Cecilia Sorensen, MD

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Overview

Cecilia Sorensen, MD is the Director of the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education at Columbia University, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Columbia Irving Medical Center and Associate Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University. As a physician-investigator at the nexus of climate change and human health, translating research into policy, clinical action, and education to build resilience in vulnerable communities is the focus of her research. Her recent work has spanned domestic as well as international emergent health issues related to climate change, including, extreme heat, degraded air quality, extreme weather events, emerging infectious diseases, women’s health, and worker health. Dr. Sorensen is a member of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change and serves on the Steering Committee for the National Academy of Medicine Action Collaborative for Decarbonization of the U.S. Health Sector. She is the co-editor of the textbook Climate Change and Human Health: From Science to Practice.

Office Location: 722 West 168th Street, ARB 1107D

Academic Appointments

  • Associate Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at the Columbia University Medical Center
  • Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine

Gender

  • Female

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Insurance Accepted

CIGNA

  • EPO
  • Great West (National)
  • HMO
  • POS
  • PPO

Emblem/GHI

  • Medicare Managed Care
  • PPO

Emblem/HIP

  • ConnectiCare
  • EPO
  • Essential Plan
  • HMO
  • Medicare Managed Care
  • POS
  • PPO
  • Select Care (Exchange)
  • Vytra

Healthfirst

  • Medicaid Managed Care

Local 1199

  • Local 1199

MagnaCare (National)

  • MagnaCare

Medicare

  • Railroad
  • Traditional Medicare

Multiplan

  • Multiplan

RiverSpring

  • Special Needs

UnitedHealthcare

  • Compass (Exchange)
  • Empire Plan
  • HMO
  • POS
  • PPO

*Please contact the provider’s office directly to verify that your particular insurance is accepted.

Research

Research Interests

  • Community Health
  • Environmental Health
  • Global Health
  • Public Health Education

Selected Publications

Kishore N, Marqués D, Mahmud A, Kiang MV, Rodriguez I, Fuller A, Ebner P, Sorensen C, Racy F, Lemery J, Maas L. Mortality in puerto rico after hurricane maria. New England journal of medicine. 2018 Jul 12;379(2):162-70.

Sorensen C, Salas RN, Rublee C, Hill K, Bartlett ES, Charlton P, Dyamond C, Fockele C, Harper R, Barot S, Calvello-Hynes E. Clinical Implications of Climate Change on US Emergency Medicine: Challenges and Opportunities. Annals of Emergency Medicine. 2020 Aug 1;76(2):168-78.

Sorensen C and Garcia-Trabanino R. A new era of climate medicine – addressing heat triggered renal disease. NEJM. 2019 Aug 22;381(8):693-6

Sorensen C, Krisher L, Butler-Dawson J, Dally M, Dexter L, Asensio C, Cruz A, Newman LS. Workplace Screening Identifies Clinically Significant and Potentially Reversible Kidney Injury in Heat-Exposed Sugarcane Workers. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2020 Jan;17(22):8552.

Sorensen C, Murray V, Lemery J, and Balbus J. Climate change and women’s health: impacts and policy directions. PLOS medicine. 2018 Jul 10;15(7).

Sorensen C, Butler-Dawson J, Dally M, Krisher L, Griffin BR, Johnson RJ, Lemery J, Asensio C, Tenney L, Newman LS. Risk factors and mechanisms underlying cross-shift decline in kidney function in Guatemalan sugarcane workers. Journal of occupational and environmental medicine. 2019 Mar;61(3):239.

Sorensen C, Borbor?Cordova MJ, Calvello?Hynes E, Diaz A, Lemery J, Stewart?Ibarra AM. Climate Variability, Vulnerability and Natural Disasters: A Case Study of Zika Virus in Manabi, Ecuador Following the 2016 Earthquake. GeoHealth. 2017 October 1;1(8):298-304.

Lemery J, Knowlton K, Sorensen C. (Eds) Global Climate Change and Human Health: From Science to Practice. 2nd Edition. John Wiley & Sons, 2021.

Rublee C, Dresser C, Giudice C, Lemery J, Sorensen C. Evidence-Based Heatstroke Management in the Emergency Department. Western Journal of Emergency Medicine: Integrating Emergency Care with Population Health. 2021 Feb 26.

Sorensen C, House J, O’Dell K, Brey S, Ford, B, Pierce J, Fischer E, Lemery J, Crooks J. Associations between wildfire-related PM2.5 and Intensive Care Unit Admissions in the United States, 2006-2015. Geohealth. 16 March 2021.