Professor Wins Climate Change and Health Award.
Gregory Wellenius, director of the Program on Climate and Health and professor of environmental health, has received a Climate Change and Health Award from Wellcome Trust.
Effective April 1, 2020, the three-year, $642,000 grant from the London-based global research foundation will fund a study to examine how local health departments across the United States prepare for days of extreme heat.
In collaboration with researchers from the University of Washington School of Public Health and the University of British Columbia, Wellenius will collect information on the Heat Action Plans of local health departments in every state to better understand the strategies that cities and towns have implemented to protect people from the health hazards resulting from periods of extreme heat. The team will connect that information to health data to see which of these actions are most effective in protecting the public’s health.
“Different health departments perform a wide range of actions to try to minimize adverse health impacts of extreme heat, and we don’t have good evidence on which of these actions works better than others,” says Wellenius. “Given the context of continued climate change, we expect to see more episodes of extreme heat occur more often, reach higher temperatures, and be longer in duration, so it is essential that we understand what the most effective interventions are to save people’s lives.”
Wellcome Trust’s Climate Change and Health Awards are part of the foundation’s Our Planet, Our Health program, which has supported research and global collaborations on food systems, urbanization, and climate change since 2015. Founded in 1936, the foundation is one of the largest funders of scientific research in the world, and one of the first research charities of its size to fund research specifically around climate and health.
Wellenius’ past research has focused on quantifying the threats to people’s health posed by continued climate change, identifying communities at greatest risk, and providing local officials with the evidence they need to better prepare and adapt to a changing climate. He has also studied the effects of ambient air pollution on cardiovascular health and potential changes in cardiovascular physiology.
While data indicates that the coronavirus pandemic has led to reduced air pollution levels in certain US cities and abroad since there are fewer drivers on the road, Wellenius notes that the global public health crisis underscores the need for a well-resourced and resilient health system that can protect the public from a wide range of threats to our health and well-being.
“We need to make further investments in our communities and public health and healthcare infrastructures so that we are better poised to deal with any emergencies and unexpected threats in the future,” he says.