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.
Danielly Magalhães, MPH, PhD
Senior Project Director
Dr. Magalhães is an Environmental Health Scientist from Brazil, with expertise in Global Health, Sustainable Development, Climate Change, Biodiversity, and Toxicology. She is passionate about understanding the impact of environmental factors on biological systems. Dr. Magalhães earned her undergraduate degree in Biology in Brazil, followed by an MPH focusing on Environmental Toxicology and Occupational Health, a Doctoral degree in Environmental Chemistry, and a specialization in Global Health and Health Diplomacy.
Afterward, she relocated to Washington, DC, conducting postdoctoral research on environmental epidemiology, specifically examining the effects of chemicals on human reproduction at the Milken Institute of Public Health at George Washington University. For many years, she served as a researcher at Fiocruz, the renowned Brazilian research institute under the Ministry of Health. Initially, her work centered on Ecotoxicology to inform stakeholder decisions. Later, she transitioned to Global Health, actively participating in initiatives like Rio+20 and supporting Fiocruz's Strategy for the 2030 Agenda. Her focus shifted toward the role of Science, Technology, and Innovation in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, with involvement in UN Forums.
Currently, she is part of an Observatory at Fiocruz, where she engages in discussions related to Global Health and Health Diplomacy. Her primary concentration lies in global environmental policies and multilateral agreements, particularly in areas such as climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and their health ramifications. Over the years, she has fulfilled roles as a researcher, lab manager, postgraduate professor, and science teacher in public schools of Rio de Janeiro.
Maggie O'Donnell
Project Manager
Maggie O’Donnell is the Project Manager for the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Religion and Environmental Studies from Wesleyan University and her Master of Arts in Geography from the University of British Columbia. Her graduate research focused on the relationship between community health and environmental gentrification, with a specific interest in the policies and processes that undergird financialized urban development in Brooklyn, New York. Maggie supervises GCCHE educational programs, oversees communication with GCCHE members and working groups, and participates in research related to the tangible impacts of climate and health education. She is passionate about building a climate movement that is interdisciplinary, accessible, and grounded in principles of justice and equity.
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.
Hannah Weinstein, M.D. Candidate
GCCHE Student Fellow 2024-2025
Hannah is a fourth-year medical student at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S). She has been passionate about the intersection of equity, health, and the environment since her days advocating for sustainable investments at Williams College and working in a no-waste food kitchen in the Netherlands. Prior to medical school she completed a B.A. in Biology and worked in cancer biology for multiple years. She is a former co-leader and current member of the VP&S chapter of Medical Students for a Sustainable Future. She has published on health center preparedness for climate change and is part of the current climate health initiative at VP&S, working to integrate climate education into the curriculum. She is also a current Steve Miller Fellow, awarded to support the integration of climate health education into the VP&S clinical curriculum. Outside of medicine, Hannah likes to dabble in film photography and pottery, and bike around New York City.
Nina Djukic, M.D. Candidate
GCCHE Student Fellow 2025-2026
Nina Djukic is a fourth-year medical student at UCSF and the UCSF-UC Berkeley Joint Medical Program. She has been passionate about the intersections between environment and health since she was an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, where she studied the biopsychosocial effects of pesticide exposure in California farmworkers, the use of traditional botanical medicine in Costa Rica, and the impacts of environmental racism on indigenous communities. After university, she worked in clinical research at the UCSF Memory & Aging Center, conducting lifestyle-focused clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease and healthy aging and promoting brain health literacy around San Francisco. She had the good fortune to continue this interdisciplinary approach to health as a dual masters student at UCSF-UC Berkeley, where she has conducted independent research on moral injury in physicians during the COVID-19 pandemic, collaborated on projects promoting psychological resilience for the climate crisis, and published poems and essays reflecting on medical education and connection with the natural world. Outside of the hospital and the computer screen, Nina enjoys reading, meandering around on walks and bike rides, and laissez-faire gardening.
Kristie Hadley M.D.
Project Director
Dr. Kristie Hadley is an emergency physician at Columbia University Medical Center and a program manager at the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education. She completed fellowship training at Columbia University in Global Emergency Medicine where she earned a Master in Public Health, specializing in the global impact of climate change on human health. Previously, she worked as a fellow with the Department of Health and Human Services in the Office of Climate and Health Equity. In her work, she focuses on the intersection between climate change, environmental degradation, food security, and migration with an emphasis on social justice, both in the US and globally.
Ashley Moore, RN, MS, PhD Candidate
GCCHE Fellow
Ashley Moore, RN, MS, is a registered nurse and PhD student at the University of California, San Francisco. She has a clinical and public health background in oncology, women’s health, and global disaster response. Her current research focuses on how disaster-driven displacement affects the health and wellbeing of women, with an emphasis on community recovery and access to care. Ashley is passionate about uncovering the growing impacts of climate change on health and is committed to helping prepare healthcare professionals to better recognize and respond to these challenges in both clinical and community settings. Outside of her academic work, she finds balance by escaping the city to hike in the redwoods, exploring new cultures through travel, and unwinding by playing the mandolin.
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.
Gina A. Friel, DNP, CRNP-PC
Global Nurses Working Group Director
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.
Nico Hamacher, MPH
Climate Health Education Indicator Coordinator
Nico Hamacher holds a Master of Public Health (MPH) from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, where he specialized in the human impacts of climate change. He previously studied at Quest University in British Columbia, Canada, with a focus on disaster response and public health leadership. Nico has extensive experience in prehospital medical roles, including search and rescue coordination, general EMS services, and other positions in austere medicine. His professional interests lie at the intersection of public health, climate change, and clinical medicine, which are integral to his work at the consortium. Alongside his role at the GCCHE, Nico operates a bed-and-breakfast and serves as a medical technician in a rural urgent care facility and county jail.
Michelle DePhillips, DNP
GCCHE Nurses Fellow
Michelle DePhillips is currently an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing at the University of Delaware, where she herself completed her undergraduate degree. Michelle received her Doctor of Nursing Practice from the University of Virginia in 2017. Her clinical background is in emergency, critical care, and palliative nursing. Throughout her experience providing direct patient care, she realized how important public health is in addressing the structural, environmental, and social barriers to health and wellbeing. Michelle is currently enrolled in the Master of Public Health program at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health and is expected to graduate in Fall 2024. She hopes to integrate concepts of climate and health into nursing courses and inspire health professionals to promote positive change in the community. Michelle particularly enjoys appreciating nature by hiking with her family and Bernese Mountain Dog.
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