Secretariat
Cecilia Sorensen M.D.
Director
Dr. Sorensen is an Associate Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at Mailman School of Public Health and Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Medicine at Columbia Irving Medical Center. Translating research into policy, clinical action, and education in order to build resilience in vulnerable communities is the focus of her endeavors. Her recent work has spanned domestic as well as international emergent health issues related to climate change, including, 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. She has served as an author for the U.S. Fourth National Climate Assessment and serves as a technical advisor for the Lancet Climate and Health U.S. Policy Brief. She is a member of the Colorado Consortium for Climate Change, a scientific advisor for the Citizens Climate Lobby and 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, a post-residency training program for physicians.
Haley Campbell, MPH
Program Director
Haley Campbell is the Program Manager at the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education. She received her Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science from the University of Oregon. She then earned her Master's of Public Health at Columbia University in Environmental Health Sciences with a specialization in Climate Change and Health. Haley supervises GCCHE educational programs and offerings and additionally provides strategic support to GCCHE constituent member organizations. She coordinates the GCCHE working groups and partakes in climate and health education scholarly research through the Consortium. She is passionate about environmental justice, sustainability and engaging with healthcare professionals though climate change education and activism.
Dr. Hertelendy, PhD, MHA, MS
Environmental Health Sciences, Adjunct Associate Professor
Dr. Hertelendy has over 28 years leadership experience as a hospital administrator and executive in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Canada and the USA, with a background in disaster and emergency management. Dr. Hertelendy is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at Mailman School of Public Health. Dr. Hertelendy teaches leadership and healthcare management in the MBA program at Florida International University in the College of Business. He is working to raise awareness internationally and educate healthcare executives towards decarbonizing the healthcare sector.
Dr. Hertelendy's research interests explore healthcare resiliency and the intersection between climate change health and disaster medicine. He studies the health implications of climate change and how technology can be used to improve both the delivery and sustainability of healthcare during disasters. He is the author of more than 80 published articles, in leading healthcare and management journals such as Harvard Business Review, numerous book chapters, and is the Guest Editor for the Journal of Emergency Management, Journal of Public Health, Associate Editor for Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness and is on the editorial boards of Prehospital and Disaster Medicine. Dr. Hertelendy is also the Co-Research Director for the Disaster Medicine Fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
He is a frequent international keynote speaker on crisis leadership, disaster and emergency management, global health security and climate change.
Jeffrey Shaman, PhD
Faculty Advisor
Jeffrey Shaman is a Professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences and Director of the Climate and Health Program at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. He studies the survival, transmission and ecology of infectious agents, including the effects of meteorological and hydrological conditions on theses processes. He uses mathematical and statistical models to describe, understand, and forecast the transmission dynamics of these disease systems and to investigate the broader effects of climate and weather on human health.
Kim Knowlton, PhD
Faculty Advisor
Kim Knowlton is a senior scientist and deputy director of the science center at the National Resource Defense Council and Assistant Professor in the Climate and Health Program at Mailman School of Public Health. Kim Knowlton focuses on the public-health impacts of climate change and advocates for strategies to prepare for—and prevent—these impacts, especially in vulnerable communities. As a result of her research into the links between climate change and health, NRDC has partnered with a number of city and state governments to strengthen health preparedness in their climate adaptation planning. She has also studied heat- and ozone-related mortality and illness as well as the connections among climate change, infectious illnesses, flooding, aeroallergens, and respiratory ailments such as allergies and asthma. Knowlton was a co-convening lead author on the Human Health chapter of the Third U.S. National Climate Assessment report, and among the researchers who participated in the second New York City Panel on Climate Change. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University, a master’s in environmental and occupational health sciences from Hunter College, and a doctorate in public health from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health—where she now serves as an assistant professor in the Climate and Health Program of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences. She is based in New York City.
Adesh Sundaresan, M.B.B.S. Hons., BSc
Director of Media and Communications
Adesh Sundaresan is a medical doctor from London, UK. He received his medical degree with an intercalated BSc in Neuroscience from University College London. He was appointed as an Honorary Clinical Teaching Fellow at UCL Medical School in 2020 and pioneered a student selected course on Climate, Health and Sustainability. He has been working with Skewb Climate to empower and inspire school children about climate change across the UK through innovative digital education initiatives. Adesh has a wide range of interests, and is an award-winning professional Indian classical vocalist, having performed across India and the UK. He has experience presenting radio and television programmes for platforms including Resonance 104.4FM, BBC1 and the Soil Association.
Avriel Rose Diaz
Research Fellow
Avriel M.A. is the co-founder and Executive Director of the international NGO, Walking Palms Global Health, and has spent years devoted to co-developing and co-creating international transdisciplinary partnerships building community resilience on the frontlines of climate change and variation in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Elizabeth Auld, M.D.
Climate and Health Science Policy Fellow
Dr. Elizabeth Auld is an Emergency Medicine Physician working in Seattle, WA. She completed her undergraduate degree at Middlebury College where she majored in Environmental Science and Anthropology. During this time, she discovered her interest in the intersection between environmental and human health. She received her MD from University of Washington, and completed residency training in Emergency Medicine at New York University where she served as chief resident in her final year.
She is a 2022-2023 Climate and Health Science Policy fellow at the University of Colorado. As part of the fellowship, she is working as a physician fellow at both the CDC’s Climate and Health Program and the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education.
Natasha Sood, MPH
GCCHE CRHE Fellow
Natasha Sood is a 4th year medical student at Penn State College of Medicine. She completed her Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science from the University of Michigan. She then earned her MPH at Columbia University in Environmental Health Science with a specialization in Climate Change and Health. She is a Founding Leader and current Executive Chair of Medical Students for a Sustainable Future (MS4SF).
Gina A. Friel, DNP, CRNP-PC
GCCHE Nurses Fellow
Gina is a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner at Annapolis Pediatrics, a large primary care pediatric practice in Annapolis, Maryland where she provides care to pediatric patients from birth through 21 years of age. Dr. Friel received her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from Villanova University Fitzpatrick College of Nursing in December 2021 and is very excited to walk in the graduation ceremony in May 2022 along with her oldest son, Samuel, who will also graduate from Villanova University College of Engineering with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering.
Dr. Friel has a particular interest in pediatric obesity and fostering healthy lifestyle habits in patients of all ages. The focus of her doctoral work centered on the Pediatric Obesity and Food Insecurity Paradox. Dr. Friel’s interest in childhood obesity is further expanded by her equally passionate focus on the impact the environment has on eating patterns that ensure food security, improve human health and wellbeing, diet quality and social equity. The intersection of environmental exposures, climate change challenges and the engagement of people, communities and diverse groups is an area of interest. This passion stems, in part, from living on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, an experience that has further expanded her passion for understanding the vulnerabilities pediatric patients and families face related to climate change.
Erika Strickler, MD Candidate
GCCHE Medical Fellow
Erika is a rising fourth-year medical student pursuing family medicine. While progressing through medical school in California, she came to realize that climate change is one of the most pertinent yet under-addressed factors affecting her patients' health. After finishing her clerkship year, Erika focused on ways to become more involved in climate health education. She joined the National Academy of Medicine's Health Professional Education and Communication working group, where she contributes to efforts to expand climate education in various health professional disciplines and advocate for advancements rooted in equity and justice. She is thrilled to further expand this work during her time at GCCHE, advancing her overall goal of being a physician that serves her patients by working towards systemic change.
In her free time, she enjoys snuggling with her rescue pup and life teammate Momo, dreaming up her annual trip to the Utah deserts with her best friend (and traveling in general), cooking Filipino food for friends and family, deepening her yoga practice, and as of late, obsessively watching The Sopranos. She stays up late at night pondering the role of the antihero and what her allegiance to Tony Soprano means.
Nico Hamacher, MPH Candidate
GCCHE Public Health Fellow
Nico Hamacher is a 2nd year MPH student at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health where he focuses on the human impacts of climate change. He previously received his undergraduate degree from Quest University in British Columbia, Canada where he focused on disaster response and public health leadership. In the past, Nico has worked in a number of prehospital medical roles ranging from search and rescue coordination, general EMS services, and other austere medicine positions. His primary interests center on the intersections of public health, climate change, and emergency medicine – all of which he hopes will inform aspects of his work while at the consortium.
Raisa Uddin, MD
University of Utah Global, Rural and Underserved Child Health Fellow
Raisa Uddin, MD is a pediatric physician. She received her B.S. from the University of Miami with a major in Neuroscience and subsequently received her medical degree from the Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine in Miami, Florida. She completed her pediatric residency training at Emory University in Atlanta, GA in 2021. During her residency training, she became interested on the intersection of climate change and pediatric health especially while completing her residency global health track requirements. As her scholarly output for the global health track, she co-authored and published an article titled "A global child health perspective on climate change, migration, and human rights."
Following residency training, she joined the University of Utah Global, Rural and Underserved Child Health (GRUCH) Fellowship. As a first year fellow, she worked independently as a general pediatrician covering birth/delivery, newborn nursery, inpatient and outpatient services in an Indian Health Service (IHS) facility in Chinle, AZ on the Navajo Reservation. During the 2022-2023 academic year, she will be working as a physician fellow in conjunction with the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education.
Srihari Govind, MBBS
Climate and Health Fellow
Hari is a doctor, just out of medical school. Currently working at the Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Puducherry, India. He serves as the Integration and Protection Lead in the Migration Working Group at UN MGCY and Director at YCGHR, a youth-led Global Health Think Tank. In his previous roles, he has worked with the Harvard Centre for Global Health Delivery and has been a UN Youth Delegate from India. His main interests lie in public health, climate change and DRR as he hopes to work on breaking the silos that exist between them through climate-health education during his time at GCCHE.
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