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Our Team
Our team of experts consists of seasoned professionals with diverse backgrounds and a shared passion for the Climate Health Society.
Dr. Marcalee Alexander
President & Chair Sustain Our Abilities Committee & Cochair Program Committee
Florida, USA
Marcalee Alexander, MD is a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation physician. She founded Sustain Our Abilities, in 2019, spearheaded the conference Climate Health 2023 and completed the Green Route Aiding Healthy Adaptation and Mitigation in 2024, emphasizing the importance of active transportation.She is founding
Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Climate Change and Health and the textbook
Climate Change and Disability: A Collaborative Approach to a Sustainable, Inclusive Future for All of which proceeds supporting the Climate and Health Society. She is an Affiliate Faculty member at the Climate and Health Program at University of Colorado School of Medicine.
Dr. Thomas Bush
Chair Website Committee
California, USA
Dr. Thomas Bush served for many years as the Division Chief of Rheumatology at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose CA and is a Clinical Professor (Affiliated) of Medicine (retired) at Stanford University School of Medicine. He has been working with a group of rheumatologists to advance an understanding of the impact of environmental factors on patients with rheumatic diseases.
Dr. Iris Blom
Chair International Relations and Policy Committee
The Netherlands
Dr Iris Blom has a PhD from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and is a medical doctor from the Netherlands with a master's degree in Global Affairs from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, as a Schwarzman Scholar. She has attended many UNFCCC COP meetings in addition to the first-ever UN Youth Climate Summit to advocate for health. She serves on the Lancet Commission on Sustainable Healthcare as working group co-chair and was selected as the first next-generation representative on the Steering Committee of the Planetary Health Alliance. She jointly set up the WHO Youth Council of Director-General Dr Tedros and now continues to support youth engagement with the WHO.
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Dr. Elizabeth Cerceo
Co-chair of Education Committee
New Jersey, USA
Dr. Elizabeth Cerceo is a Professor of Medicine and Director of Climate Health at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, where she leads efforts to integrate climate health into medical education and faculty development. A board-certified internist and hospitalist, she serves as Associate Program Director for the internal medicine residency and directs physician engagement and medical humanities programming. Nationally, she chairs committees for the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health, the American College of Physicians, and APHA’s Center for Climate, Health, and Equity. Her work focuses on sustainable healthcare, climate-related medical education reform, and advancing health equity through policy and practice.
Dr. Marc Futernick
Chair Advocacy Committee
California, USA
Marc Futernick, MD, is an Emergency Physician and climate advocate. Dr. Futernick was an original founder of the Environmental Action Committee at Dignity Health California Hospital Medical Center (CHMC). He is the Managing Editor for the open access Journal of Climate Change and Health and serves on the Board of Directors of Climate Resolve, a non-profit whose mission is to champion equitable climate solutions. Dr. Futernick represents the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) on the Steering Committee of the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health and is the Executive Committee Chair.
Dr. Kimberly Humphrey
Cochair Program Committee
South Australia, Australia
Dr. Kimberly Humphrey is an Emergency Medicine Specialist, Public Health Medical Consultant, and Climate Lead at SA Health in Adelaide, Australia. Dr Humphrey is a Clinical Senior Lecturer at the University of Adelaide, teaching emergency medicine, public health and climate change across the medical curriculum, and an Examiner for the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM). At SA Health, she oversees Climate Change strategy and policy across the health system, integrating sustainability and resilience into all aspects of healthcare delivery. She is Section Editor for Emergency Medicine Australasia and on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Climate Change and Health.
Dr. Shirley Kalwaney
Co Chair Education Committee
Virginia, USA
Shirley Kalwaney, MD, FACP, DipABLM, is an Internal Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine Board-Certified Physician and Educator currently serving as Director of Graduate Medical Education at Inova Health System and Co-Director and Co-Founder of their Academy of Distinguished Medical Educators Program. She has created Nutrition, Climate and Food Sustainability curricula for Inova residents and serves as faculty for the Climate and Health elective for University of Virginia medical students at the Inova campus. Dr. Kalwaney serves on the Executive Board for Virginia Clinicians for Climate Action and is Co-founder and Chair of the Food Sustainability and Nutrition committee and member Climate and Health Education Collaborative, while also serving as Lead for Food Sustainability on Inova’s Green Team where she has advocated for and transformed hospital cafeterias and resident menus to be more sustainable. She is an active member of multiple climate and health organizations including the Virginia Chapter American College of Physicians Climate and Health committee and Inova Health Systems Sustainability Council. Her work focuses on how nutrition and food systems affect population and planetary health and implementing these educational initiatives for medical learners and physicians.
Dr. Tamiko Katsumoto
Chair Engagement Committee
California, USA
Tamiko Katsumoto, MD, DipABLM, is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Division of Immunology and Rheumatology at Stanford University where she runs the Rheumatology Oncology Clinic. Deeply committed to human and planetary health, she is passionate about educating her patients and colleagues on the merits of sustainable plant-rich diets as a strategy to both improve individual health and mitigate climate change and environmental degradation. She is the co-chair of the American College of Rheumatology Climate Change Task Force and is working closely with the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. She is board certified by the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.
Dr. Neha Pathak
Chair Communications Committee
Georgia, USA
Neha Pathak MD, FACP, DipABLM is board certified in both internal medicine and lifestyle medicine. She reports on topics related to lifestyle, climate change, and environmental impacts on health for a variety of outlets and is a regular contributor to Yale Climate Connections. She is a member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine board of directors and Chair of the Global Sustainability Committee. Dr. Pathak is also a lecturer at the Yale School of Public Health where she facilitates coursework on climate change and health. She is a founding member of Georgia Clinicians for Climate Action and Board Co-Chair of Georgia Interfaith Power and Light, a faith-based environmental non-profit.
Dr. Emily Senay
Treasurer & Chair Finance Committee & Cochair Program Committee
New York, USA
Dr. Emily Senay, MD, MPH, is an Associate Clinical Professor at Northwell Health, Department of Occupational Medicine, Epidemiology, and Prevention. Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and adjunct faculty at the Yale Center of Climate Change & Health, Yale School of Public Health. She is a clinician at Northwell Queens WTC Health Program, where she cares for first responders and volunteers responding to the attacks on 9/11. She is board certified in Lifestyle Medicine. Dr. Senay publishes on the role of healthcare organizations in contributing to and responding to the climate crisis; healthcare sustainability; the call for transparent health sector environmental accounting; climate communication for clinicians; and clinical interventions that provide co-benefits for patients and the planet such as Lifestyle Medicine. Dr. Senay was a medical broadcast correspondent for CBS News and PBS News for over 20 years.
Dr. James Sullivan
Secretary & Chair Membership Committee
Massachusetts, USA
James is an internal medicine resident at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Clinical Fellow in Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and a former Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education fellow. James’s climate and health work is deepest in designing climate and health curricula for health professionals and building community resilience to the health impacts of extreme heat and weather.
Dr. Ying Zhang
Vice-President & Chair Research Committee
New South Wales, Australia
Dr. Ying Zhang is an Associate Professor at the School of Public Health, University of Sydney, and a Fellow of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology. She is a member of the Editorial Board of The Journal of Climate Change and Health, co-chairs the MJA-Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change and leads the Sydney Sustainability, Climate and Health Collaboration. Ying is also the inaugural Director of the GCCHE Western Pacific Network for Climate and Health Education.
