Instructors:
- Elizabeth Carlton, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, CSPH
- Rosemary Rochford, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, CSPH and Department of Immunology, School of Medicine
- Jay Lemery, Department of Emergency Medicine, School of Medicine
Course Description:
What are the implications of climate change for public health? What populations are most vulnerable to climate change? How can we, as public health professionals, intervene to prevent or reduce harm?
In this course, we will studythe major implications of climate change for human health. We will develop skills to understand climate predictions, estimate potential health impacts, identify vulnerable populations, and evaluate interventions to help populations adapt to a changing climate. Climate change promises to affect many populations: outdoor workers and the home-bound, children and the elderly, populations here in Colorado, the US and abroad. We will examine the health challenges of climate change from the perspective of many of these stakeholders. We will also emphasize a multi-disciplinary approach to addressing climate health challenges. Guest lecturers will include atmospheric scientists, clinicians, public health practitioners, epidemiologists and social scientists. Similarly, we encourage students from across the Colorado School of Public Health to take this class – our class will benefit from the diverse perspectives of students from across different departments and professional backgrounds. Effective public health response to climate change will require cross-cutting skills including the ability to rigorously evaluate the science, identify vulnerable populations, communicate with stakeholders and work across disciplines to promote health in a changing climate.