Dr. Hess Collaborates on new JAMA Climate Change and Health Series

Climate change and health will be the focus of a new series in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Dr. Jeremy Hess, emergency medicine physician and director of the UW Center for Health and the Global Environment (CHanGE), is a co-author of the series alongside Dr. Kristie Ebi.  

The introductory article authored by the two provides an overview of some of the climate events we’ve already experienced and what is to come if mitigation measures are not put into place. An example is the unprecedented heat dome that hit the Pacific Northwest in June of 2021. Temperatures in Seattle peaked at 108 degrees. This heat event contributed to the 441 excessive deaths in Washington state after excluding deaths related to COVID-19. 

The series will be several short articles covering a wide range of topics linking climate change and health, with a focus on implications for clinical practice and engagement by the health sector. 

“My hope for the series is that it brings much-needed attention to the topic overall and specific consideration of how practice should be updated and modified across different medical specialties as the climate continues to change,” said Hess.

“Climate change is likely to have significant impacts on health and health care, but the health sector is only beginning to reckon with this and consider how to modify our practices to protect people’s health as climate-sensitive hazards become more severe (e.g., heat waves, storms, flooding, and infectious disease hazards) and begin to interact with one another (e.g., drought, wildfires, heat waves, and power outages) and our responses (e.g., decisions regarding siting of health care facilities in flood-prone areas, rolling brown-outs to reduce the risk of wildfires but increasing challenges for people dependent on electricity to refrigerate medicines, for cooling, and for durable medical equipment).” 

Ebi, a leading expert on climate and health, has broad expertise in global health impacts of climate change and policies to protect population health globally and at the national and sub-national levels. Dr. Hess’ background helps provide insight into the clinical impacts and medical practice considerations. 

To read more on the Climate Change and Health series, you can visit the JAMA website.