EVERY DAY IS EARTH DAY FOR PHARMACY ADVOCATES Students create climate report card

keenly interested in this topic and in line with our wider efforts to collaborate for healthier communities, we thought we could be greener together!” said Dr. Brock. “Seeing the similarities and differences in planetary health approaches across professions, states, and countries was part of the cultural diversity dialogue each week.”

P3 Gabriela Castellano and P1 Liriam Campos Hevia said they wanted to take the elective because, “There are so many layers to health that are not obvious when we usually study drugs and diseases... like climate change and heat, vector ecosystems and the spread of infectious disease/resistance, unintended impacts of pharmaceuticals, prescribing practices, dosage forms, and how they can affect the environment.”

The first Earth Day, celebrated on April 21, 1970, was the start of the modern-day environmental movement. In many circles, you’re likely to hear the mantra, “Global health is human health.” So, it’s not surprising that healthcare professionals are recognizing the part they can play in mitigating the negative health outcomes associated with a warming climate, increased toxins, and, in some regions, limited clean air and water.

Chief of those healthcare professions being identified as frontline activists are pharmacists.

Hayley Blackburn, PharmD, was a recent speaker at the CU School of Pharmacy Dean’s Leadership Convocation. Dr. Blackburn is an associate professor at the University of Montana Skaggs School of Pharmacy, as well as the cofounder of a global alliance for climate smart for pharmacy practice called Rx for Climate. Through her work, Blackburn co-leads global health initiatives and research efforts to help pharmacists and other health professionals develop climateforward practices.

Tina Brock, EdD, is a professor and Associate Dean of Education at the CU Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Dr. Brock first met Blackburn through their mutual Rx for Climate advocacy. This semester, they built their partnership into an innovative elective called Human Health and Climate Change that involved pharmacy, nursing and medical students from Montana, Colorado, and Australia.

“We knew that health professions students were

In addition to learning about the myriad of ways that healthcare providers can use their roles to bring about positive change, CU Pharmacy students were inspired to create a climate report card that assessed the degree to which planetary health and sustainability is embedded in the School of Pharmacy. Their report card was combined with evaluations of healthcare campuses from around the globe to create the Planetary Health Report Card, a metric-based tool for evaluating and improving planetary health content in health professional schools.

“This was the first time our School has submitted a report, but we hope to continue to collaborate with the CU medical students and together, to grow sustainability efforts like this on our campus,” said P1 Diane Lee and P1 Kiri Carmody on behalf of the School’s PHRC submission team.

Most importantly, the report card will serve as both a benchmark and a road map. Dr. Blackburn told the audience in her Climate Change and Pharmacy presentation that one of her favorite quotes comes from the 2021 Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change: “Climate change is the greatest health threat facing the world in the 21st century, but it is also the greatest opportunity to redefine the social and environmental determinants of health.”

It is that opportunity for change that motivates, not just students on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, but those in Montana, Australia, and around the world.