and adapting for climate change. Core competencies and learning objectives meet all six AGCME competencies and can be tailored to the resident’s interest and prior experience and knowledge of planetary health.
Residents will be encouraged to work on a deliverable focused on science and health communication, advocacy, or quality improvement as well. We hope to also facilitate networking with local, regional, and national climate change and health organizations and experts. Due to the non-clinical nature of the elective, it offers flexibility in scope and can be done remotely. While CU Climate & Health Program faculty is board certified in family medicine, internal medicine and emergency medicine, residents from all specialties are welcome to apply.
The American Medical Association (AMA), American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), American College of Physicians (ACP), American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) have all advocated for medical education to integrate environmental and planetary health. While some progress is underway at the undergraduate and post-graduate level across the country, there is minimal education about climate change at the residency level. Our residency elective aims to lead in closing this gap.
Jen Camello, PGY3, was the first resident in the country to complete a ‘climate medicine’ elective. As part of her elective, she was able to publish an op-ed in the Colorado Sun.
In Syria, multiyear droughts and rising temperatures led to the devastation of agricultural land and water scarcity, amplifying the economic and political crisis there. Warming of the global climate increases the number and severity of disasters like wildfires, floods, and hurricanes — which all lead to mass population displacement and have a significant effect on the health outcomes of...
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Sample Elective
How to Apply
Residency elective spots for the 2023 - 2024 academic year are currently full. We anticipate reopening applications in the spring of 2024.