Undergraduate Medical Education
The University of Colorado School of Medicine Climate and Health Program (CHP) works to amplify climate change and health in education, communication, and scholarship. Since AY 2022-2023, CHP’s Director for Undergraduate Medical Education has focused on integrating climate change and health competencies into the medical school curriculum and undergraduate medical education (UME) experience, thereby addressing the call of global youth and U.S. medical students to confront one of the greatest public health threats of modern time. National thought-leadership by CHP-UME is demonstrated through the following activities:
- Climate and health curricular integration,
- delivering innovative curriculum and up-to-date content,
- engaging student leaders through the Climate and Health Integration Project (CHIP),
- contributing scholarship to peer-reviewed journals and conferences,
- enhancing access to climate and health CME for medical educators, and
- fostering strong interprofessional and community partnerships alongside CHP-GME/CME which do not duplicate efforts of these programs.
UME Mission: To transform the culture of medical education such that graduates confront environmental degradation as a threat to human health and, in so doing, apply the Hippocratic Oath to both individual patients and future generations of patients.
The growing list of curricular areas integrating climate and/or environmental health includes:
Pre-clinical examples (core curriculum):
- Windshield survey of local neighborhoods (Health & Society)
- Climate and health 101 - 3-hour Compass session (Health & Society)
- Various sessions focused on healthcare emissions reductions (H&S)
- DOCS (Developing our clinical skills) cases: one session expanded to incorporate environmental health history taking
Clerkship examples (core curriculum):
- Team Based Learning (TBL) sessions within Longitudinal Integrated Clerkships (LIC's) - as of December 2024, 6 TBL cases have been modified to include discussion of planetary health topics and educate students on environment-specific differentials, clinical management, and prevention
Post-clerkship Selective:
- IDPT 8075: Climate Change and Environment. 1-month selective open to 3rd and 4th year students. Physicians have a unique set of roles in the case of environmental degradation: first as trusted messengers on matters related to health; second, as inadvertent contributors to the problem. Through didactics and independent reading, community discussions, a table top exercise, and other active learning sessions, selective students explore professional responses to climate change. They ultimately complete of a final project that could realistically be applied to individual students’ future professional practice setting
- The selective is open to students enrolled at CU-School of Medicine. Offered twice per year, during October and March.
Beth Gillespie, MD, FACP, is an ABIM-certified hospitalist at Denver Health Medical Center, and an assistant professor in the CU School of Medicine. She is a masters candidate in epidemiology through the Colorado School of Public Health (expected graduation December 2023). Gillespie's primary professional interest is in clinical research and education surrounding the climate and health nexus, with particular focus on understanding the ideal role for local health systems in climate change mitigation and adaptation.
She held a leadership position (January 2017 - June 2020) representing the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) on the Steering Committee for The Medical Consortium on Climate Change and Health, and is founding member of SGIM’s environmental health interest group which authored SGIM’s Position Statement on Climate and Health (approved by Council 2021) and advocates for more cross-cutting sustainability practices in the organization. She serves as inaugural sustainability chair for SGIM’s Planning Committee. Locally, Gillespie co-chairs the Environmental Sustainability at Denver Health.
In 2019, Gillespie completed a two-year clinical research fellowship focused on climate change and health through the Adult and Child Consortium for Health Outcomes Research and Delivery Science at the CU School of Medicine. Grateful for initial funding she received for climate-related health research through the Denver Health Pilot Program, Gillespie continued to work in this area through July 2022 as a guest researcher with the CDC’s Climate and Health Team, a position made possible through her 2021-2022 fellowship with CU’s Climate and Health Science Policy Program. Gillespie directs the medical school's elective on climate and health and is currently facilitating a group of motivated CU School of Medicine students working to integrate planetary health into the core curriculum.
Administrative Support:
Meagan Rivers: [email protected]
Student Council Sustainability Co-Chairs:
Student editors and contributors to the Planetary Health Report Card (PHRC). Link to University of Colorado PHRC 2022
Rebekah Davis, MS1; Armaan Dhillon, MS2; Whitney Kelly, MS3; Monisha Lensink-Vasan, MS1; Vivian Rajeswaren, MS4 (primary contact); Alessandra Santiago, MS2; Lukas Sloan, MS3 (primary contact); Caroline Walsh, MS2
Students focusing on planetary health subjects for their MSP: Armaan Dhillon, Jamie Smith
The University of Colorado School of Medicine completed its first Planetary Health Report Card (PHRC) for 2022. We continue to improve based on our standings for 2023 and here is our detailed 2023 PHRC. The following students and faculty contributed to this 2023 Report:
- Students:
- Rebekah Davis, MS1
- Armaan Dhillon, MS2
- Whitney Kelly, MS3
- Monisha Lensink-Vasan, MS1
- Vivian Rajeswaren, MS4
- Alessandra Santiago, MS2
- Lukas Sloan, MS3
- Caroline Walsh, MS2
- Faculty Mentors:
- Beth Gillespie, MD
- Beth Gillespie, MD
- Primary Contacts:
- Vivian Rajeswaren: [email protected]
- Lukas Sloan: [email protected]
CU-CHASE:
- CU CHASE is an interdisciplinary group open to all students, faculty, and staff at CU Anschutz focused on raising awareness and taking action on the human health implications of climate change. The group is organized into our three areas of focus: Advocacy, Sustainability, and Education. We are an affiliate group of Medical Students for a Sustainable Future, and have access to their resources/opportunities. We are also closely associated with the CU Consortium for Climate Change and Health, a group of practitioners/researchers at CU who have united in their work to advance science and health practices related to the intersection of climate and health. To learn more or join our email list please write to [email protected].
Medical Students for a Sustainable Future (MS4SF):
- CU's MS4SF works closely with CU CHASE to broaden impact and to center the idea that addressing climate change and health is an interdisciplinary process. The current chapter leader of CUs MS4SF is Douglas Fritz ([email protected]).
Faculty Contacts for Research/QI:
- Josina O’Connell, MD, and Janet Meredith, MBA: Community Perspective and Engagement on the Impacts of Temperature Extremes in Colorado
Advocacy Opportunities:
Other Helpful Links: