CONFRONTING CLIMATE CHANGE Our Climate and Health Program is the first of its kind in a school of public health and the first to offer a PhD. The students are pioneers in an essential new specialty, facing the health risks of a warming planet. Over the past 12 years, almost 100 have graduated with master’s or doctoral degrees. Meet nine who are training to fight this existential threat. Interviews by Tim Paul | Photographs by John Herr
TANAYA SADANAND AMBADKAR, MPH ’24 FAVORITE THING I’VE DONE SO FAR My favorite thing is that I can attend open lectures and student club events and make new connections. I am currently the vice president of Students for One Health. We raise awareness and promote optimal health for people, animals, and the environment. I have been interested in the link between the three since I started working on wildlife diseases after completing my first master’s in wildlife conservation. I read about how the threat of infectious diseases and zoonotic diseases has increased with climate change. We need to study possible interactions with the environment that can increase disease risk. One example is Lyme disease. The ticks’ ranges are expanding and so are the seasons they are active.
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COLUM B I A P U BLI C H E A LT H
2023–2024 EDITION
