Climate Change and Health Boot Camp

Climate change is having substantial impacts on the health effects that are expected to become more extreme in the coming decades. This training will give participants knowledge and skills that will help them improve clinical care and public health practice, prepare for climate change impacts, and integrate climate change information into long-term research or management decision-making.

This three-day intensive boot camp combines content on the mechanisms and health impacts of climate change with practical approaches to mitigation and adaptation that participants can apply to their professional work. Led by physicians and public health experts with specialized training in Climate Change and Health, this workshop will integrate content-oriented lectures, skills-oriented class exercises, and group discussion of broader themes, challenges, and opportunities. Upon completion of the course, participants are expected to have an understanding of key topics in climate change and health and a personal action plan for engagement with these issues in their professional work.

By the end of the workshop, participants will be familiar with the following topics:

• Causes of climate change and the contribution of the health system to climate change
• Current, evidence-based mechanisms connecting climate change to health impacts
• Implications of climate change for health equity
• How to access climate projections, information on projected health impacts, and information to support long-term planning and research
• Clinical actions to consider in climate-affected patients
• Principles of healthcare system and public health resilience planning in the context of climate change
• Principles of climate and health communication with a variety of stakeholders
• Case studies on successful engagement with climate and health issues by individuals, institutions, and communities
• Principles of community-based risk assessment for health

Summer 2026: The Climate Change and Health Boot Camp is a livestream, remote training that takes place over live, online video on June 10-12, 2026 from 10am EDT - ~5:00pm EDT. Please note this training is not a self-paced, pre-recorded online training.

Professionals from any institution and from all career stages are welcome to attend, and we particularly encourage trainees and early-stage investigators to participate. There are two requirements to attend this training:

1. Participants are expected to attend all sessions and come prepared to participate in group discussions, undertake brief in-class exercises, and share their experience/expertise with other learners.
2. Participants will be expected to have a working laptop or tablet with video and audio capabilities.

Summer 2026 instructing team is being finalized, but will be comparable to the 2025 lineup below.

Training Co-Director: Cecilia Sorensen, MD, Associate Professor, Environmental Health Sciences at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Dr. Sorensen is the Director of the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education (GCCHE) at Columbia University and is an Emergency Medicine physician-investigator in the area of climate change and health. She is a member of the Colorado Consortium for Climate Change, a scientific advisor for the Citizens Climate Lobby, and is the course director for the nations' first medical school course on climate change and human health. She also co-directs the National Climate-Health Fellowship program at the University of Colorado, a post-residency training program for physicians. Her recent work has spanned from heat stress and worker health in Guatemala, wildfires and health care utilization in the United States, the emergence of Zika virus in Ecuador following the Earthquake of 2016, climate change and women's health in India, and mortality following hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.

Training Co-Director: Stefan Wheat, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine. With the Center for Health and the Global Environment (CHanGE) at the University of Washington, Dr. Wheat works to understand the scope of the health threats posed by climate change, promote healthcare system adaptation and emergency preparedness, and inform policies to keep people safe in a rapidly changing world. He completed a fellowship in Climate & Health Science Policy at the University of Colorado where he worked as a Physician-Fellow at the Department of Health and Human Services in their Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE) and as an Associate Research Scientist at Columbia University’s Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education. His work has included founding ClimateRx, a tool designed to help health professionals to connect with patients and colleagues on how we can respond to the health risks of climate change, and promoting digital health solutions to promote climate change health system resilience and sustainability. 

Jerry P. Abraham, MD, MPH, CMQ, President, Los Angeles County Medical Association LACMA and Director & Chief Vaccinologist, CDU-KEDREN Mobile Street Medicine.

Johh Balbus, MD, MPH, Climate Care.

Rupa Basu, PhD, MPH, Senior Science Advisor, UCSF Center for Climate, Health and Equity. 

Laelia Benoit, MD, PhD, Solnit Inegrated Program, Child Study Center, Yale Univeristy. 

Megan Bock, Ed.M., M.Ed., Senior Director at Afton Partners and Public Narrative Coach at Harvard Univeristy.

Yvonne Collins, MD, Chief Medical Officer, CountyCare.

James Crooks, PhD, MS, Associate Professor, Division of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, National Jewish Health.

Josh Ettinger, PhD, Center for Climate Change Communication (Mason 4C), George Mason University.

William Hamilton, MD, Climate Change and Health Leadership Fellow, The University of the West Indies.

Jeremy Hess, MD, MPH, Professor, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, Global Health and Emergency Medicine, and Director, Center for Health and the Global Environment, University of Washington. 

Adele Houghton, FAIA, MPH, LEED AP, DrPH, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Jenny Keroack, Director of Program Strategy at Health Care Without Harm. 

Kristina Kintziger, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Environmental, Agricultural & Occupational Health, University of Nebraska Medical Center. 

Vijay Limaye, PhD, Senior Scientist and Director, Applied Research Initiatives, Natural Resources Defense Council.

Evan Mallen, PhD, Urban Climate Lab, Georgia Institute of Technology.

Jonathan Patz, MD, MPH, John P. Holton Chair of Health and the Environment Vilas Distinguished Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

Frederica Perera, DrPH, PhD, Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, and Founder, Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

Nick Seaver, Vice President and Co-Director, Training Programs, Burness.

Nova Tebbe, PhD student, Environment and Resources Program, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Arianne Teherani, PhD, Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco. 

Indi Trehan, MD, MPH, DTM&H, Professor of Pediatrics, Adjunct Professor of Global Health, Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology, University of Washington.

Neelu Tummala, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology, NYU Langone Health.

Rev. Vernon K. Walker, MPP, MTS, Director of Content and External Strategy, Progress and Poverty Institute.

Training scholarships are available for the Climate Change and Health Boot Camp.

"Amazing program that really gets you up to speed for the intersection of the two sectors. Appreciate the multiple points of view from various experts (academicians, physicians, policy, advocacy, communication, etc.)." - Staff Member at Climate Policy Initiative, 2025

"I absolutely loved this course. The speakers and participants opened my eyes, and it felt so refreshing to learn from so many interesting people. I feel inspired and motivated." - Faculty Member at University of Utah Health, 2025
"This was a very well-organized three-day lecture series filled with individual climate change and health topic presentations from subject matter experts that left me feeling more equipped both with a deeper knowledge of the issues and tangible communication skills to take back to my clinical community." - Resident at Alaska Family Medicine Residency, 2025

"A diverse line-up of speakers that provides a thorough introduction to the field of climate and health. I especially appreciated the perspectives coming from different sectors, including academics, professionals, and other stakeholders." - Postdoc at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, 2024

"The Climate Change and Health Boot Camp alarms, angers, motivates, informs, and inspires health professionals, scientists, and academics to dedicate our professional careers to support public health best practices to protect populations from climate change's worse impacts. I left this training fired up and ready to go!" - Research Analyst at Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, Office of Environmental Justice and Climate Health, 2024

"The Climate Change and Health Boot Camp offered a thorough understanding of how a shifting climate affects human health and natural ecosystems. It also explored the influence of climate change on healthcare delivery and the environmental footprint of healthcare systems. After the boot camp, I will have access to extensive resources to aid in promoting eco-friendly work practices and guide where to concentrate mitigation strategies to address negative climate consequences." - Regional Manager at Northern Health Authority, 2024

Registration Fee is based on your category and includes course material. Course material will be available to all attendees during and after the workshop.  

2026 Registration Category Rates: 

• Student/Postdoc/Trainee: 

  • Early-bird rate: $1,195 

  • Regular rate: $1,395 

• Faculty/Academic Staff/Non-Profit Organizations/Government Agencies: 

  • Early-bird rate: $1,395 

  • Regular rate: $1,595​​​

     

• ​Corporate/For-Profit Organizations: 

  • Early-bird rate: $1,595 

  • Regular rate: $1,795 

$200 early-bird discount is automatically applied if you register before the  April 15 deadline.  

• *Columbia/Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education (GCCHE) Discount: This discount is valid for any active student, postdoc, staff, or faculty at Columbia University or active member of GCCHE. To access the Columbia discount: if paying by credit card, use your Columbia email address during the registration process to automatically have the discount applied. If paying by internal transfer within Columbia, submit this Columbia Internal Transfer Request form (link to form coming soon) to receive further instructions. Please note: filling out this form is not the same as registering for a training and does not guarantee a training seat.  To access the GCCHE discount, please email ColumbiaSHARP.Climate@gmail.com.

   

• $200 Early-bird Discount: This is automatically applied if you register before the April 15 early-bird deadline.  

• 10% Columbia Discount: This is valid for any active student, postdoc, staff, or faculty at Columbia University. If paying by credit card, use your Columbia email address during the registration process to automatically have the discount applied. If paying by internal transfer within Columbia, see below.  

• 10% Mailman Alumni Discount: This is valid for any individual who graduated from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. To access the Mailman Alumni discount and receive a registration code, please email sharp_program@cumc.columbia.edu your graduation year and degree.  

• Group discounts are available for organizations sending 5+ participants. Please contact us directly at sharp_program@cumc.columbia.edu for more information.  

If paying by internal transfer within Columbia, submit this Columbia Internal Transfer Request form (link to form coming soon) to receive further instructions. Please note: filling out this form is not the same as registering for a training and does not guarantee a training seat.

If you would prefer to pay by invoice/check, please submit this Invoice Request form (link to form coming soon) to receive further instructions. Please note: filling out this form is not the same as registering for a training and does not guarantee a training seat.

Cancellation notices must be received via email at least 30 days prior to the training start date in order to receive a full refund, minus a $75 administrative fee. Cancellation notices received via email 14-29 days prior to the training will receive a 75% refund, minus a $75 administrative fee. Please email your cancellation notice to ColumbiaSHARP.Climate@gmail.com. Due to workshop capacity and preparation, we regret that we are unable to refund registration fees for cancellations less than 14 days prior to the training.

If you are unable to attend the training, we encourage you to send a substitute within the same registration category. Please inform us of the substitute via email at least one week prior to the training so we can include them on attendee communications, gather registration details, and provide materials. Should the substitute fall within a different registration category (e.g., you are a faculty member and they are a postdoc), the credit card on file will be credited/charged respectively. Please email substitute inquiries to ColumbiaSHARP.Climate@gmail.com. In the event Columbia must cancel the event, your registration fee will be fully refunded.